Author Topic: Thomas Orr Textbooks (Middle School) (Read 284526 times)

dolphingurl2022 · « **Reply #20 on:** March 06, 2011, 01:46:45 AM »

I didn't use any textbook for my lessons last year...this year sadly i have to use the books...

i read the entire 3rd grade one and about 80% of it I've taught the main ideas already to the students through my classes so i'm completely lost when it comes writing a lesson for them....the students actually want to learn from me but just following the book i have nothing new for them so it sucks...without the book i would have so many ideas to teach them...

from the sound of it though everyone is in the same boat as no one has seemed to have used the3rd grade one yet.....any help is appreciated ^^

Thank you for those who are posting the 1st and 2nd grade ones...especially the 1st grade...i've never taught that level before.

machoman · « **Reply #21 on:** March 06, 2011, 01:26:47 PM »

AHHHHHHH i'm in the same boat as you guys. they switched the 3rd grade book to the thomas orr book. it's horrible. i have to teach the listening and speaking section only and ahhhhhhhhhhh this book is horrible.

alright, it seems like we've established that this book is bad, so now i think it would be a good idea for all of us to start brainstorming for some ideas of how we can make lessons from this book....

in the grade 3 book, lesson 1's target expressions are: "what do you like doing on weekends?" "i enjoy ______." and "i'm supposed to ________."

i'm thinking of having my kids create their own dialogue with a partner using these expressions.

anyone else have any ideas??

kdmoana · « **Reply #22 on:** March 07, 2011, 08:46:30 AM »

at patch 83, at least you have a textbook to work with. My co teachers expect me to just entertain the students with my americanness. Thanks for the worksheet!

at be the ball, since when did middle schools in the USA only have 2 grades? and thanks for the ppt. :)

fatboy · « **Reply #23 on:** March 07, 2011, 09:54:59 AM »

Quote from: machoman on March 06, 2011, 01:26:47 PM

AHHHHHHH i'm in the same boat as you guys. they switched the 3rd grade book to the thomas orr book. it's horrible. i have to teach the listening and speaking section only and ahhhhhhhhhhh this book is horrible.

alright, it seems like we've established that this book is bad, so now i think it would be a good idea for all of us to start brainstorming for some ideas of how we can make lessons from this book....

in the grade 3 book, lesson 1's target expressions are: "what do you like doing on weekends?" "i enjoy ______." and "i'm supposed to ________."

i'm thinking of having my kids create their own dialogue with a partner using these expressions.

anyone else have any ideas??

I'm trying to get something down for this lesson too. The problem is that these kids studied "I'm supposed to" only last semester in the grade 2 book.

machoman · « **Reply #24 on:** March 07, 2011, 10:50:24 AM »

i'm not teaching lesson 1 until next week.... but i'm working on a worksheet for them to do... the students should be able to differentiate which form of suppose they are supposed to use.

i'm also thinking about creating a dialogue with them and then do the disappearing dialogue activity for each lesson.

Name: ____________

Supposed to = should
Suppose = think/believe/imagine/expect/guess (example: I suppose we can go next week.)
Supposed to be = commonly believed to be
1.   Im _____________________ brush my teeth every night to keep my teeth nice and healthy.
2.   I was ____________________ go to the doctor last week but I forgot about the appointment.
3.   Did you watch Avatar? Its _____________________ a very good movie.
4.   You should drink more milk, its ____________________ good for your bones.
5.   I ________________ you can borrow my book, just dont lose it.
6.   Oh no its 10:45, were late! We were _________________ be there at 9:30!!
7.   Dolphins are _____________________ very smart animals.
8.   In Korea, youre __________________ to take off your shoes when you enter a house.
9.   Wasnt Mina __________________ be here for lunch? I wonder where she is.
10.   A: Will Minsu be at Johns party? B: I ________________ so.
11.

fatboy · « **Reply #25 on:** March 07, 2011, 11:30:24 AM »

Grade 3 Lesson 1
Ok, here's some stuff I threw together for this class. It's pretty basic, so you can adapt it however you want.

machoman · « **Reply #26 on:** March 07, 2011, 12:07:23 PM »

great stuff fatboy! thanks!

fatboy · « **Reply #27 on:** March 07, 2011, 02:04:01 PM »

I made those PPTs for 'supposed to' last semester for grade 2. My students have only just studied it with me, and now they have to do it again. Oh well, I think I'll call it a revision exercise and see how much they remember.

olivergrant · « **Reply #28 on:** March 07, 2011, 02:06:40 PM »

I have to use book 3 as well. I'll post whatever I do to try and contribute.

Torea Korea · « **Reply #29 on:** March 07, 2011, 09:21:55 PM »

Thanks to all. @fatboy thanks for the grade 2 lesson 1. good stuff.

I am at my wits end already ... I have the Orr textbook and I everytime I open the book feel the
creativity drained from me. Hopefully it will get better as I am only on lesson 1 - but I have all
grades 1,2, and 3 each of which I can only teach the "speak out" parts.

I will post any ideas/lessons as I go along ...

thanks to those who share anything for all 3 grades.

machoman · « **Reply #30 on:** March 07, 2011, 10:15:32 PM »

ok, brainstorm time people.

lesson 2 for 3rd grade. key phrases are "i suggest you ____" and "i'd love to but i'm afraid i can't." (i think that's the expression- don't have my book with me)

for the "i suggest you _____" i'm thinking about writing problems like "i'm feeling sick" or "my glasses broke" or "i have no money" and taping it on students backs. or even taping blank papers on students back and they can write on each other. then they have to go around the classroom and people suggest them what to do. they have to write down 5 suggestions and guess what their problem is.

for "i'd love to but i'm afraid i can't." i was gonna give each student a schedule and they fill it out and leave two days blank. they go around asking people to do something with them on that blank day for example "do u want to go watch a movie on sunday?" and if the other person is free, they write down that persons name, if that person is busy, they respond "i'd love to but i'm afraid i can't."

fatboy · « **Reply #31 on:** March 08, 2011, 07:41:56 AM »

There's a good exercise on Bogglesworldesl.com about giving advice. You can teach them the different ways to give advice on problems. I've used it several times in the past.

fatboy · « **Reply #32 on:** March 08, 2011, 08:05:06 AM »

WARNING! There are some errors on the crossword puzzle I posted for Grade 3. I used an online crossword generator and it seems to have produced some errors. Going to edit and repost.

cocoinkorea · « **Reply #33 on:** March 08, 2011, 08:15:58 AM »

I have started to upload the materials I made and I am using for Grades 1 & 2 on my website. Feel free to use any and all materials!

Continue to check back, they will be updated as I make them.

http://www.cocoinkorea.com/?page_id=900

fatboy · « **Reply #34 on:** March 08, 2011, 08:22:09 AM »

Grade 3 Lesson 1
Crossword "What do you like doing?" edited with errors corrected.

c_makitalo · « **Reply #35 on:** March 08, 2011, 09:09:22 AM »

Hey all. Thanks for the great lessons everyone. I have had these books for a semester and they are pretty bad. From outright grammar mistakes to allowing Korean teachers to just play the CD and listen to the same dialogue over and over and over... So here are my lessons that I have made. I do not have the same book for year one any more so it is for year 2 that i only have Lessons 1 & 2.

jessicateacher · « **Reply #36 on:** March 08, 2011, 01:26:43 PM »

hmmmm, I'm debating whether to even add to this post. I don't want a lot of hate. But I think this book series is fine. . .sometimes I even think it's great. I like how it leaves me open to add all the supplemental materials I want and sometimes I'm not big on the games but they give me inspiration for going my own direction.

Maybe I've had a better time with it cause I only have to teach a limited portion of each lesson so I have plenty of allotted time to do my own spin on the lesson. But I stick to the goal set forth in each lesson I don't really need to stray to different topics. My kids seem to find what we do pretty interesting.

and this is my third year with the Thomas Orr texts. first year I only had the 1st grade . . .and now we have adopted all 3 and I'm pretty happy about that.
. . . .then again maybe if you could see the previous set of text we had (middle school english where the cover looks like wood with a pic in the middle) you would also be thanking your lucky stars to be using the Thomas Orr books.

I do recall the dialogue where they had to learn the phrase "what a surprise!" was e-fing useless. I suppose you just have to do those, make sure the kids get it the first time and move on.

ah well, just my thoughts. Thanks to all those who contributed esp. for 3rd as I am just starting that text this year as well. I saw some great stuff that has inspired me! thanks so much. Here are some of my lesson plans from last year. maybe they will be of use. My scheduling was strange last year so they are labeled by the weeks I had to do them. This is 2nd and 1st grade lesson 1. they probably aren't exactly what yopu want but maybe they'll give you some ideas

jessicateacher · « **Reply #37 on:** March 08, 2011, 01:33:11 PM »

also I posted this on another post about how I do book dialogues. My students love this so maybe you can use it. . . .

during dialogues I mainly do listen and repeat then partner practice and then "volunteers"<--- using a random number selector works well and then they can't get mad at you. the lo tech version is pulli9ng a number from a bag really saves on time and bitching.

then I usually use a game to make them repeat the required phrases to learn. an example is:

SLAP! it's good for parts of the dialogue that change. for example if the dialogue is
A: Lets go to the baseball game on Saturday!
B: sorry I can't I'm supposed to do my homework./ sure sounds great

you could use the "let's go to _____________" or "I'm supposed to ______________"

there are 2 versions: whole class or at desks in groups
whole class:
write various answers on a piece of paper in big letters. Or alternately use pictures to represent the sentence. like a messy room or a kid studying. so if you used "supposed to" you might have a card for "do my homework" "clean my room" "help my mom" etc. have at least 8 put them on the board I like using magnetic tape you can get it at homeplus for 2 dollars (actually I use it so much my school started buying it for me).
have 2/ 3 /4/ 7 teams what ever. 1 volunteer comes to the front from each team. you say the sentence "I'm supposed to clean my room" they have to slap the clean my room card. Or sometimes I use flyswatters cause the students really like them.

in groups: groups of 4 work best other wise the kids are too far. you need a set of cards or pictures for each group. they spread the cards out. put their hand on their head. you say the sent and they have to slap the correct card. if it gets to easy you can have them flip the cards face down and mix it up.

you can use this same 2 formulas for pictionary or charades as well.
great thing is youi can go as lo tech or high tech as you like.

hope that gives you some ideas

oh yeah! and if there is an emotion for the dialogue like I'm upset or happy or sick etc. I make them identify how the dialogue should be read and demonstrate with emotion. esp angry is fun cause you can really exaggerate. and then when they have to practice make them do angry voices or surprised. if they aren't so good I always say "angry? you're upset? you can do better" and then give them my hulk impression. this is great fun if you have a ham in the class. keep reminding them of the emotion so they know you expect it.

hope that gives you some ideas

rxqueen · « **Reply #38 on:** March 08, 2011, 02:25:47 PM »

This is a sort of game I will get the students to do in groups. They are given a calendar and some clues about things two people have to do (every day, every other day, every Saturday, etc). The students have to mark the days off on the calendar that the two people are busy until they find the one day they are both free to watch a movie.

I will review the frequency vocab before the activity, and take up the answers at the end, hopefully filling a 45-minute class.

Check it out!

be the ball · « **Reply #39 on:** March 08, 2011, 02:37:57 PM »

jessica,

you make some good points, and thanks for your contributions about dialogues.

the point about the thomas orr books, and really most of the offerings for the public schools is this...it doesn't have to be this much work. you like that you have the freedom to create a ton of your own materials. if you have ever worked in a university or hagwon or a kindy here in korea, you would be shocked at how easy life can be with a good set of materials. my wife works at one of the highly respected kindy schools in daejeon and she simply shows up and teaches the kids the days lesson from the book. she has more fun, the students have more fun.

i found the orr book fine for 1st graders but it is going to be a nightmare with 3rd graders. does anyone think that 16 year olds in any country are inspired to learn by poorly drawn artwork, by a raccoon english mascot, without a single reference to pop culture or anything youthful?

hope you don't find this as "hating on you". just offering some detail into why many here are not fans of the material. it's all relative. i'm sure there are lots of N.Koreans who think their life is just fine, too, they simply don't know how much better it can be :-)