Goodbye South Korea. Goodbye kimchi. Goodbye adjummas and adjoshis. Goodbye students and teachers. Goodbye serviceu. Goodbye couple clothing. Goodbye dogs in makeup. Goodbye perms and sequins. Goodbye Mokpo, Suncheon, Gwangju, Naju, and Seoul. Goodbye Konglish. Goodbye KPop. Goodbye trucks selling random things. Goodbye delicious Korean food. Goodbye to everyone I’ve met during my time in Korea. I’ll miss it all.
Category Archives: Korean High School ESL Lessons
The Frustration Station
Nearly a week back into school and I now remember why I was so eagerly looking forward to winter break. The same frustrations, same disappointments, and the same general bullshit is still around, waiting for me like a giant lightning shooting crab waits for you when you wake up from a bad dream and go back to sleep, where lightning crab picks up where you two left off.
I now teach all eleven first grade classes at my high just once a week and now five second grade classes as well. I taught each first grade class twice a week last year and it was a total cluster fuck. I had forty teen boys per class, no working equipment, and no help in class. There were two teachers that were there to help in class but they either “went for lunch” and never came back or just beat the kids. Not much got done. This year is going to be even more of the same. The assistants who will probably never show up to class are the two Japanese teachers who of course don’t speak any English. Not much is going to get done during these next three months either.
The equipment is also completely broken as per usual. A small part of me was super hopeful that it would be working so I could do more stimulating topics and lessons with students. None of the computers or tvs worked in any of the classes last year, limiting what I could do. I tried doing lessons for the students but it’s nearly impossible to keep forty students per class interested in anything you’re trying to teach without giving them something to look at to keep their interest in you. Last year was a year of word searches and crosswords and I hated every second of it. It’s looking like these next ninety days will be more of the same. I feel awful doing things like this but what choice do I have given the circumstances I work within?
I came to this school last June, feeling confident that I could do a great job at a new a school in a new city for me. How wrong I was. It’s been a pretty disappointing year teaching wise but it will all be over in just over ninety days. I just need to keep reminding myself that.
Lesson: Phobias
I did this lesson last week with my high schoolers. I began the lesson by asking them what they have a fear of (spiders, insect, mouse). I then gave them a brief definition of a phobia and told them three phobias I have and asked them to try and guess what they are. I then gave the class six examples of phobias and showed them some youtube clips of fear factor. I then asked them to work in groups and create a phobia and explain it to the class. The lesson went pretty well and got some interesting phobias. I posted the lesson Waygook and the lesson can be found by following this link.
PS. You must join waygook.org if you want to download the lesson to use. Waygook is a great resource site and has a very active community. It’s well worth checking out.
Lesson: Protests
Several weeks ago I did a lesson with my students about protests. I started the lesson by asking them what NIMBY (Not In My Backyard Is) and they certainly knew it. I then gave them a definition of what a protest is and asked them why people protested (money, work, freedom, safety, etc). Students were given examples of protests to watch on youtube then I asked if they knew what a protest chant is. I gave students an exmaple of a scenario protest (students protesting against me) and the protest chant the class had to should was “Go Away Zach! Don’t Come Back!!!” Students were then asked about NIMBY and what things they would not want near their homes (garbage, nuclear power plants). I then gave the students their worksheet and a scrap peice of paper to make their protest sign on. Students would choose one thing to protest, give me a reason why they are protesting, and had to say their chant as a group and hold their sign high in the air for all to see. The lesson was real successful and most classes had some really interesting things to protest. I have postes the lesson on Waygook.org and the lesson can be downloaded by following this link.
Here are some of the protest signs some classes made.
Halloween Monsters
This is late but better late than never. For Halloween this year I talked with my kids about horror movies and monsters and set them loose on making a monster in groups of four. They had to do a write up on their monster. They had to tell the class the name of the monster, the age, where it came from, the background story on the monster, what it looks like and what weapons it has, and how the monsters kills its victims. The lesson worked really well for both grades at my high school. I have posted the lesson on Waygook.org and my lesson can be found by clicking here.
Here are some of the monsters.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2557/4116555007_24de87ecbf_b.jpg
The Bucket List Lesson
This week and part of last I’ve been doing the bucket list with my high schoolers. The bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you die. This lesson is pretty simple and does not take much time to prepare for. I posted my lesson on waygook.org if you want to talk a look at it.
I explain to the class the meaning of the expression kick the bucket then explain what a bucket list is. I tell the students the things I want to do before I die then have them write down five things they want to do before they die then each student takes turns presenting. Students come up with some great answers and some pretty generic ones. All in all participation was pretty decent.
My lesson can be downloaded from here.
Poetry Lesson
Being at the same school for a second year is a great oppurtunity to improve upon lessons you used last year. One of my favorite lessons from last year was my poetry lesson. It was successful last year and it was even more so this year. Students don’t often get the chance to be creative so I try to give them a chance to use those brain muscles for something fun.
Students made a simple four line poem and a simple acrostic poem for this lesson. The first thing I had to do was explain what a rhyme was. Most students did not know so I posted a few examples on the board.
Zach…..Black
Lazy….Crazy
Book…Look
Once I did that, students understood rhyme. I then put a simple four line poem on the board.
My name is Zach A
I am very tall. B
I like to wear black. A
Opps I hit a wall! B
I explained to students that lines A must rhyme and lines B also must rhyme. I put an incomplete poem on the board and had the class make one.
The students are very _________. A
They want to _______________. B
They _____________________. A
Students _________________. B
They were able to make a good poem in a few minutes. I put another one up on the board to make sure they underood the concept of this poem.
Zach is ____________. A
He is very __________. B
He wants __________. A
He always __________. B
Once this poem was done, I moved onto acrostic poetry. I told students to write one word going down their paper. One student wrote the word girls.
G
I
R
L
S
I used girls as my class example and made a poem with it for the class to understand what was happening.
Girls are
Inside the school
Reading many books about
Love and
Super Junior
I would also use a student’s name as an acrostic poem example.
Ji Yun
Is eating a
Yellow banana
Under the
Night sky
Students then had 20-25 minutes to come up wiht one simple poem and one acrostic. Most had both done in 15 while some struggled to finish one type of poem. I chose the best 10 poems to be read aloud to the class and reward them with candy. Students generally enjoyed this lesson and it made me smile to see them having fun with English and having an oppurtunity to be creative. Here are some poems below from my classes.
You go to school! You’re late!
Ummmm. Oh my God! Teacher is there!
Go go go. Hurry!
You are chased by teacher.
Excellent!
Oh. Hummm. Oh
N0! Oh my
God. Sorry teacher. ㅠ.ㅠ
Jane Goodall is
Ugly?
No! She is
Great beautiful and
Her skin is
Yellow? She works for
U.N.?
No! You wrong!
Candy is delicious but I’m very
Angry because Jach
Not take candy.
Don’t forget candy Jack! When
You come to classroom.
Big Bang is my honey. A
Flowers are very pretty. B
Big Bang has alot of money. A
They are sweaty. B
I’m so cool. A
I have a friend. B
I want to go to swimming pool. A
What is trend? B
Someone is fool. A
I like piano that is grand. B
I hope you enjoyed these poems as much as I do.
