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Author Topic: Entertaining high school students...  (Read 1518 times)

Offline wtl0715

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Entertaining high school students...
« on: September 11, 2012, 10:12:25 AM »
I have read through many threads that include ideas and lesson plans for low-level high school classes, but I've found that very few are usable in my classes.  The problem is that most of them still aim way too high.  These plans count on participation, which is simply not an option.  Co-teachers in those classes don't speak much (if any) English, so ANYTHING that requires an explanation of rules is out of the question.

The bottom line is that I need ideas and lesson plans whose only purpose is to entertain them.  There can be no handouts or worksheets - they will not be used no matter what I say or do.  If the lesson plan even involves a requirement that students raise their hands, I cannot use it.  This basically leaves me with media-heavy games and SUPER simple lessons that might get them engaged without needing to understand much English.

I am confident there are lesson plans that fit my needs, but I'm having trouble finding them.  Please share any lesson plans or strategies for getting them involved.  Please don't give me general advice: "find out what they like and build a lesson plan around that."  I need specific ideas that do not require ANYTHING of the students.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Offline Jaunter

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Re: Entertaining high school students...
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2012, 10:45:47 AM »
If they are so low level that they can't respond to simple commands you can probably use the elementary section of this site. It's full of image heavy bomb games that have themes varying from K-pop to video games. Check out the subcategories here: http://www.waygook.org/index.php/topic,7649.0.html
You are going to have to do some digging, but find what target English you want to teach them such as "I would like to use the bathroom," etc and go from there. Best of luck!
ยด_ゝ`) ...

Offline koreantexan

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Re: Entertaining high school students...
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2012, 10:49:03 AM »
Hi big fella! :-)

I have a few lesson plans that I can send to you. I don't use worksheets either, but mainly what I have gets the students talking. I'll hit you up on facebook or send it to you through e-mail.

Offline SBracken

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Re: Entertaining high school students...
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2012, 10:59:16 AM »
Don't sell yourself short as the leader. I've explained miraculous things to my students using only charades, examples, and demos. Their participation, on the other hand, depends on the day...

Now, you specifically ask NOT for general advice. That you're going to have to deal with a bit since no one other than *you* knows your class. No one on these boards can tell you, 'hey! such and such an activity, man, I guarantee it to work perfectly for your class!' Also, your students sound like they might resemble mine a bit. If that's truly the case (and for your sake, I hope it's not), probably NO lesson will ever go 100% smoothly.

Try group activities that pit the students against each other (ie they must complete X activity first). Personally, I do have a rewards system, so usually I'll give the first group to finish 2 stamps, and other groups to finish 1 stamp. Groups that don't finish don't get a stamp. (in my system, 7 stamps, and they can come get a prize from me, usually a cheap bag of chips, a bottle of bubbles, pack of erasers, etc.)

Taboo, charades, and pictionary are all fantastic games for students of all levels. There are running/matching games, spot-the-difference... do a search for 'master game list' on here. Oh, and don't totally rule out handouts. Usually, yea, they'll just get torn to bits and, quite literally, tossed to the wind. But simple things like wordsearches, or maybe even really REALLY simple crossword puzzles (though that could be a stretch). Or again, matching games, or flashcards- those could be on paper as well, and viable options.

I've had to build and plan an entire 'curriculum' from scratch for my schools (3: 1 high school, 2 middle schools), and my high school is by far the lowest level. The vast majority of my students can't tell me "My name is..." or "Can I go to the bathroom?". as in 90% vast majority. There's zero discipline, and I have zero support from the school or my CT. Get creative with the above suggestions, drag them out as much as you can by revamping them again and again. Also, try to find out what they're studying in their main English class, and see if you can work that vocab into your lesson- they might pay more attention when what you're teaching becomes relevant to their academic grade.

Good luck!

Offline wtl0715

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Re: Entertaining high school students...
« Reply #4 on: September 11, 2012, 11:36:58 AM »
Jaunter - I will definitely look into the middle school stuff.

Bracken - It sounds like we are in exactly the same school.  I teach 3 middle school and 2 high school grades.  I'm an EPIK teacher, but somehow I was placed in a super low-level hagwon out in the country.  I only have one coteacher who speaks more than very basic English.  I think about 80% of my high school students speak no English.  Every day I ask kids, "how are you?"  and they say, ".....I....18....old."  That is, of course, when they don't just walk away.

You're right, there is no such thing as a sure thing.  I'm only in my second semester, but I learned that pretty quickly.  Fortunately, I'm getting better at guessing which lessons will flop and which will keep them engaged for most of the class.

I found something this morning that might be a good option for others in a similar situation.  It's a Ripley's Believe it or Not bomb game.  The person who made it did a good job with the PPT design, but the writing and grammar in the slides were horrible (over-complicated sentences and poor grammar).  I have attached a cleaned-up version.

Offline JLCutler

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Re: Entertaining high school students...
« Reply #5 on: September 11, 2012, 01:25:44 PM »
I'm with ya.  I spent a year at a boys' high school and now I'm at a girls' technical school.  I can still use much of what I learned last year teaching-wise but have to learn entirely new motivational techniques.  I prefer to use the students' imaginations as my main tool but I'm afraid I'll have to fall back on using bright and flashy visual aids and lowering my expectations even more.

Maybe after another couple weeks I'll have some answers that I can share with you.  Until then it's an uphill climb....

Offline JeremyC

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Re: Entertaining high school students...
« Reply #6 on: September 11, 2012, 02:05:24 PM »
maybe you can really simplify the messages you want to convey. For example if the target language is "I'll do my homework tomorrow" just use PPTs to explain 'homework' and 'tomorrow' - leave grammar for the co-teachers.

On your powerpoint stick on 'Homework', the Korean if your co-teacher will oblige, and one or more things from here;
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=homework+funny+gif&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=zqlOUN_AE-6yiQefiIGgCw&biw=1280&bih=933&sei=0alOUOuKEeiYiAeI54HABw#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=homework+gif&oq=homework+gif&gs_l=img.3..0j0i24.10074.10074.0.10634.1.1.0.0.0.0.64.64.1.1.0...0.0...1c.1.ueIKGySeN48&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=10c53ddab7ce066e&biw=1280&bih=933

Try that sort of thing out on your classes and see how they respond.
It's nice to be important but more important to be nice.

 

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