Hello! I've recently started teaching at a small, rural elementary school. My 4th grade class is just 3 students and NONE of them want to talk. Any advice? Lessons are usually ~25 min of going through the book and then a game. The students barely talk even during the book portion. I think their English is fairly low (not sure if 2/3 can even read)....

But yeah...anyone ever been in a similar situation?? What did you do?

I've only had 3 classes so far (some have been canceled), but yeah the co teacher is there. He's doing his best I think, tries to make jokes in Korean and stuff too. (They just stare blankly at him, haha) But yeah, often the 25 min class will stretch into close to 35 since they take so long to repeat the word (loud enough so that we can hear them/ talk at all).  I'll try passing a ball >.<.  Hoping someone will comment with a miracle activity that all classes have enjoyed, lol.

I've had 3 students in a class before. It takes time for them to warm up to you. I find that any sort of grid game or battleship style game or writing game works well for me.

Hey! I don't know if you already do this but I'd sit with the students in like a semi circle (and following covid guidelines ofc^^).
For a small class like that, this is a great time to get to know the students, learn their names, their interests and if you are learning korean or know some already, I'd definitely try using it just because students tend to enjoy hearing foreigners speak in their language/it can be fun for them to teach you words n stuff.
If I were you, I'd focus less on actual teaching material and just having fun and building relationships and using English here and there! Of course, cover what needs to be covered. But from my experience, students reactions/attitudes depend greatly on the relationship they have with their teacher. Interesting games can of course enhance that.

Some simple games like pictionary, hangman (words or even phrases later on!) or Korean games where you have to make 5 in a row (this is a 2 person game but you can have it where it's the teacher vs students too or just pair them up) is doable for a small group.

Good luck and hang in there (힘내!)