Middle School English (MG1 author - Mark Brown, MG2 - William Roszell, MG3 - 장영희)

[flips]

I think the toughest thing for me about these books is trying to pinpoint exactly what the book is trying to teach in each lesson. 

From my understand, here are the "targets" of the first lesson for each grade:

MG1 - Introducing oneself, what one is and likes

MG2 - Introductions of self and others, giving and accepting apologies

MG3 - "I'm looking forward to..." (future & lengths of time), "I'm interested in..." (expressing how you like things?)

Does this make sense to anyone else?

i think that you will be walking in quicksand if you attempt to tease out some logic or overarching plan in these lessons. i would suggest using the teacher's book for ideas if you are stumped. i don't think there is any idea governing each lesson. last year, i approached planning for the 2nd grade book the same way you are now and i was flummoxed, but now i'm of the belief that the best way to teach this book is to use a variety of short tasks/communicative activities, in groups, that use one or more of the speaking points in the lesson.

i actually believe that they have made our jobs much easier, by finally giving us a clear, if somewhat nonsensical, curriculum. also i have been pleasantly surprised, leafing through the teacher's book. they clearly made an effort to focus on communicative activities over rote memorization. however, many of the activities, as-is, are useless in most school settings, so they need to be modified, but at least it is a start.

there is a good section in one of Willis' teacher's doing task based education books where a teacher in a language school in japan describes how he integrated tasks while having a strict textbook-based curriculum. i believe the e-book is available online. also the I.S.P. Nation speaking book has many wonderful activities you could use.

[gookie]

listening and speaking only too

[bedheadredhead]

Yeah I'm also having trouble getting a clear theme out of these. I'm just trying to derrive something from the key sentences at the beginning and what is being said in the dialogue section. What was stated above sounds good to me.

[CherryBlossom]

This is my lesson 1 for 1st grade. Please change whatever you want to.

Hope it is helpfull to someone.

Good luck.

[karenology]

Here's my powerpoint for Grade 2, lesson 1. (edit: I'm using the 2009 edition.  Looking back at the posts in this thread, it's probably different from what everyone else has because there isn't any emphasis on using "never mind" or anything like that) 


The font I used is called 'Shark in the Water' and it's here: http://www.dafont.com/shark-in-the-water.font

At the end of the lesson, I plan on doing an activity to practice one of the grammatical structures in the "Language Closeup":  "She is going to _____ to ______."  Basically going to cut up two types of  sentences into strips: action sentences ("She is going to Busan") and motivation sentences ("She wants to see the ocean").  Will have action sentences printed on white paper and motivation sentences on yellow paper.  Then I'll pass these strips to the students, and then give them a short amount of time to find a partner.  Then they'll have to put the sentences together following the target grammatical pattern.

Not sure if this will go over very well, or how long it will take, as I haven't tried it yet.  Feedback and moderations welcome!

[CherryBlossom]

@karenology - very well done that is a very good lesson.

Thanks for sharing.

[Brimmy]

Hey Karen loving your graphics. Do you mind me asking where you got them from?

[karenology]

Thanks! 

I stole a lot of graphics from Natalie Dee, whose stuff is at http://nataliedee.com/.  Her comics are great!

[peasgoodnonsuch]

I've been using these books for 1st and 2nd grade for a year now and we finally switched our 3rd year book to match the series.

Personally, I have found the books quite helpful in serving as a guiding curriculum. I am required (loosely) to cover the listening and speaking, which I usually do over 2-3 weeks. I usually start my lessons with listening from the book, followed by elicitation of the vocab mentioned in the speaking sections. I prefer to make my own, more fun activities based on the things they're supposed to learn. Over the course of 2-3 weeks I try to get them what they need for their exam, some dialogue based on the vocab presented in the book (I often use the Talking Break, especially for the lower level classes), and at least one game to practice the grammar point they're learning with the Korean teachers. I've found that the speaking section usually ties into one or two of the grammar points, so it helps me justify doing grammar based games to my CTs.

The Activities books are rather useless when used alone because they're boring or unrealistically planned, but they have served as inspiration for me.

I've only flipped through the 3rd year book briefly, and I have to say I'm kind of disappointed. Our book last year sucked soooo badly, I had really pinned my hopes on this one. However, after reading the extremely awkwardly written "10,000 hours" reading passage (not to mention the twisting of history-Mozart WAS a genius and did not become one because of 10,000 hours of effort!) I'm worried.

****************************
That said, I'd like to ask for people's feedback on one idea I had for 3rd Year Lesson 1: The Dating Game.
As I flipped through and saw the phrases in the speaking  "why don't you" "I'm looking forward to" "I'm interested in" it all started to sound like a dating service or something-haha! So, I thought it would be kind of funny to write up dialogues between famous people on the dating show and have the kids act it out. Ex: G-Dragon is the bachelor seeking and the 3 bachelorette candidates are Sandara, Hyuna of 4Minute, and Sunny from Soshi.

My question: Do you think it's too embarrassing? I have a pretty comfortable relationship with my students, but I don't want to underestimate their ability to be shy-even in 3rd year.

Thanks for the input!

[ESmith4]

Thanks everybody for getting involved in this thread. Some great ideas coming out so far. I spent about an hour yesterday staring at the text books and then looking at some cool speaking games and ideas I had and having NO idea how the two could combine. The text certainly is a little dry and non-sensical. The ideas seem to bounce all over the place and never really have any consistency. At least I am not alone.

Any specific ideas for the listening section? Is it best just to do that as is in the book and worry more about the speaking bit?

[karenology]

peasgoodnonsuch: I think some of my 3rd graders have boyfriends and girlfriends (from what I've heard from my gossip girls at lunch), but it's still very much a taboo thing, and my kids (boys and girls) will turn beet red if accused of having a boyfriend/girlfriend.  Maybe your kids are more extroverted, but talking about dating AND acting out stuff might be a little much.

There was this awesome valentine's day lesson posted last month, that included a worksheet where students weighed various qualities in a desired partner - would you rather have a beautiful girlfriend who is mean, or an average looking girlfriend who is very sweet? and questions like that.   My kids got waaay into this activity.  Maybe you could do something like that?  Here's the thread; I think the worksheet might be a couple posts down. http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,3485.0.html

[flips]

here is the 3rd grade - lesson 1 materials (plan and worksheet)

the worksheet is rather long, and obviously the Ss wont be able to finish during the class. since they are in groups my hope is that within each group they will have completed enough to be able to combine what they wrote down and practice speaking in conversation/dialog form. hopefully when they combine answers they will also negotiate meaning as well. i'm going to have the intermediate and high level classes complete the worksheets for homework and check them once a week/month.

i hope this works out and gets them using the target language in conversation while understanding it contextually. my hope is that as they become more comfortable working in groups and doing short communicative tasks that they will need to write less and less first, and be more willing and able to extemporize. likely my optimism is unrealistic and bred from a very long vacation and camps with higher level motivated students.


best

[summerthyme]

Have you listened to the dialogue from pg 10 of the 3rd grade textbook?  I've been trying not to sit here and giggle all afternoon.

READY pt B (pg 10)

M: Look at this website!

W: Oh, it's Great Boy!  Are you interested in him?

M: Are you kidding?  I love him!  He's awesome!

W: Well, I find his songs too loud.  They bother me a little.

M:  No way!  Come on!  Why don't you join me at his concert?

W:  I'm sorry.  I would rather stay home.  I prefer to relax.

I love the robotic voices and obvious put-down. 

[nzaslow]

I teach 1st and 3rd. While I used the 1st grade book last year, we just got the 3rd year one - and like everyone else, I'm a little disappointed with it.
Anyway, my school's students are very low level, so my class is really an experiment in listening and understanding spoken English.

My stuff would prob only be useful if you're also teaching low level students. Here's the PPT + handout for 1styear/ch01.

[peasgoodnonsuch]

Does anyone know what the Speaking instructions are for the page about school clubs? My teacher's book doesn't provide a translation and neither does the CD-ROM...


****Excuse My Vent****
GAH! Why aren't the language points separated out more in the material?? I like to teach one point at a time, but all the listening and speaking sections combine them. If the CT's haven't taught them gerunds yet, I can't very well do the "I'm interested in" bit and still expect them to get it. Grr.... And what on earth does the present perfect progressive have to do with anything else in this chapter?! My poor little 3rd years will have their heads swimming with "ing"...

[frappps]

Here are some slides i made for reviewing some of the vocab for Grade 3 Lesson 1.

[karenology]

Add another one to the mix for Grade 3, lesson 1 plus some worksheets.  I'm working with the 2010 version.  I don't really consult with my co-teachers about what to emphasize in the chapter, hence why the powerpoint seems like a totally random grab-bag of ideas (much like the chapter itself!)

[ESmith4]

Great stuff karenology, EXACTLY what i'm looking for. Easy to follow, straightforward ideas. Thanks!

[karenology]

^^Thanks!

Whoever is modding this thread, please add this lesson to the first post under Grade 2,  "Invasion of Christmas Island": http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,2105.0.html

This saved my bacon last semester!

[summerthyme]

Has anyone considered doing the "Are You Romeo?" activity for grade one from page 15 of the activity book.  I thought I might give it a go, but I'm have problems thinking of enough couples/groups for my students.  Here's what I've got so far:


Romeo / Juliet

Homer Simpson / Marge Simpson / Bart Simpson    / Lisa Simpson      Maggie Simpson

Ash / Pikachu / Charmander

Spongebob / Patrick / Sandy / Squidworth / Gary

Batman / Robin

Mickey Mouse / Minnie Mouse

My only concern is that it might be too hectic for a first grade classroom with 30+ students.  However, I'm really trying to think of some sort of active activity for the end of my second class that gets EVERYONE speaking.  I'm already doing introduction line races.