Hey all,

Does anyone have any experience being a part of the free semester program in Middle schools?

I've just been thrown into this and I don't think even my supervisor knows what is ought to be done.

Anyone with any experience in this teaching setting?

I've been doing this for 3 years, at 2 different schools (my first school was in the pilot programme). Basically the kids don't have any tests and they do more extracurricular things and explore what job they'd like to have etc. At both my schools they just wanted me to teach the book as normal, and then do some 'fun' non-textbook lesson while the other grades have their tests. Personally I like the structure that the book gives, I find the kids are more likely to pay attention and treat it is a 'real' lesson. But if you're more comfortable doing your own thing every week, you can ask if that's possible.

I had a free semester for one of my small middle schools. The kids are pretty low level (so the project I assigned took longer than expected) but the students were put into teams and I had them write stories. I gave them papers with blanks to fill in characters, setting, conflict, solution etc. That they worked on for 1-2 class periods then they were given a paper outline with section like "Introduction", "Event 1", "Event 2", "Conclusion" etc. They had to write at least 3 sentences for each section. Once that was finished, I gave the students colored paper to make a booklet. Each team was given a colored market (fine-tipped) to make their book look nice. They also had to draw pictures in their booklet.

After the booklets were finished (about 4 class periods), I told them to make a diorama of their story. The school gave me a budget and I provided colored paper, glue sticks, glue guns, scissors, tape and clay. The students spent a few weeks working on their dioramas and they're going to be displayed for some festival thing where all the parents come.

I'll try and attach some of the materials/examples that I used.

I'm pleased to hear some of you are having a good time teaching these classes.

The topic handed to me was Korean Culture... Now, I'm no clueless foreigner but I'd rather not teach Korean culture in English to Korean kids. Don't think I'll do it justice.

https://youtu.be/91iQCUfHtCk

This is a video my co teacher decided to introduce the class with. I would suggest a peak just to know what the ideal they are striving for is. It's meant to be a interest based, project based introduction to some vocation class.

Having said that, what we are doing has nothing to do with this. haha I really wished I didn't see the video because now I know too much. :[

I had a free semester for one of my small middle schools. The kids are pretty low level (so the project I assigned took longer than expected) but the students were put into teams and I had them write stories. I gave them papers with blanks to fill in characters, setting, conflict, solution etc. That they worked on for 1-2 class periods then they were given a paper outline with section like "Introduction", "Event 1", "Event 2", "Conclusion" etc. They had to write at least 3 sentences for each section. Once that was finished, I gave the students colored paper to make a booklet. Each team was given a colored market (fine-tipped) to make their book look nice. They also had to draw pictures in their booklet.

After the booklets were finished (about 4 class periods), I told them to make a diorama of their story. The school gave me a budget and I provided colored paper, glue sticks, glue guns, scissors, tape and clay. The students spent a few weeks working on their dioramas and they're going to be displayed for some festival thing where all the parents come.

I'll try and attach some of the materials/examples that I used.

Hi,

I'm just curious. Did you find these templates online or make them yourself?

Thanks for posting, it's helpful. :)

It's definitely a nice program for other South Africans. 

I did the free semester program with my 1st graders last year during the 2nd semester. My co-teacher was really excited about it and she was great to work with designing the class. We had to come up with 2 different 8 week courses. The classes were mixed together and we also had a block of two periods.

The first program was more of my own design as a World Culture class. I chose to go around 7 different regions of the world (NA, Latin America, UK, Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia, and Oceania) and then do a big quiz show for the last class. For each region, I'd show them a few maps, a few interesting geographical places, and a little history before diving into the interesting cultural stuff. My kids were always interested in food, festivals, clothes, and things like that. Also each student had to create a question about the region to ask us during the 2nd period after the break. I'd try my best to answer them and if I didn't know the answer, we'd go online and find out.

The 2nd program was a kind of acting/drama class. We gave the ideas different topics to create a short film about. The 1st part of the class was spent showing them different examples of the topic: ie comedy, drama. Then we'd put them into groups and they had to create scripts and then film it outside of school. We'd watch the films the next week and each group would critique the other. Some movies were absolutely amazing and others were obviously just thrown together the night before.

It was an experience creating classes from scratch but its such a worthwhile thing to do for both the kids and teachers. It's hard to get started, so I'd recommend doing a program based on something that you are interested in. It makes it a lot easier to think of ideas then. Good luck!

Interesting read, sounds like you put a lot of work into it.

I'm going to look into doing this for my after school classes.

Apart from TeenTimes,what other "similar" stuff did you look up?

Thanks 

I'm sorry, I'm not too sure. I just got a printout and then retyped it removing unnecessary vocal or convoluted grammar.

These are three of the texts I have on hand.

Hi there, I have created a Free Semester programme for G1 every year since 2015.

What I did try were camp style lessons I knew were fun and relaxing for the students.
This year, I will try to do a Science, Technology, Cooking and Outdoor pursuits MONTH.
You may be asked for a review report afterwards if the classes are small, so try to keep
notes on the Students and photos of them working on the tasks.
 
My breakdown is below, can be changed week by week or adapted to suit your style.

Let me know if you want any of my lessons. :)

Aine

Note: The first year this was introduced the Gwangju office of education came into my class from time to time with cameras and recorded a few of my lessons (NO PRESSURE, EH!!!) I was glad they never told me beforehand.