Check out www.eslgamesworld.com for interactive and printable games and material. Find a powerpoint from this website and a reinforcement game from that one. Hope that helps a little.

The first semester of this year, I was pretty bound to the textbook, but it was up to me how to deliver the content. The textbook just gave me the subject of the lesson and the key expressions to focus on.

Now at the beginning of second semester I just found out that I don't have to use any textbook in my class and it is totally up to me what to teach. I really like not being bound to the textbook as it was somewhat tedious and not the most useful lesson topics. (An entire chapter on geysers? seriously?) But without the focus and direction of the book I'm kind of floundering with what to do. What do the rest of you who don't use a textbook do?

Some background: I'm at a fairly low level all boys high school in Seoul. Each class has around 30 students and I see them twice every three weeks. I would love to try some long term Project Based Learning and let the students express themselves creatively, but I think with my schedule, student level, and classroom size, projects like creating plays and movies won't work well.

Any suggestions you have would be appreciated.

DEFINITELY make your own curriculum. as soon as you can draw yourself an outline you can keep fleshing out over the year/semester. last semester, when I was a total newbie, they dropped me in with a 'go teach'. no book, no CT, definitely no high-level students, 6 grades middle and high.

Now that I know how to work it, it's the perfect mix of both options- you have a guideline and a schedule to work with, but sooo much freedom.

Personally, I just took themes I remember working with in first and second-year languages, and just made them into 2 or 3 classes. (food, stuff around the house, etc.) I'll take a random single class now and again to practice something really specific, like pronunciation, or articles.

A longish project that worked for me was making a newspaper. The more confident students can conduct interviews or make stories, while the less confident can take care of the design/make comic strips etc. Good luck!

First find out if it's academic or vocational / technical. This will most seriously affect your approach. If it's academic, for the first two years they'll follow a textbook you can use and / or supplement.

That's my situation, except I have no experience with teaching what so ever. I've been doing fine the first month I have been here. When I started I was also very much worried about having no textbook to follow. My highschool is an academic school, but my co-teachers have told me that I do not need to follow any textbooks.

What I have been doing with my grade one highschoolers is basic thinks that they may use English in. For example travelling, I also taught them idioms, because I think we use a lot of idiom in regular life, and it would help them understand people better if they know more idioms. My ideas usually come from my students or my co-teacher (she gave me the idea for idioms). I am planning to do a lesson about smart phones because the kids got all excited when they saw my Samsung Galaxy Note.

My second graders are a bit different, because the co-teachers want me to try to get them to learn what's in the textbook, so I've just been picking out phrases and using different topics, so they don't know they are learning from the textbook.

I am with EPIK, so I am not sure if you are in the same boat, but highschoolers are probably easier to teach as they have more English and can understand you, at the same time they are unmotivated if the material you are teaching is not being tested (especially true for academic schools), but try to make something that's interesting for them, or they can relate to. I think that helps a lot.

Anyone who knows a bit of Korean could tell you if it's academic from its website or even name.

I teach at both an academic and a technical high school (in addition to an elementary school). At the technical school I only teach the 1st year students at the academic I teach 1st, 2nd and 3ed year students. I teach the same lesson all week with modifications made for grade level/English capabilities.

I taught English abroad before where I had to come up with all my own lessons so I didn't completely freak out when I first arrived and they told me that I would have to come up with lessons on my own. However, I was concerned because I didn't know the students' capabilities and my earliest lessons where probably too difficult - especially for the technical students. 

It can be difficult to guess what might interest students so I start out the school year asking them what they want to learn. Some suggestions - music, movies, zombies, actors/actresses, soccer, Michael Jackson, fashion around the world and American economy.

Basically my method for coming up with a lesson each week is I brainstorm on the topic and/or target language. I keep a notebook at my desk where I write down possible lesson topics and ideas which has helped me keep somewhat organized. I feel my role is to help students become comfortable actually speaking English so I don't stress grammar all that much. I believe the Korean English teachers do that. I try to keep the phrase, vocabulary, etc relatively simple with opportunities to use them throughout class. Once I determine what the topic will be I look for inspiration on waygook and other websites. I like to make my own powerpoints so it fits the flow of my teaching but I get a lot of ideas from online.

Here are a few of the topics I've taught (with varying degrees of success - they all go over well at the academic school but the technical school is a completely different matter)
Descriptions (using photos of famous actors and actresses)
Music
American High School
St. Patrick's Day
Halloween
Vacation
Hobbies
Body Art
Zombies
Food - different tastes (I'm working on a follow up lesson focused on "bizarre" foods around the world)

I think Sandies point of trying to come up with lessons that are interesting and something that they can relate to is quite good. I know if the lesson is engaging many of the students will participate. It can be difficult and I struggle with it each week but it is getting easier and I do enjoy teaching my own lessons versus using the book (which I have to do at the elementary school and I'm quite awful at it).

I teach first and 2nd grade. My school is all leveled, but I teach them all the same material, it's just a matter or having to spend more time on explanations for the lower levels, and giving them more time to do certain activities. I usually change the way I present my lesson plans on a whim, but only smaller changes.

For the first few weeks I taught the first and 2nd grade the same stuff, and that drove me insane because I am teaching the same stuff 23 times a week. So now I have different things for my 1st and 2nd graders, so I do 2 lesson planning a week, which is not too bad at all. I am planning to reuse some of the 2nd grade ones in my 1st grade but at different times, so I don't go insane.

I don't think you have anything to worry about I teach high school and the lessons that I teach are purely up to me. The only thing I will say that you need to find out immediately is the level of which your students can speak English. For instance, the school that I teach at now, their level is very low, but on the other hand I am use to teaching high level students. So depending on the level you teach and what you have experience with that may be your only difficulty other than that teaching high school is easier than it may appear at first.