Author Topic: How are you? What are you doing? (Read 2384 times)

raisedbywoolves · « **on:** September 29, 2008, 01:14:26 PM »

This is 2 lessons. In highschool, How are you? and What are you doing? should be drilled into them by now. But my students still have problems answering and need review. I want to use these lessons, and "What did you do this weekend?" and a Weather lesson as the building blocks for a final project this month, in which they use these small talk basics to create, memorize and present a 3 part conversation with a partner.

zachmokpo · « **Reply #1 on:** September 29, 2008, 01:35:32 PM »

As long as they don't say "I'm fine thank you, and you?"

raisedbywoolves · « **Reply #2 on:** September 29, 2008, 02:22:43 PM »

god i know. that's the main reason i'm doing this. they say it even if i ask "whats up?". I explained that "fine thank you and you" is an insincere text book answer, and would come off as sorta rude if you went around answering people like a machine who isn't listening.

i've tried to make a distinction between automatic responses, and genuine conversation, but i think it's lost in translation. I've noticed every morning the other teachers robotically greet one another, and the top suits, with the identical words and tone every morning. sometime all at once, like a chant. i guess this is polite, but to me it seems impersonal. but i guess they think i'm rude for not standing up and bowing and murmuring "안녕하십니까" each time someone passes my desk, but i sit by the door, and it just seems redundant?

Virginia · « **Reply #3 on:** October 01, 2008, 11:06:59 AM »

On Mondays, in 5th and 6th grade, I ask them "Did you have a good weekend?", and now they are used to it. They answer with either "Yes, I did." or "No, I didn't" (okay, yes, textbook answers....) and I follow up.

After a few weeks of this, we can now have a very basic conversation that goes something like this:

Did you have a good weekend?
Yes, I did
Why? What did you do?
I went to grandmother house (<-- no possessive 's yet)

I'm going to add on something like "How was it?" and let them answer with "It was ______".

It's the idea of L+1 (language +1), take something that they *can* do, and add something just slightly more to it.

The same concept comes up in 1st grade with fruit flashcards. They all yell "Apple", but I ask "How many?" and "What colour?" until we are all saying "One green apple" or something....

I think the "Finethankyouandyou" as well as the "nicetomeetyou" come from the traditional Korean greetings of Annyeong haseyo and Bangapseumnida, which are, to my knowledge, kind of lacking in the "How's it goin'?" variety of English.

Author Topic: How are you? What are you doing? (Read 2384 times)

raisedbywoolves

How are you? What are you doing?

zachmokpo

Re: How are you? What are you doing?

raisedbywoolves

Re: How are you? What are you doing?

Virginia

Re: How are you? What are you doing?

Recent Lesson Plans

Buy/Sell/Trade

Employment