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Help with after-school English Conversation class

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Jayne:
My after-school class last semester was complete chaos. I had students hanging out the windows and throwing mirrors around; every handout I gave them turned into either a paper airplane or just got crumpled up and thrown at someone. So take comfort in knowing you are NOT the only one!

I found the best things to do were to play class games so you had all of their attention at the same time- they love individual white boards if you can get ahold of some. Or having a small game or activity for a group of about 4 students. (I have grouped seats in my classroom.) My best piece of advice is don't try to teach them anything new. Use the after-school class to focus on review and get them to reproduce things they know. If they have to pay attention and actually try you will lose them for sure! Also I ended up using a lot of candy for that class to keep them motivated. I started a system where 3 completed worksheets would earn them a candy and I collected all worksheets at the end of classes.   

I ended up showing 3 movies throughout the semester to my after-school class bc they were so bad. (My co-teacher told me to, on the grounds that nobody could see what I was doing anyhow.)

Good luck to you! Remember: KEEP IT SHORT AND SIMPLE :)

sinazo:
I also just started teaching and I too had my first after school conversation class just last week...and yes it was terrible. Thanks for sharing this on the site, i was starting to feel like I was just a terrible teacher but now i see that it is a normal first experience. We learn as we go i guess and just as much as we have something to teach the kids, they too have stufdf to teach us -about their abilities, their interests ect and we will learn that over time and our lessons will hopefully be better suited for our students. I say, chin up and try again.

HoosierTeacher:
Agreed! It's unfortunate that all our classes have been awful, but it's nice to know I'm not the only one. I have an afterschool class for 3rd graders every Friday from 3:30-5pm. Needless to say, my kids are checked out, and I'm struggling not to be. Thanks for the advice! I think i'll stick to review games and maybe some movies. Definitely using battleship!

gbs921:
Some good ideas, thank you!

EmMargaret:
Hey,
I'm sorry to hear that you class isn't going well. One of mine just changed into a conversation class and the students refuse to speak in English, only Korean. I wish I could give some advice, but I can only offer empathy.
Thanks for the battleship game though.

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