March 28, 2017, 02:29:58 PM


Author Topic: Student-centered afterschool activities  (Read 2087 times)

Offline azalea14

  • Explorer
  • *
  • Posts: 18
Student-centered afterschool activities
« on: August 25, 2016, 06:36:55 PM »
Woes from after-school...

So my after-school class situation is sort of a catch 22. I'm by myself with 15 middle school first grade girls. All they want to do is chat with their friends, sleep, put on make-up, do their homework, etc. I try to make interesting lessons for them but nothing gets them listening to me. They don't want to play games, watch movies, or listen to pop songs (only k-pop). Teaching them the cup song was unsuccessful as well. Also, most of them are low level which makes it hard to explain the games. Last semester I sort of gave up and let them do what they wanted but sometimes a Korean teacher would stop by to check up on me and see the students were doing nothing which reflected badly on me. I noticed student-centered activities worked best although they weren't always learning much English.

So far, the activities that were successful were making storyboards, paper tower challenge, modular origami lesson, drawing version of hot seat, and kpop/pop slam. So, I'm looking for ideas for things they can do that involve minimal instruction and maximum participation.

Some vague ideas:
Star Golden Bell game (in the works)
Doing something outside (don't know what)
School scavenger hunt (thinking of the logistics & wondering if it would be chaos)
Disney Heroines (not sure of what activities to do)
Taste test (don't want to have to spend my own money on materials)
Vision boards (don't want to spend my own money on buying magazines)

Offline stuman

  • Veteran
  • **
  • Posts: 99
  • Gender: Male
Re: Student-centered afterschool activities
« Reply #1 on: August 25, 2016, 06:49:23 PM »
School scavenger hunt is a good idea.

Make a list of things to find, and they need to take a picture of it.

I've done it before, and the student enjoyed it.

I also made some what happens next games. It can take up 20 minutes.

http://www.waygook.org/index.php?topic=48652.0

What I normally do to make the afterschool class fun is to make teams. Have a competition with points, and then the winning team gets a prize like a 1,500 box of cookies.


Offline kriztee

  • Super Waygook
  • ***
  • Posts: 357
  • Gender: Female
Re: Student-centered afterschool activities
« Reply #2 on: August 26, 2016, 11:39:50 AM »
While I don't have a middle school my 4th grade kids sound similar. They're just all about themselves and want to do what they want so I made a sticker chart and the kid who gets the most stickers by the end of the week gets to pick a game for the class to play for about 10 minutes. They getting to dictate what we do for a bit got their attention. I also found that they prefer free talking because they want to talk about themselves so I include some time during the lesson to let them ask questions (they usually mime things at me then i teach them the English word for what they want to say). Activities where they get to apply lessons to themselves works great too if all they care about is themselves.

They also like a game called banana where they pretty much have to make each other laugh while using the sentences we're learning. I can send you the rules if you want to give that game a try.

Offline maximmm

  • Hero of Waygookistan
  • *****
  • Posts: 1076
Re: Student-centered afterschool activities
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2016, 01:47:06 PM »
Question - why did they sign up for an English after-school class if they had no interest in learning/playing English games?

Sounds to me, like you got a bunch of 'we don't care about school' type of kiddos who chose your class thinking that they'd be able to do whatever they wanted (if they were to sign up for another class, there wouldn't have that sort of freedom).

Anyways, student-centered class ideas are a good start.  Do crosswords, word searches, grammar worksheets - tell them that they have to complete these before the class is over, or they'll have to stay after-class.

Also tell them that they have to work seperately, not in teams. 

Or - pair up the best student with the worst student in your class - have them teach a certain grammar/writing/speaking point - at the end of the day, do a competition, the best pair wins.  Or have no competition, just do a mini-test, if the low-level student does well, award both students. 

Or - assign the best students as teachers - have them teach any English aspect they want (though you could also give them a few options - you know all of those bomb games?  the best student in class could take over your role and sit at the computer - call out the students). 

On top of all that, introduce students a bunch of games which never fail.  Guess the celebrity (they have to use english questions - and you have to prepare celebrity picture cards), Go Fish, and Scrabble - students love all of these and they are all student-centered - where you barely even have to pay any attention (you'll have to give them a dictionary when playing scrabble, so they don't bother you with question 'is this a real word?').




« Last Edit: August 26, 2016, 01:52:59 PM by maximmm »
Life is full of questions

Death is full of answers

May you die well and learn.

Offline natmossy

  • Veteran
  • **
  • Posts: 143
  • Gender: Female
Re: Student-centered afterschool activities
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2016, 03:41:48 PM »
I agree with the school scavenger hunt and using cell phones to take pictures of things. You can make the clues worth different points, to make it a little more challenging. Or, like you said, they are very low level so making everything they have to find worth the same number of points would be fine too. If they are low level, give easy clues.

Some examples: A slipper (so they would have to take a picture of a slipper)
Something blue (they would take a picture of a blue object)

Explain the rules very clearly, especially where they can and cannot go,  and make sure only one member in each team takes a cell phone. Try not to give them hints, if you can. This will make the lesson shorter for you, and some might complain that you helped another team. Again, this depends on how competitive and observant they are.

My first graders told me they want to do magic. Of all things...haha..I am considering working that into a future camp. Maybe your girls can make slime or something else?

Also, many kids are forced to pick an after school class, so if they don't seem eager or care, that's why. Or, they go because a friend is going, or they have no idea which class to pick, or after school classes like nail art, science, barista, etc (depending on what your school offers) are full, so they choose English by default, or because a teacher tells (read: forces) them to.

I know it's hard. If you have any questions, please post here again.

Good luck!

Offline janelle_j

  • Veteran
  • **
  • Posts: 126
  • Gender: Female
Re: Student-centered afterschool activities
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2016, 02:57:33 PM »
Question - why did they sign up for an English after-school class if they had no interest in learning/playing English games?

I don't know about OP's school, but at least at mine, the students didn't have a choice. At least she has all one grade, mine has all three grades combined (boys and girls), and I'm still by myself. The boys sleep through it and  the girls talk through it or do homework for another class. I understand OP's pain.

For me, it's worked really well to have and enforce some basic rules. (These are the same rules I use during normal class). I have a Class Dojo account that keeps track of points for me and I just use the phone app during class to award points to students who are following the rules. For every 5 points they get a raffle ticket and I draw about 5 names at the end of class to choose a prize. I give students three warnings, and after that they aren't eligible to win the raffle. It's usually candy only prizes, but I throw in makeup samples and other free stuff I've gotten as "service" and don't want. Occasionally I'll make cookies, or buy a few notebooks. I hate spending my own money, but I think it's well worth it as I've seen a great improvement in the students behavior since last year.

One thing I have been trying to do is project based learning. Last year I had them learn about the US State I am from. Each group put together a part, and then they put all the parts together in a presentation. (I divided into sections like: famous places, culture, school life, famous people, basic facts (climate, weather, flag, etc.) and history). After this I had them do the same but teach me about Korea. (Korea first might have been easier). Then they chose their own country and did mini presentations in front of the class. They still did whatever they wanted most of the time, but at least they learned some English too.

This year I asked them what kind of English club activities they wanted and then took their ideas for lessons. For two months we had an English soccer club--I let them play soccer as normal and awarded bonus points if they used any of the expressions I taught them. We did the same for a board game club. Now we are having a movie club. Basically I have them watch Mr. Bean videos and then write and role play their own dialog. They like watching the movies, but hate doing the other stuff, so I will probably change this soon.

Anyway, I'm following the thread for ideas. I wish you the best of luck with your classes.

Offline azalea14

  • Explorer
  • *
  • Posts: 18
Re: Student-centered afterschool activities
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2016, 06:13:30 PM »
Thanks for all the responses so far. I think my students are just "special." Even one of my coteachers told me these middle school students are a bit difficult. I think most of them joined this class because they had to pick a class and wanted some free time with their friends. Only a few are actually interested in learning. I actually had my co-teacher talk to them for over an hour because the class refused to cooperate. She also established a seating chart which improved their behavior by like 25%. Recently, the only high level student has been helping me translate and getting them to quiet down. I didn't ask her to but I think she really wants to learn and gets frustrated. I asked them what they wanted to do and they said play games so I will take them outside one day and play some children's games like duck, duck, goose. I think every school is different. What works for some may not work for others. Here are some more activities that I've tried, for anyone that is interested.

Activities that DID NOT work because they either found it too boring or too difficult:
Scrabble, making a brochure about Korean culture, writing to a pen pal, spelling & listening practice worksheets, 4 corners, Family Feud PPT, Konglish lecture, TruLife episode I'm Deaf (part of ASL lesson)

Activities that some liked but others didn't:
Taboo (I made an easier PPT version for them), Hangman, Cursive lecture & practice, American Sign Language lesson, Speed English (team, timed activity/pick out papers from box with ENG & KOR word/must explain word by speaking or body language)

Activities that DID work:
-Spelling Bee: I divided the class into 3 teams and had one person from each team sit in the front. I would give them a word and the first person to stand up could spell it.
-Give me 5: I gave each team a whiteboard and they had to write down 5 things from that category. First team to show me their answers gets the point. For harder topics, I asked them to give me 3.
-Simon says: Easier if you show them the body parts/actions beforehand
-Red light Green light (they also play this in Korea/not much English but it got them moving)
-Korean game where they have to stand up and say a number, from 1-10. If someone else stands up on the same number, they both are out. Again, not much to learn; I just made them count in English.
« Last Edit: October 14, 2016, 06:19:07 PM by azalea14 »

 

Recent Lesson Plans

Super Mario English Game by powelldr
[Today at 01:19:31 AM]

Buy/Sell/Trade

Employment