Author Topic: Introductory Lesson For High School Girls Class - Looking for Feedback (Read 379 times)

nimrand · « **on:** August 31, 2013, 04:49:36 PM »

I'm flying into South Korea Monday night, and I was informed last minute that I would have five classes to teach the next day. So, I'm kinda scrambling to get a lesson plan together. I'm going to be teaching at an all-girls high school. The language proficiencies in the classes will vary greatly. And, from what I'm told from the former teacher there, the curriculumn is wide open. I can basically teach whatever I want, as long as its English. Also, I won't have the same co-teacher each class, they rotate between about 5 of them. Other than that, I don't know much about the classes or the students.

Based on how the former teacher described how the classes are organized, and given the fact that the semester has already started, I'm assuming that the students already know eachother, so my focus for this class is on me to get to know the students (and assess their English level) and vice-versa.

Anyway, I was just hoping to get some feedback on my lesson plan to make sure I didn't commit any faux paus or glaring errors.

Basically, the start of the lesson I will introduce myself and present a little about myself. I've got pictures of my house and pet, family, where I used to work (I read elsewhere on the forum that the students find that sort of stuff interesting).

From there, I planned to do the "My name is ___, and I like ___" game, where the second blank should be filled in with either a school subject or an activity they like. I give a number of examples on the slide for those students who have a limited English vocabulary. I start it off saying my name and that I like math, and then I toss a ball to a student and they will tell me their name and something they like. The student then tosses the ball to another and the process repeats.

Then I planned to do 3 rounds of Fact or Fiction (or 2 truths and a lie), where I say two things that are true about me and one that isn't, and the students have to guess which is untrue.

Finally, the teacher I'm replacing has told me that he managed to get most of the students to write self introductions, and so I could have them present those in the last 10-15 minutes of the class.

I expect that students will ask questions (which I will encourage), especially during my introduction, so that will fill up some, too. However, in the unlikely case that this doesn't fill up the full 50 minutes, I planned to have some slides with the "Off Word Out" game on them, where I present 5 words and students have to figure out which doesn't belong.

I also have some Jolly Ranchers to bring as treat for students in case I need an extra incentive to get students to interact and participate.

I'm attaching my presentation, though I'm still working on the Fact/Fiction slides. I've done a lot of workshops with highschool and middle school students, but this will be my first time teaching in a classroom setting (and in South Korea in particular), so any and all feedback will be appreciated.

You can also download the PPT here (the download may be faster): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32137891/Introduction%20Presentation.ppt

bird212 · « **Reply #1 on:** August 31, 2013, 07:46:58 PM »

I think your idea sounds good. I just started this week at an all girls school as well and I think it just takes a few random activities to assess their language use. They'll love an intro and should have lots of questions to ask, especially if you're a girl.

Wintermute · « **Reply #2 on:** September 01, 2013, 11:56:27 AM »

im dling your ppt now, its taking time. real quick though before i totally look it over. you mentioned having the students ask questions. not to talk lightly of your unknown ability, but the biggest mistake I've seen made is super high expectations. The KT does this as well. so here we go.

Make sure they have pen and paper, and tell them they have 5 minutes to work with a partner or group to think of a question or two.

I have seen so many train wrecks of introduction lessons of new teachers, myself included thanks to Korean and Japanese Teachers. A teacher will ask "what questions do you have for me?", stand there scared and nervous, thinking they are doing bad, because the students are not responding. Seriously, do not fret, take your time, give them time. your biggest enemy may be the KT, (was for me), they may be yelling at the students to give answers and what not, just tell them to chill, say its coooo yo its coo. idk why, i guess KTs get nervous around new foreigners or something. I had one older male slamming a stick on desks, had japanese teachers wait 1 second before shaking with nerves giving Ss questions to ask me, hahaha. I saw one foreigner near lose it in front of the students, and another foreigner correct the students questions, uggghh, DO NOT CORRECT THEIR ENGLISH...unless you want to destroy and kill their spirit, and never have them speak to you again.

Understand that English is their 2nd language, and it takes time for them to process what you say, even more time to formulate an answer to give to you. Be sure to have example questions for them to look over, because you said they are mixed level. Chances are they don't know how to write a sentence. Those are my HSers. so have a basic "template". And don't be surprised if the questions are not great.

Wintermute · « **Reply #3 on:** September 01, 2013, 12:38:07 PM »

Annnnd I'm back. Just looked at your PPT.

1: Make dem pictures hella bigger son. I'm not sure, guessing but...you will have upwards to 36 students. those girls be football fields away from your projector. they aint gonna see your living room or your daddys smilin face, or most everything else.

2. you visit a lot of places, great, show where those places are in connection to Korea, or in connection to your home. have a map, show them where korea is, and then hawaii. show em where your home is and where hawaii is, ask them the furthest they have been from home.

3. what is your cats name. more cat pictures, these are girls. but dont come off as some weird creepy cat guy. prior to kitty pics ask them if they think you have a cat or dog, if they seem more talkative ask why. having interaction during the speech is good and keeps them awake. ask them to show you pics of their dog.

4. show some fun pictures of Kansas. this will be difficult. I lived in MO most years of my life, nothing to show there, but I went to AZ for college, which gave me options. but surely you can find something more fun than town hall. isnt branson in kansas?

5.you have text, personally I'd say it is not needed. they are simple words that most high schoolers will know when spoken. and this will give you more room to make the pictures bigger.

6. totes no offense braj, but "where you used to work"....snooooorrree. take it out.

7. each picture can be its own slide, and some pics can be taken out, such as; "a museum lobby desk", and "bald mans head", and "where you use to work".

8. they maaaayyy have seen LotR and The Hobbit. you could talk about that in connection with NZ. I wouldn't, but I'm not you.

9. seems you have links that go off to internet sites. you have good communication with the current teacher, so I'm sure you have more insight on this than I do, but I will say, be careful, there is a very good chance you won't have internet, and if you do, the comps may suck, and yada yada yada, things can go wrong. so be careful there. best to keep it simple til you have a good grasp of your surroundings.

10. change fact or fiction to true or false. just a personal note.

11. your true or false game doesn't make a whole lot of sense. You only have one slide, yet you want to do 3 rounds. If you are hoping you can say 3 facts about yourself and have the students understand and remember them all, you are grossly mistaken.

My suggestion. Write each fact down with either 1, 2, 3, or, A, B, C. use or dont use pictures (your choice). and like I said before, give them time. don't stand there and ask, "which do you think is false?", cus 2 seconds of blank quiet staring will feel like 30 seconds, to a minute, to 5 minutes, you will rain sweat, the KT will grab a bucket and throw it under your pits.

Heres an option. Write one set of 3 facts down on a piece of paper, give them to groups. Each group gets a different set of three facts. Have one member of each group stand up and say which they think is false. that group gets it right, blam-o jolly rancher it up yo. If it is a lower level class and they say "number 2 teachu", or "letter C", hey, what evs, smile like they just won the f'in lottery, they just did great.

12. I'm not sure on having them do self intros. 1. because they've done it already. and 2. because you are new, they will be shy and nervous as is, unless you are just one comfy feller to be around.

13. the whole my name is thing, not bad not bad. no critiques. clear and easy goal, examples on the slide, text with pics. maybe throw a food item and a city up there. good job. Do more things like this.

All in all, you have something very well thought out, well planned and ultimately solid. buuut maybe too solid, ya know, be free and flexible, have fun, lighten up, but you have the right idea and it should be a good lesson. enjoy your flight...or hope you enjoyed your flight, and good luck.

johnny russian · « **Reply #4 on:** September 01, 2013, 02:16:38 PM »

Quote from: nimrand on August 31, 2013, 04:49:36 PM

I also have some Jolly Ranchers to bring as treat for students in case I need an extra incentive to get students to interact and participate.

nothing much i can add to what Wintermute has already said besides the fact that you might want to seriously reconsider doing this. if you give them candy in the first class they will expect it in every single class you ever teach them.

last semester i had a few lessons in a row at my one high school where the students were particularly lethargic, so i decided: what the hell, let me try giving them candy. big mistake. from then on the very first thing every class said to me as i walked through the door wasn't "hello", it was "teacher candy." it took a full 2 months after that before they stopped asking me for candy.

since you're at an all-girls school, and since most of the high school girls in Korea go absolutely mental for k-pop, you could try using that as a reward. i teach co-ed classes but they are two-thirds girls compared to one-third guys. so i tell all my classes that if they behave well during class that we can watch a k-pop music video during the last 5 minutes of class. if they behave badly, then no video. and if i'm doing team-based games during a class, the winning team gets to pick which video to watch. it's been working well for me so far.

nimrand · « **Reply #5 on:** September 08, 2013, 01:21:30 PM »

Thanks for the feedback. I wasn't able to incorporate all the suggestions due to the fact that I didn't have my computer back up until today. But, the suggestions I could use were useful, especially the one about having them write down their questions first. Some classes didn't really need it, but others definately did.

nimrand · « **Reply #6 on:** September 08, 2013, 01:29:45 PM »

Oh, and for the fact/ficiton slides, I hadn't written those when I originally posted the PPT. I did write the statements into the slides, however.

Author Topic: Introductory Lesson For High School Girls Class - Looking for Feedback (Read 379 times)

nimrand

Introductory Lesson For High School Girls Class - Looking for Feedback

bird212

Re: Introductory Lesson For High School Girls Class - Looking for Feedback

Wintermute

Re: Introductory Lesson For High School Girls Class - Looking for Feedback

Wintermute

Re: Introductory Lesson For High School Girls Class - Looking for Feedback

johnny russian

Re: Introductory Lesson For High School Girls Class - Looking for Feedback

nimrand

Re: Introductory Lesson For High School Girls Class - Looking for Feedback

nimrand

Re: Introductory Lesson For High School Girls Class - Looking for Feedback

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