Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.
Monday 26th, September, 2011
Too much work to do to spend time blogging so this will have to be short.
I had 4 grade 1 mid level classes today. My co-teacher for all 4 was SonSuJong, the head of the English department. SonSuJong is a really lovely person. I like her a lot. She seems like a natural authority figure and is really great at communicating with the students.
The lesson I used for these classes was the same lesson I used with the high level grade 1 classes last week. Whereas the high level classes really enjoyed the lesson and were active participants, shouting out questions and generally having fun with it my mid level classes sat through it in a deep, deep torpor. Why such a drastic difference?
The high level classes all seem like they are friends. They are happy and willing to talk to each other. There is a jovial, fun atmosphere in the classroom. It’s palpable. Just as palpable is the reserve and indifference emanating from the mid level students. Strangely, many of these same students are my best friends in the corridor. But as soon as class starts they close down. In the methodology class on Saturday we watched a video example of teaching a class of university students. And it was great. But I would really like to see an example of a teacher dealing with a class like my mid level students and turning it into a great class. I just don’t even know how it would be possible.
I had a goal this week (courtesy of Agnes) to not use any Korean in the classroom. I was full of determination. This determination crumbled during my second class. I would have tried anything to get a response from these students. Instead the lessons were mainly teacher talk and more teacher talk.
My co-teacher seems to recognize the problem. She spends the whole lesson translating and telling them what to do in Korean. Now that I am more aware of the effect this has in the classroom it is really depressing.
I have no idea what to do about these classes.
I will have to think more about it after the weekend.
You know what? In a case like this I would make a pact with the co-teacher that no one would speak English. I would put some prompt on the Wb, model a q and A or discussion with the co-teacher, then pair up the Ss with partners not sitting next to them, and get them to join their new partners standing up and doing the PW exchange. Still standing, we'd go S to S for a bit (tossing a paper ball, perhaps, to activate ss and nominate them), doing some choral rep when necessary. With any resistance, I'd do physical exercises/stretching with accompanying language. And so on. What's next. Just ideas to adapt, consider, whatever.
ReplyDeleteSounds great! I'll try some of this next week and see how it goes. When you say stretching exercises what do you mean? Touch your toes? That kind of thing?
ReplyDeleteYes -- rolling the head around. Tip toes. Reaching up, down, around, rolling shoulders... all the while with choral repetition. Later, you can play around with 'Simon says' this way, and get different ss to be Simon. 3 or 4 minutes per class, injected when needed...
ReplyDelete