Archive for October, 2011

Oct

Testing

There’s definitely an art to writing good tests. I’m not sure I’ve found that happy medium yet, and I’ve been doing this for almost 6 years. Korean language academies vary in their philosophy on testing. My first school, foreign teachers gave oral tests and Korean teachers gave written one. The second school didn’t test at all, and preferred to use a (very flawed) portfolio system. My current school has both the Korean and foreign teachers give written tests every month.

However, as of next Monday (OK, Tuesday because Monday is the Halloween party) we’re joining a franchise. Woonjin Plus focuses on the in class material with totally separate material for foreign and Korean teachers. But they also have an online program. Since standardized English testing is moving to being computer based, Woonjin wants to get kids using the computers for English assessment as soon as possible. I’ve yet to see what the online program is like, but I am curious. We have a brand new computer lab set up.

And the best part? No more test writing for me! We get our testing materials from the parent company.

Along with this comes a new name. No longer Maple Square, we are now Woonjin Plus – Naedong Campus

posted by Kathryn in Maple Square,Technology,Woonjin Plus and have No Comments

Oct

Speaking Games – Hot Potato

As ESL students get older, they tend to clam up. Try teaching a book called “Speaking Tutor” to two mute fifth graders. Isn’t puberty fun?

Unfortunately I don’t have access to any sort of technology in the classroom. I came across a (flash I think) speaking games that reminds me of hot potato. In this game music played while students passed a ball of paper (personally I’d use my beach ball). When the music stopped (controlled by the teacher), a question came up in the game. The person with the ball had to answer the question.

I think I’m going to replicate this with just paper. Print a question on a piece of paper, and ball it up. Use your CD player with music of your choice. When you hit pause, the person has to unball the paper and answer the question.

I can actually see this being a great icebreaker game with higher level classes or even small adult classes.

Try it in your classroom and let me know how it goes. I’ll be sure to try it with target language (younger kids) after our test week is over.

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Games,Speaking and have Comment (1)

Oct

New Theme

This is a theme for October in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It’s been nearly a year since my best friend lost her fight with this disease. My grandmother was a breast cancer survivor.

Ladies, please do self exams. And gents, though it’s rare, men can get breast cancer too. Be aware of your body.

RIP Melanie. You were loved by your students and your teaching career was cut short. I thank you for all you taught me and I put it into practice every day.

posted by Kathryn in Musings,Reality and have Comments (2)

Oct

Board Games

Yet another way to have fun in class. No need to commercial games. A big piece of paper and a meandering path from “your school” to “home” is all you need. Add a few jump forward and jump back spaces and you’re on your way. I use magnets to attach the board to the errr, board. I also found “pool” magnets that have numbers on them. Perfect markers for teams. Add a die (or dice depending on how big your game board is) and you’re finished.

Now what to do. Higher level students, questions and answers. Lower level students, vocabulary (picture or word flashcards) or target language. Be creative. Only you know what your students need.

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Games and have Comment (1)

Oct

Teacher May I?

Remember the old game “Mother May I?” This is a variation on the game. I use it primarily as a spelling game, but it could be used as a speaking or question and answer game. I have three bags. Easy questions (typically review) are “baby steps”. Normal questions (generally current material) are “regular steps”. Then I have a bag for “giant steps” that are things that might be just above the students’ current level. We all know you always have one or two students in a class that are more advanced.

I start the game with a round of rock, scissors, paper to determine order. Use your favorite method. The first student says “Teacher, may I take N ____ steps?” Where N is a number and ____ is the type of step. My only ground rule is the most giant steps a person can take on a round is 1 and the most regular steps is 2. This gives less confident students a chance to keep up. If the student is correct, they move forward. If they are incorrect they have to move back 1 step of the size they chose.

I’ve tried it with a small class and it worked well. I don’t know how well it would work with a large class unless you divide them up into separate groups.

If you try this, drop me a line and let me know how it works.

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Games,Phonics,Spelling and have No Comments