Thank you for starting this discussion. I'm in a similar boat as I am expected to create my lessons from scratch. So far, i've created my first lesson for next week-- introduction with a language focus ("I wonder..."). Please keep the ideas coming.

I know the 3rd years are basically just there to learn for the exam, but I've been working on something and I was hoping to ask some people who have been here a bit if it's a waste of time. Essentially, what they are covering is reading comprehension with piles of vocab being thrown at them by the dozen. What I've been doing is taking any bits of vocab that seem challenging and breaking it down into simple definitions for them to understand. Some of this stuff would be tough for native speakers, so I thought it might help them. I know a lot of the students probably won't give it a glance, but I figure if it would be a help for at least a few, it'd be worthwhile. Just wondering if any one has tried this and if they've achieved any success.

Thanks everyone for helping me out with this.

I think I have developed a decent timetable and an overarching theme: Express yourself.  I'll be working on this for 3 weeks, and constantly review it later.  It focuses on the basics of Introducing yourself, expressing a basic opinion (i think/feel/am), and then adjectives to describe feelings/thoughts. 

I will use these as the review for further lessons, such as:
Restaurant: What is your favorite food?  Do you think ____ restaurant was good?  Why?  How does the food make you feel? etc.
Directions: How does it feel to be lost?  Do you think the directions were good?, etc.

Yes, this has been a very informative thread to read.  I have four different levels of English competency in my classes of 1st Graders.  Keeping them interested is hard enough but it's also extraordinarily difficult to plan for those who are almost fluent as opposed to those who cannot begin to formulate a sentence.

There's another thread about a lesson plan in which "Fear Factor" videos are shown and then groups are given packets with questions to ask such as, "Tell us about a scary dream you've had," "Are you afraid of getting old," and, "Is there any place in town that you are afraid to go to at night?"  This lesson, to me, is GREAT but I have no idea how to keep my boys interested in the activity for half an hour (and certainly don't know how to keep them speaking in English instead of Korean).

Yeah, I think that's very true. 

I think the 3rd graders have so much on their plate, just your presence in the class here and there will really perk up their days.  There is a Biology teacher at my school who sees the benefits of me just being a refreshing change and drags me in to talk about "Australian Animals" or whatever else he can think of lol.  The students really like it.  You can tell that so many students are snowed under with homework and the stresses of Uni entrance exams etc, that they escape into these dreams worlds of K-pop stars and dramas.  I think we can provide a little bit of that freedom and inspiration in the classroom, talking about our travels and our lives and it makes a big difference.  I think it's often a topic of conversation on here as to what our real role is as a GET but honestly, in my school, I am just there to inspire and motivate them and my teachers are really happy with that being the role I play.  I rarely teacher a lesson focused on a grammar point or dialogue or whatever.  I tend to talk about a topic they'll find interesting and that I can talk about with experience and then give them a worksheet and walk the class talking to them about it. 

I'm in a high level school so that helps.  I think we can offer a lot in terms of motivation and inspiration without getting too bogged in grammar and vocab! I have coteachers in my lessons though (I just told them they don't need to come and most of them jumped at that offer haha) but if I did have  a coteacher, yeah, doing idioms and fun explanations sounds like a great way to teach 3rd grade. They must love it.

Poor kids are always sleepy lol.  Not surprising considering how hard they work.

Hi everyone!

So I am new at teaching and will be teaching at an all girls HS in Korea. I will only be here for three months and my focus will be on speaking and free writing. For the first week of classes, I decided to have the students introduce themselves, so that I will be able to see their proficiency levels as well as give them the opportunity to speak. So far, some teachers have really enjoyed my classes,  while other have said that the topic is way too elementary, but offer no suggestiosn. The problem is, students who have presented, have a hard time speaking and understanding my follow-up questions that are as simple as "What type of music do you like? Can you give me a favorite artist?, etc" I understand that these students may know many vocabularies, but when it comes to speaking, they can't do it. I am a little confused and stressed as to what to do and would like suggestions; what should I do? What should I present for next class? And overall any sugggestions would be welcomed! I hope to hear from everyone soon!!!

Yours truly

This might seem a bit strange, but it might just be the form that you're asking the questions.. Koreans generally learn one form of how to ask questions.. For example, they may not know type, but they should know kind, they probably wouldn't understand 'can you give me a favorite artist' but they should know 'who is your favorite artist'

Also they can probably do more than they're showing you right now. I found with my high school students the first few weeks they were super shy and afraid to make mistakes. Once they got to know me better and felt more comfortable in class they started trying to speak a lot more and taking risks.

In general try to stick with stuff they'll be interested in, and stuff they'll encounter/use in their daily lives. I'd agree with Kaymac about using powerpoint but just don't overdo it. Also they're dead on about the examples. Koreans don't really learn free writing, or really any English writing. My university students struggle to put together longer sentences so giving your students a ton of examples and having them use the forms you give them by just plugging in different info to make the sentences true for them will help them see the syntax better. I hope that makes sense....

Always give examples.  Suggest certain sentence structures and pass out worksheets with the same information.  It may be review for the more advanced students, but especially for the struggling students it will be a lot easier for you to point to the board when they just stare at you like you're speaking gibberish.

I'm with you on writing it on the board. I always tried to write pretty much everything on the board that I was saying. Giving students visuals to go with your speech, even if its something as simple as a sentence form, can be really helpful. This is especially true once you assign them to an activity, whether it be to make their own sentences, talk with a partner or group, etc. I found handouts just made for a ton of work for me and killed a lot of trees and my students would either put them away right away or not really read them or use them during activities. Save some trees.

Thank you for all your suggestions! :) I really appreciate it.

Actually, I was thinking about using High School Musical as the theme for all my classes. Every class, students will watch about 10 minutes of the movie and then based on the clips, we will have a themes (first day of class, extracurricular activities, etc), vocabulary and slangs that we can disucss about. Maybe some times I will have games to go along. What do you think?

My suggestion would be to just spend some time reading through the various games and such in this high school board, to familiarize yourself with the types of topics and activities that go well in high school classes. Start on the "Lesson Plan Master List", to get an overview of topics, then go through the whole board, page by page, to check out things that sound interesting to you. A lot of time you need to learn by trial and error in your first few weeks. It also wouldn't hurt to do a needs analysis in each of your classes, to get an idea of what your students are interested in, and what they think is important to focus on in class.

There are several icebreaker games/activities posted somewhere on the board, so look for those to get you started. Then I would recommend compiling a list of topics you want to do, and make yourself something of a curriculum for the rest of your semester. Keep your students' needs, interests and proficiency levels in mind. After you make your curriculum, go through each of the topics you have selected and alter them to your tastes and teaching objectives. NEVER go to class without looking through the materials first and getting familiar with them. The students will know if you haven't a clue what you are doing, and will take advantage of that, plus you don't want to give your co-teacher an impression of lack of teaching ability. Take notes as to how each class goes, and make some changes accordingly, to improve things.

Later, when you feel more comfortable, you can try making some of your own lessons, and then share them on here.