I know a lot of people are asked to teach afterschool classes. I was asked to do this and I'm having a lot of fun with it, as it is a group of students who WANTED to do it, and it is a small class (two classes of 10 each right now), so it's easier to get through material. I would think it would be harder for those who are not with a co-teacher and don't know Korean, as I find that I have to use a lot of Korean during mine. I'm not sure if my school didn't put a co-teacher with me because I know Korean or what, but I'm guessing co-teacher's wouldnt want to stay late as Korean teachers have their hands full enough, as is! ;)
I'm really happy with my class, but there has been a lot wrong with it. For starters, there wasnt really a focus to the class, because it was just a "conversation" class and most of the basic conversation things you would teach are in their text books. I wanted to do other stuff and I've been having a good time, using my native skills with double meanings, humor, idioms, etc. I did ask the kids what they wanted to learn in the class, but they didn't really know. Thus, my lessons are all "conversation" based, but vary from week to week. This is fine I think and the classes have been going really well, but I'm thinking that with my next set I'm going to get a better group going.
For my teachers class I'm teaching "Friends". This is because the teachers are always tired, but also, becuase it's really fun and while some of them understand a lot of it, they don't get all of the jokes and the hidden meanings! It's fun and brings out great conversation!
I really want to teach a literature class for students, but my middle schooler's couldn't handle that so I'm thinking maybe a class on Harry Potter. I did a short class in an English camp and the kids seemed to really like it. I firmly believe in learning and teaching about something you're passionate about, so I think this could be really good. I also noticed that the Harry Potter books are the only English books in my school's library. The first couple look really read through, but the later (bigger) ones, not so much. So I think doing somethin with it would be really good. There's some good information online, the books would be good to talk about--to make sure they really understand. You could obviously use the movie as well and create a bunch of great lessons.
I also want to direct an English play for the kids. I think plays are a great way to learn some English and really do something cultural and with substance, as well. Not to mention, it would be really fun! I am thinking we would read and discuss the play, making sure everyone understood it, and then start. This would be great as the kids would have to memorize their lines and REALLY role-play. Performing would also be great, as I know they don't really get a chance to do that at school unless they are musically able. I am thinking of trying to get this together for next year. If anyone has any ideas for plays, please let me know!
The last idea I had was to do a culture based conversation class. I think it would be cool to do cultural activities and talk about them as well. I think a lot of these could be holidays. Also, Koreans don't really do potlucks like we do, so you could have a small potluck party and have conversation. I also think it would be cool to do a Murder Mystery and teach about theme parties and the boardgame Clue!
If anyone else has ideas for a theme for classes, please share!
EPIK Extra Classes
Sounds like you are doing a great job with your class!
Are you teaching middle school or high school? Is the class mixed with different grades?
I know that at times it can be hard getting feedback from Korean students (and teachers!) about what they want to do. You many have already tried it but I would recommend giving them a short writing assignment about some topics they might want to discuss. If they can take the assignment home and write about it they will feel more comfortable about sharing their ideas.
I think that doing a play/skits is a great idea, especially if their English level is more advanced. You might even let them write their own skits. If they have trouble coming up with an idea you could suggest they do famous Korean stories that everyone is familiar with so the other students have an easier time following along. I bet they would come up with some funny stuff!
Keep us updated about what kinds of things you do and how well they work.
My Blog: http://www.teachenglishinasia.net/blog/issahaiku
those extra conversation classes
I'm in the same boat with my after school conversation classes, I was told that it was a "conversation class" and so that's what we're supposed to do. Problem is that I have kids at ALL different levels in one class. So things have been a bit random - I've finally got a groove and figured out how things should be done in these classes, and now they're almost over!
One of the activities that I find works great to get them talking is conversation board games. I have a blank game-board (that has squares like "free candy" and "go back 2 spaces") and we all sit around a table togther. Boggle's World (http://www.bogglesworldesl.com) has great conversation questions for middle school kids. They draw a card and have to answer the question on the card before they can roll. But I ask random people the question, as well, and it really gets conversation going.
Last time we played, it was over an hour-and-a-half of conversational fun, good for all levels. If anyone wants a copy of my "blank game board" and the formatted "question cards" please let me know!
Regarding play-ideas, you can check out different theatre-for-young-audiences (TYA / TYP) companies in England/North America and seeing what they're producing - you may want to do an entire play (the ones geared towards 12 and up are usually over an hour long...) but instead scenes from different plays that have relevant topics, and less complex language. The scripts will generally be available from either the theatre itself or from a publisher (like Playwrights Canada Press http://www.playwrightscanada.com). Things like the the many different Robert Munch theatrical adaptations (paperbag princess, 50 below zero) and even the Eric Carle ones (for younger kids) would probably work well too and those plays are really short, usually 20 minutes or whatever.
Good starting points (for companies/plays): Green Thumb Theatre for Young People (http://www.greenthumb.bc.ca/). They're a performing company but also have script catalogues with summaries - organized by audience age/issues. It may be more than what you're looking for though...
I'm thinking of trying (next semester) getting a couple of straightforward fairy tales in English, and getting the kids to write role-play adaptations of them... I've seen this done on a really simple level (in the elementary school) and it worked quite well.
Has anyone had experience using improv games with ESL classes? Next semester, I want to try a couple of those, too, and I'm curious if there are any that work particularly well for EFL learners.
Uploading PDF Files
Great ideas...thanks so much for sharing.
You can also upload your blank game board as a PDF file, in the same way you upload pictures.
My Blog: http://www.teachenglishinasia.net/blog/issahaiku
Hi Katrina
Hi Katrina,
I'm very interested in a copy of your game board and question cards. Can you PM them to me please?
Thanks, I ended up making a
Thanks, I ended up making a list of topics that i thought would be good and then i had all of them go through each one and write "Yes" "No" or "Kind of" for whether or not they felt they knew how to talk about that.
I am starting a Harry Potter class as well as an English Play class for my winter break extra classes. In the Harry Potter class I'm keeping it very basic and I'm showing the movies with subtitles to get the kids familiar with the story. I'm then going to have them talk about the movies--what they liked, what they didn't like, stuff they noticed, summaries, just anything! I'm also going to go through characters, vocab, and excerpts from the books. Of course i'll have games as well! It should be a lot of fun, but I had to specify to the kids that we weren't really the entire book because they thought we would be and thus didn't want to sign up for the class!
For the play we're going to talk a little about creative writing, becuase they don't really get that in calss. With the talk about stories we'll begin to kind of draft up a story, which I will write a play for.. I know I'll have to do moreof the play writing becuase my kids aren't that advanced, but I think it will be good and I like to write plays so I think it should be fun for all! I'm going for shorter plays as the kids probably won't be able to remember all of the lines for a super long play! Then we'll read and discuss the play and make sure everyone knows what it is about and how thus how the lines should be read. This is lead into teaching about expression, proper body language, pronunciation, etc. We're going to perform after school is back in session and it should be a lot of fun! I'm going ot see if we can get the art classes to help with set design and we'll pull together what we have for costumes! The kids seemed to be up for the idea, but they wanted to do it with their friends, of course. I have a feeling they are going ot be really shy at first, but I think it'll work out fine since it'll be a small group of us together everyday!
But yeah, I do feel a lot better with having a set idea of what I'm going to teach from the get go. I think it's helpful for the kids too, when they are signing up so they can really do something of interest. I think it's a great way to do lots of fun with "hidden" learning as well! :)
Lastly, and sorry I left this for last--but my kids are all middle schoolers, of various levels (yes, this can be a bit harder even with smaller classes!), and the classes are usually mixe with 2 grade levels!
Good luck to all with afterschool classes!
Winter classes
I still don't know how my winter classes are going to be because nothing has really been planned yet. There is a possiblity that there won't be any winter classes at all and if there are, it'd be on the week after I get back from Jeju since my co-teacher mentioned that the school will plan it around my desired schedule. Also, it's likely to be only on two days with three hours for each day, a mere six hours total. Obviously, I can't get a whole lot done in so short a time.
In the event that I do get extra classes (and I'm actually wanting to have extra classes since I'm only going to take a one-week vacation anyway), what I'm thinking of doing is working on developing creative thinking. One of the biggest problems I've noticed so far is that students are often simply oriented towards studying for tests. They can memorize set phrases, but they can't really construct expressions or sentences as creatively as I'd like them to. Since they were really fond of the Role-Playing Game activity, which mimicked video-game RPGs, I'll probably have them create their own characters and their own adventures. This way, I can get them using adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and some other supplementary vocabulary more. :)