Author Topic: I'm a new high school teacher ..... HELP!!! (Read 64003 times)

Sandies · « **Reply #80 on:** March 02, 2012, 08:44:59 AM »

So I have just been thrown into a mess of things. My co-teacher is brand new to the school that I will be teaching at, she has no idea what is going on, and what I should be doing. She told me to look up ice breaker activities and such on here for my first lesson, which is going to happen on Monday. She still hasn't gotten her textbook yet, and neither have I. I was just thrown into introducing myself in front of the English teachers, and these aren't even all of the teachers I will be working with. I have 9 co-teachers in total, and I am freaking out in my head.

So far I have prepared an introductory power point about myself, and that's about it. I will be going to an assembly soon, and probably listen to people speak in Korean...

jemyouknowsit · « **Reply #81 on:** March 02, 2012, 09:43:31 AM »

For your first lessons definitely do an introduction powerpoint about yourselves. They (especially the girls) go nuts for photos of your family...especially babies and small kids. You can do hobbies etc. I did mine for about 20 minutes then gave all the kids a few small pieces of paper. They write questions to ask about you on them then hand them back. Mix the papers up then get a kid to hand them back out so each kid has someone elses question. Then throw a ball to a kid and they stand up and ask the question. They are shy so this technique forces them to get involved. That kid then throws the ball to any other kid and so on!

This worked so well because they knew it was 'anonymous' so got some funny questions. Not too personal though, every class wanted to know my age and whether I had a boyfriend. If you're quite young maybe decline to tell them your age. If they're lower level then write some examples on the board like 'Do you like........?, 'What do you think about..........?' and get your co teacher to translate them.

robbcharles · « **Reply #82 on:** March 02, 2012, 12:09:56 PM »

Shame, it sounds like you got it a little harder than most. Dont worry to much, from what i can tell, it seems to be the Korean way. I was alone in the teachers room for almost two hours where i was really unsure what was going on. Things turning out much better now. They just took me for lunch and looks like things are moving forward and a slow pace. Good luck for Monday

vw08 · « **Reply #83 on:** March 02, 2012, 12:33:40 PM »

Sounds like a most unfortunate situation! But remember, this is just the first day of school. Everyone, even experienced teachers are still figuring out what is going on right now. Give things a few days to settle down and everyone will hopefully understand their role and what they are doing a little bit better.

For the first class, especially if you are new at your school, an intro PPT is never a bad idea. That along with classroom rules, seating charts etc make up the first class. Don't worry too much right now about not having the book. At my school we are still figuring out which textbooks we are using too! Many things in Korea are very last minute.

Hope things turn out alright. And if they don't or you encounter future problems, people at Waygook are always here with suggestions or stories of even more unfortunate situations!

SBracken · « **Reply #84 on:** March 02, 2012, 01:26:24 PM »

Been there, done that, survived it. Mostly ;)

As cliche as it sounds, just do your best and try to make the wisest decisions available. Eventually you (and your co) will get the hang of the year. And make sure when you go home at the end of the day to unwind...

mr_cabeza_magica · « **Reply #85 on:** March 03, 2012, 11:42:53 AM »

Quote from: philontour on February 29, 2012, 02:09:31 PM

Given the choice, I highly recommend splitting the class into levels as opposed to mixed abilities. Some like the idea of sitting a higher student next to a lower student but it's a lot easier to plan and produce a valid lesson for students of a similar ability and hence keep their attention for longer.

Thanks for the advice. I've taken your advice and hope it all goes to plan. My co-teacher is concerned that the low level classes will be very frustrating as their levels are extremely low. Hopefully I can dumb it down enough for them to understand. Fingers crossed I made the correct decision.
Cheers :)

mr_cabeza_magica · « **Reply #86 on:** March 03, 2012, 11:53:48 AM »

Quote from: philbo84 on March 01, 2012, 06:36:03 PM

Some great ideas here, I've filled a page of notes already! I'm of two minds as to whether I should stick with just an introduction for my first lesson and save the rules for the second? I like the idea of spending some time on them and having the class help to choose them, but I'm a stickler for discipline and don't want to be giving out to kids for stuff in the first lesson if we haven't even covered set rules yet.

I'm wary of High School kids thinking they're above playing games/activities, etc, but if sleep is high on their priorities, I'm thinking I should try and keep them on their feet. What's the general results of this from others, if you've tried?

Hey, I'm also unsure whether to cover the rules in the first lesson. I realise it is important to cover the rules asap. Will it make a difference leaving them until the second lesson?

robbb3490 · « **Reply #87 on:** March 05, 2012, 08:04:00 AM »

How long should the introduction ppt last for? I want the students to know a bit about me to ease any tension but obviously don't want to make it really long and boring!

vossboss86 · « **Reply #88 on:** March 06, 2012, 02:47:24 PM »

I have 7 co-teachers. Variety is key for me. I like it. If you have one that you hate at least you only see them 2-3 times a week. This is a good thing.

Secondly, don't freak out or you're just going to make this harder on yourself. GO WITH THE FLOW. It's the only thing that has kept me sane in this country. If you expect anything to be planned out, forget about it.

Good luck with everything. High school jobs really are cake. I don't know why more people don't want them.

wright1140 · « **Reply #89 on:** March 07, 2012, 02:42:27 PM »

Speak slowly, and if you think you are speaking slowly...take it down een more. This is the most important thing I have learned since starting to teacher high school girls.

Uhfotis · « **Reply #90 on:** March 07, 2012, 05:15:43 PM »

Quote from: robbb3490 on March 05, 2012, 08:04:00 AM

How long should the introduction ppt last for? I want the students to know a bit about me to ease any tension but obviously don't want to make it really long and boring!

I tried a few things and found an intro ppt put the kids to sleep. What I did was this instead... choose random things about yourself and write them on the board. So for example if you're from boston, have a sister name susan, and love man u write boston, susan, and man u on the board.. usually I would choose about 10 things. Don't say anything, just write the nouns, then when you're done teach the students how to ask basic questions Is ______ your _______ eg. "Is Susan your sister?" Is Boston your hometown, etc. and have the students try to guess what each thing is. I found I had to pick students to guess at first because they were shy but once it got rolling it picked up. This gave me an opportunity to introduce myself and talk about the things in a bit of detail while keeping it somewhat interactive.

rguitarg · « **Reply #91 on:** March 08, 2012, 02:10:34 PM »

Yah, I'd say just focus on themes for each week (i.e. music, food, movies, etc.), and try to make the lessons fun and engaging (i.e. powerpoints, games, activities).

limonade · « **Reply #92 on:** March 09, 2012, 07:11:51 AM »

Do not let teenagers "attitudes" get you down....YOU are not the problem, their hormones are!

Falconface · « **Reply #93 on:** March 14, 2012, 02:42:21 PM »

Hey

I'm in a very similar situation, this is my second week. In a foreign country. Where no one understands a damn thing I say or do. Anyway, here is a lesson plan I found worked quite well. I started off with a slideshow showing some strange or odd houses, just to get them interested. Then I ran them through some slides of the vocab in the plan, and got them to describe their own homes to their fellow students. Finally I had them do the activity as explained in the lesson plan. The only problem I encountered was that I have no way to ensure that the students actually speak in English. I teach at a girl's high school, where no students ever shuts up long enough to take a breath, and my co-teachers are happy to stand as far back as they can. Anyway, just make sure to walk through the class and prompt them with question about their houses as you go.

Good luck.

Falconface · « **Reply #94 on:** March 15, 2012, 08:31:30 AM »

I am having problems with severely mixed levels of proficiency in my classrooms. There are some students who can have a entirely coherent conversation with me, while others can barely mumble "No Englishy". Does anyone have tips to overcome this kind of thing? Focusing overly much on either end of the spectrum leaves the other end with nothing to do or learn, while teaching for the middle often becomes mediocre or boring. Ideas?

MarcelleEls · « **Reply #95 on:** March 15, 2012, 12:24:52 PM »

I also new. I'm at a technical high school and need to teach an internship class as well. I'm feeling a bit like a fish out of water.

brettduvall · « **Reply #96 on:** March 19, 2012, 12:07:25 PM »

I think a goal that's often overlooked by teachers is how to get students talking to one another. It's an uphill battle, but an ideal classroom should have the teacher speaking for 20%, model-speech (i.e. show students how the activity is executed) for 30% and then 50% student-to-student speaking. Student-to-student speaking should be the overarching goal.

To help, Facing History, Facing Ourselves (www.facinghistory.org) has a number of great teaching tips and speaking activities that can be adopted for a TEFL classroom setting.

Catherine Dowie · « **Reply #97 on:** March 20, 2012, 03:58:30 PM »

My most successful lesson with high school is to get them to sit facing each other so one can see the screen and the other can't, then put a picture up on the screen. The one who can see describes what the other must draw, eg. long blonde hair, big blue eyes. Then they look and swop.

It usually creates much excitement.

I also role play the task so I look at my computer with the big screen off and tell them what I see and they draw. It works well.

Korea Nat · « **Reply #98 on:** March 20, 2012, 07:46:51 PM »

How is everyone finding it now? I'm in my third week and have done greetings. It is pretty hit and miss but getting the students standing up and doing the actions together seems to at get their interest a bit.

Im a bit stuck as to what to focus on next week but I might do a lesson focussing on describing their houses or clean/dirty houses.

Good luck everyone!

bakerchick · « **Reply #99 on:** March 20, 2012, 08:57:43 PM »

Yeah, I discovered early on that at my all-girls high school, K-pop is king. If you can work Korean singers into your lesson, they get really excited...that's when they start talking. They're also really curious about North American celebrities...so I brought in a few magazines like People and had them described the images, which went really well.

They also love Youtube videos about travel...I think a lot of Korean students are really curious about Europe and North America, so doing a travel themed lesson plan has worked well for me this week...