First, don't worry.  Second, you should be blessed that you get to teach what you want and do not have to follow a really bad text.  I would say start each class with a hook, something to grab their attention like a video or song.  There are plenty of videos on this site that you can use to get students describing what they saw.  As for the sleeping thing, don't worry.  My teachers say to let them sleep although I try to not allow it. While my school emphasizes speaking, I'm not sure about yours.  I use set dialogue that they have to speak out loud and I work on their prononciation that way.  Best of luck!

I know exactly how you feel. I was told the same thing when I started. To get them talking. I found the students quite shy when they first met me. An early lesson I did was a culture class, introducing them to Canada followed by a class asking them to tell me about Korea. In my class the kids used  old newspapers and made collages about their culture. They had to include sports figures, politicians, celebrities, food, language and some historical information. As they were working on their collages I went around the room and sat at each table asking questions. They seemed more comfortable talking in a small group and were eager to share their culture with me. They then presented them to the class. Posting them on "the best of the best" wall really helped as well. They are very creative and artistic. I think it eased the kids into knowing me and made them more comfortable in my classroom.

It helps when their english level is shakey to have powerpoints explaining what you are doing. Many of the kids will have a hard time with listening but can read what you mean, or at least pick out enough of the words to grasp it. I teach alone and the whole whatever I want thing, so I usually get my point across for what we are doing with a powerpoint and the help of a higher-level students (and of course, awesome charade skills!) When you are choosing lessons etc. make sure you always have an example handy of what you want them to do, and for any writing, it will really help them to have sentences half formed so they just have to finish them/insert their answers. They almost never have to write in their curriculum, so they are at a loss when asked to make sentences. Getting one correct sentence can often take five of them together so unless it's a game, I try to make it really easy! Just try to keep it fun and a bit interesting, the longer you're here the easier it will be for you to play to their interests and such. Best of luck!

This works well for me: http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,4763.0.html
See if there's anything you can use and let me know...

Hello,

I will also start teaching High School grade 1 and 2 from Wed.  In fact, I will use vitamin d's intro ppt.  Or I'll be sure to make sure I have the ppt just in case.  I asked if I needed to prepare anything I was just told to be on time so I don't know if I'm teaching this week.

One idea I've had is to do a bingo game...having (hopefully) been asked lots of questions.  I will write 15 key words on the board.  The students need to write down any three words. They play pass the ball and when the music stops a student needs to make a sentence using one of the key words from the board.  If they can do it everybody can cross out the word.  If not then that's o.k just continue the game.

The winner will get some candy.

Hope things went well for you.  I'm teaching HS grade 1.  I had them break into groups of 4 to come up with questions for me, and then had one from each group stand up and say the question.  I'm not sure if it's ideal, but it worked really well, and I could generally get a few follow ups from the kids.

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I started out with a ppt and then played two truths and a lie. I added another simple game too and it's worked out well.

I'm a new teacher in Cheonan, working at a lower level high school, teaching 1st and 2nd years.  I talked with my head teacher, and he told me to just teach what I think should be taught.  I have some textbooks (in Korean), and I'm trying to figure out where to start.  The fact that I'm starting in the 2nd semester makes it all the more confusing. 

If you have any advice on where to begin, and how to build a coherent lesson map for the semester, please let me know.

I'm in a similar position where my co-teacher (who I have still yet to meet) has been away on business, and hasn't given any indication on what I should be teaching, and what he has taught the students already, so it's getting to the point where I think I should just make a semester plan.  Thank you to the previous poster for explaining how one might go about that.  Just one further question:

I have middle and high school students whose English actually seems very reasonable.  I was thinking about asking them about things they want to learn and things they think are important, since they already seem very keen students.  Unless, do you think it would be a bad idea to do so?

Thanks for any help you may have

Week 1 - introduction of yourself and you getting to know your students.  So make it all interactive, both ways.  Keep it simple.  Tell a story too.  Meet with the co-teachers and set the expectations of each other's roles so that there are no misunderstandings down the road.  There will be an expectation gap between training from orientation and the reality of the teachers' dispositions.

Week 2 - class rules.  Do a lesson or activity around class rules.  Make it creative and interactive.  Very important to make the rules clear upfront.  For the first month, show your clear authority over the class - you may be fun, approachable, and make students laugh, but you are still to be respected with authority.  This is very important!  Be consistent with the execution and maintenance of rules. 

1.  Always create fun, more exciting lessons the week before and after the exam week. 

2.  As a rule of thumb, make lessons that are real life English, that they can use and have fun with.  For low level high school students, they don't care about English - based on your description, I gather that most of them don't plan to go to a university.  So they are not score sensitive.  The speaking class has a low perceived value for the students.  They may come with the attitude that this is the class I can relax in because it has a native teacher; and I don't have to take it seriously.  So do something that will be fun and useful, not academic.  Text messaging lesson.  Facebook.  Internet shopping.  Process of making a music video and they being a director or producer.  How to travel internationally - make their own passport, getting a visa.  How to make a pizza.

3.  Keep the target expressions short.  Vocabulary, between 3 to 5.  Do either an expression or the vocabulary, but not both together - it may be too much for them. 

4.  Repetition drill.

5.  They are less likely to participate if they have to speak solo.  They feel more safe and secure if they work with a partner or a group and then speak - you'll have more success this way.

6.  Establish a goal - each student must produce at least one sentence for that class period.  This is realistic when you  have a small class, though.

7.  They may have a hard time with a lesson that gives them too many choices, space, and freedom to come up with something creative (coming up with something from a blank slate).  Creative thinking is not easy for many students because they are used to/conditioned to just follow.  If you do a task like this, then you may need to give them 15 to 20 minutes.

8.  Guessing is fun for them. 

9.  Think about any recent events in Korea or some news within pop culture.  Create a lesson that they can relate to.  For example, the girl who recently won from Korea's Got Talent.

10.  Use visuals they can connect to - a famous Korean celebrity, or popular TV shows or movies in Korean pop culture.

11.  Do one pop song - but don't do it too much.  Many students will request learning pop songs if you ask them what they want to learn.

12.  Whenever you do a lesson in which they have to speak up, let the class know that there is no wrong answer, no right answer - this is particularly so for conversation lessons.

13.  Do not do a 2+ week project lesson until after mid-terms.  Give students time to get to know each other.  They will not speak to each other if they don't know each other.  Unless they are introduced by a third person, it is difficult for them to just start engaging with someone they don't know.  You'll see this more with 1st graders.  If the 2nd grade classes are homeroom classes, they will be more comfortable with each other.  If your 2nd grade classes are mixed, then students who know each other may end up sitting next to each other.  If you have them seated next to students from a different class, there is a chance they don't know each other and they will participate less for a few weeks.  So doing group work is always key.

If I have more tips, I'll share them.  But these are top of mind!  Please do email me separately if you need help with anything.  I taught at a commercial high school, low English.  Now I am at a regular high school.