Author Topic: Thomas Orr Textbooks (Middle School) (Read 284545 times)

machoman · « **Reply #360 on:** September 04, 2011, 06:16:54 PM »

grade 3 lesson 8 prezi

http://prezi.com/ppmg2nnyzakq/3l8/

feel free to leave comments so i can improve on it.

machoman · « **Reply #361 on:** September 05, 2011, 01:05:46 PM »

hey guys, i had a frustrating convo with my teacher. the main co teacher tells me i need to cover the listening and speaking parts of the book. i do just that. i cover 1 lesson in 2 weeks. first week, i focus on listening, second week i focus on speaking. of course, i have my students speaking throughout both weeks. i have the students speak out as a group and will also call on individual students during both weeks.

another co teacher confronted me today and told me i am wasting student's time with the listening. she told me that they can do that for homework, and that korean teachers can do that part. she said i'm a native speaker, i should focus on speaking. she also says listening doesn't help them speak.

the problem is, how the hell can i do 90 minutes worth of speaking activities with only two key expressions? is this even realistic?

my question is how frequent are your students speaking? and what kind of speaking activities do you use? this particular co teacher has been a thorn in my side in the past and i'm at a loss of what to do. i was told by her that it is rumored that i'm the worse teacher in my district and that i wouldn't be re-hired (i'm re-hired for my 3rd year btw.)

i had a meeting with the teachers before about this exact problem, they all agreed to let me do what i was doing, but i was interrupted in the middle of my lesson and was told to stop going over the listening section.

sorry, this post was a half vent/half question......

minamteacher · « **Reply #362 on:** September 05, 2011, 02:04:50 PM »

Quote from: machoman on September 05, 2011, 01:05:46 PM

hey guys, i had a frustrating convo with my teacher. the main co teacher tells me i need to cover the listening and speaking parts of the book. i do just that. i cover 1 lesson in 2 weeks. first week, i focus on listening, second week i focus on speaking. of course, i have my students speaking throughout both weeks. i have the students speak out as a group and will also call on individual students during both weeks.

another co teacher confronted me today and told me i am wasting student's time with the listening. she told me that they can do that for homework, and that korean teachers can do that part. she said i'm a native speaker, i should focus on speaking. she also says listening doesn't help them speak.

the problem is, how the hell can i do 90 minutes worth of speaking activities with only two key expressions? is this even realistic?

my question is how frequent are your students speaking? and what kind of speaking activities do you use? this particular co teacher has been a thorn in my side in the past and i'm at a loss of what to do. i was told by her that it is rumored that i'm the worse teacher in my district and that i wouldn't be re-hired (i'm re-hired for my 3rd year btw.)

i had a meeting with the teachers before about this exact problem, they all agreed to let me do what i was doing, but i was interrupted in the middle of my lesson and was told to stop going over the listening section.

sorry, this post was a half vent/half question......

You are the worst teacher in your district? I find that VERY hard to believe. Anyway, what you can do is alternate. One week you can do both dialogues and the other week you do your own stuff (whatever that is). Personally, I HATE 'listen in' so I won't be very upset if it suddenly disappeared, but I can understand your frustration.

renard.tami · « **Reply #363 on:** September 05, 2011, 02:08:52 PM »

@machoman

I teach one expression each week. I expand the expression and make it engaging. My general pattern is:

1. hangman, introduce the expression with my own flare
2. explain it, give examples : KET should help explain grammar
3. give students a handout to practice (I make my own each week and I try to change the format. sometimes crosswords, fill in the blank, etc. change is good)
4. make a ppt that matches the handout, students read the individual answers
5. ppt game: angry birds is the rave right now with my students

so, one expression expanded can take up an entire lesson. and students speak during the handout check (with ppt) and during the game. i haven't had any complaints with the way i teach. i also motivate students by giving "dollars" for participation throughout the class and game.

another important detail: how to organize a game

*always teams of 4-6 students
*have them count off 1-6 within a team so each student has a number
*roll the dice, the student in each team with that number stands up and uses the expression in the game (sometimes I post prompts on the board, other times i put questions up within the game)

Hope this helps. I'll attach one of my current lessons so you can see what I usually do. My computer is really slow to download on waygook for some reason, so if you want loads more stuff, i can email them to you!

machoman · « **Reply #364 on:** September 05, 2011, 02:24:52 PM »

thanks for the responses so far. and i'll check out your lessons tami.

this is my 4th year in korea and haven't had any problems until these new co teachers started working with me. when i asked the problematic co teacher why don't other teachers say anything to me, she said that most korean teachers will just be nice and polite to your face and that's why i've never been criticized before.

she told me it's pointless for students in my class to write anything in my class.

here's how my class is set up. i start off with a .ppt/prezi of the lesson. introduce the key expressions. the k-teacher goes over the grammar part of it. i have parts of the .ppt where students have to speak out the key expressions and a section where students have to use the expressions in real life context. the .ppt/prezi ends with a review of the key expressions. i usually use interesting pics or quick youtube vids to engage them.

next, we open the text book to the listening section. i play the CD, and they answer the questions. after each recording, i ask them more specific questions from the recording.

then i give them a listening worksheet that's provided by the book and the students complete that and we go over the answers. as we go over the answers, i'll call on students to read the full sentence and answer. that's week 1.

week 2, we review the key expressions and do a speaking activity or game. i give stamps as rewards and they have a stamp chart in their books.

i really feel like this is similar to what most native teachers do and don't know why i am getting such negative criticism.

this teacher that is criticizing me isn't even a real teacher. she doesn't have her credentials. but i can't help but feel like crap after hearing all this stuff she's been telling me because i genuinely do care about teaching and care about my students.

fatboy · « **Reply #365 on:** September 05, 2011, 06:57:49 PM »

I have all but given up trying to get grade 3 speaking. No matter what games or activities I prepare, they show complete apathy. My co-teacher is an old guy and he simply does not give a shit any more. He doesn't say a single word in class - sometimes he actually sleeps!
I'm supposed to do listening and speaking, but I just give them as many handouts and worksheets as possible even though most of them end up in the trash can, or on the floor. All the kids care about is the test, so my class is seen as downtime. Grade 1 and 2 are mostly fine and they participate much more in the class, but grade 3 is a waste of time.

fatboy · « **Reply #366 on:** September 06, 2011, 07:36:09 AM »

Christ, this book is awful. I'm on grade 3 lesson 8 "Sustainable Lifestyle". The warm up starts by showing pictures of renewable energy sources and asks the students to discuss. Not a hope in hell with my students. Similarly themed questions follow such as the the time it takes for materials to biodegrade, and CO2 emissions.
Then in shifts out of nowhere into "It would be nice", and "what would you do?". I have a strong feeling that Mr Orr didn't actually write these books at all, but he just endorsed them with his name. Anyone who's first language is English must be slightly retarded to write a book like this.
If my school actually gave a damn about my opinion, I would strongly recommend changing books.

minamteacher · « **Reply #367 on:** September 06, 2011, 07:58:06 AM »

Quote from: fatboy on September 06, 2011, 07:36:09 AM

Christ, this book is awful. I'm on grade 3 lesson 8 "Sustainable Lifestyle". The warm up starts by showing pictures of renewable energy sources and asks the students to discuss. Not a hope in hell with my students. Similarly themed questions follow such as the the time it takes for materials to biodegrade, and CO2 emissions.
Then in shifts out of nowhere into "It would be nice", and "what would you do?". I have a strong feeling that Mr Orr didn't actually write these books at all, but he just endorsed them with his name. Anyone who's first language is English must be slightly retarded to write a book like this.
If my school actually gave a damn about my opinion, I would strongly recommend changing books.

Oh man Fatboy, I totally agree. I thought the grade 2 books were 'ok,' but these Grade 3 books are just awful. most of the dialog is Micky Mouse stuff that a good chunk of my students understood in Grade 1. How is "It would be nice" and "what would you do" in a Grade 3 English book? Seriously, why do students need to learn about hypothetical situations ANYWAY (although at least asking what they would do if they were rich gets them talking)! Not to mention the amount of repetition between books. Poor Mr. Orr will forever have his name associated with these awful books.

dolphingurl2022 · « **Reply #368 on:** September 06, 2011, 08:11:18 AM »

Quote from: machoman on September 05, 2011, 01:05:46 PM

hey guys, i had a frustrating convo with my teacher. the main co teacher tells me i need to cover the listening and speaking parts of the book. i do just that. i cover 1 lesson in 2 weeks. first week, i focus on listening, second week i focus on speaking. of course, i have my students speaking throughout both weeks. i have the students speak out as a group and will also call on individual students during both weeks.

another co teacher confronted me today and told me i am wasting student's time with the listening. she told me that they can do that for homework, and that korean teachers can do that part. she said i'm a native speaker, i should focus on speaking. she also says listening doesn't help them speak.

the problem is, how the hell can i do 90 minutes worth of speaking activities with only two key expressions? is this even realistic?

my question is how frequent are your students speaking? and what kind of speaking activities do you use? this particular co teacher has been a thorn in my side in the past and i'm at a loss of what to do. i was told by her that it is rumored that i'm the worse teacher in my district and that i wouldn't be re-hired (i'm re-hired for my 3rd year btw.)

i had a meeting with the teachers before about this exact problem, they all agreed to let me do what i was doing, but i was interrupted in the middle of my lesson and was told to stop going over the listening section.

sorry, this post was a half vent/half question......

I teach the same thing. I only do the speak out page and I expand it over two weeks (there are 2 dialogues on that page so i teach 1 dialogue for each grade a week)....you just have to read each dialogue and see what it's really about...some are focused on apologizing or whatever so then you just use that key phrase from the book and then make a whole lesson around apologizing to people and you make your students speak and practice the whole time....as a native teacher your talking time should be minimal but it's no always possible so you just have to try your best.....I hate this book but it works out in a way because you get to cover lots of topics

minamteacher · « **Reply #369 on:** September 06, 2011, 08:15:45 AM »

Here is my lesson for Grade 2 Lesson 8. For this lesson I found these great direction work sheets on boggles world. Basically, there are two worksheets, A and B, which are almost totally identical except they are both missing different place names. Students have to work together to fill out their sheets. For example sheet A has the answers for sheet B and sheet B has the answers for sheet A. I have more info in the powerpoint itself.

*Edit* I re-uploaded my lesson with an added video of Maradonna's hand of God as an example of fair / unfair. The video is here

minamteacher · « **Reply #370 on:** September 06, 2011, 08:34:01 AM »

Here is my lesson for Grade 3 Lesson 8. I have included a 'hypothetical' work sheet using the "If I were _______ I would _______" format.

*EDIT* I noticed a few tiny typos, so I am uploading a 'fixed' copy. Make sure you double check this lesson before you teach anything.

fatboy · « **Reply #371 on:** September 06, 2011, 09:39:52 AM »

I just realised (realized?) that after sticking it to the author of this book, I mistook 'who's' for 'whose'. Oops.

I think I've been here too long...

fudoose · « **Reply #372 on:** September 06, 2011, 10:14:26 AM »

Minam teacher I used those worksheets last year, they worked a treat, nice one.

But I found they were a bit tough,(when the first few attempts bombed..) here are my slightly watered down versions for Korean middle school kids.

Just in-case anyone finds the same thing.

rxqueen · « **Reply #373 on:** September 06, 2011, 10:42:45 AM »

Hey there, machoman!

Whoa! So sorry to hear that you have to deal with that! I was just about to detail what I do over the 2 weeks for each lesson, then after reading your next response, found that it's basically the same thing! My co-teachers have never complained, but actually have complimented me on what I've been doing. Clearly your other co-teacher(s) are fine with it too, so I don't really understand the problem.

Maybe this difficult co-teacher needs to realize that many/most middleschoolers are too embarassed/tired/unmotivated/uninterested to participate, while others seriously don't understand what is going on or have the language ability to respond. This really does not reflect your teaching style but has so much to do with the student's themselves. Would this co-teacher be happier if you just got the students to repeat, repeat, repeat? This would bore them half to death and they probably would still not participate.

Personally, I don't really think the listening activities are as bad as they may seem. To begin, you can ask the students to describe what they see in the picture, what they think is going on, etc. Then they listen, get the correct answer, and like you mentioned, ask extra questions on top of that. I usually get them to write some sort of sentence that relates to the key expression as well. For example, in Grade 3, Lesson 8, the key expression is, "It would be nice to..." so for Listen In A, I'd get them to fill in, "It would be nice to exercise every day and save the planet." I am really confused as to why your co-teacher thinks writing things down in class is pointless. Ok, so maybe many students will never look at their notes again, but it serves this function if they do check it, and they also seem to stay more focussed when they have something they need to fill out. You can even check their book/handout at the end of class, and keep those students behind who haven't done anything.

I think I'm getting somewhat off topic becasue your main question was about getting the students to speak more. Perhaps begin each class with a question for them to answer, or show a Youtube clip and get their opinions. As for the rest of the class, it seems like you're doing what you should be!

It sounds to me like you're doing a great job and just dealing with a difficult co-teacher. Have you ever asked her for any concrete ideas on how to get the students talking more? If he/she has no ideas, can he/she really expect you to come up with something?

Best of luck!!!

machoman · « **Reply #374 on:** September 06, 2011, 11:05:39 AM »

thanks rxqueen. sometimes i question my sanity and just need a reality check. so it's good to know i'm not the only one.

some suggestions from the problematic co teacher is that i do "mechanical drilling." and she says writing is pointless because 1) it's too difficult for them and 2) students don't learn how to speak by writing.

if it was JUST her saying this, i'd be okay, but then she tells me that there are rumors going on about me being the worse teacher. that's what gets to me. that people who don't know me, who never met me are badmouthing me. some might say "why do you care about what other people think if they don't even know you?" it effects my reputation and my future in korea.

anyways, i'm going to incorporate more drilling and alternate book lessons 1 week and game lessons the next. i guess this is what she wants.

lb129 · « **Reply #375 on:** September 06, 2011, 12:33:17 PM »

Quote from: machoman on September 04, 2011, 06:16:54 PM

grade 3 lesson 8 prezi

http://prezi.com/ppmg2nnyzakq/3l8/

feel free to leave comments so i can improve on it.

omg its perfect, i will totally be using it next week to review the lessons. it must have taken you ages. I like to use prezi's but i get so frustrated with them as they are still very new, well done sir well done!

jenhchoi · « **Reply #376 on:** September 06, 2011, 01:30:33 PM »

Grade 2 Lesson 8 part A (It's not fair)

Does anybody have any ideas or materials for part A of this book. I was doing general stereotypes of man vs. women (taken from coco in korea) but my lower levels can not deal with it. Help..Please!

minamteacher · « **Reply #377 on:** September 06, 2011, 02:01:51 PM »

Quote from: jenhchoi on September 06, 2011, 01:30:33 PM

Grade 2 Lesson 8 part A (It's not fair)

Does anybody have any ideas or materials for part A of this book. I was doing general stereotypes of man vs. women (taken from coco in korea) but my lower levels can not deal with it. Help..Please!

I use basic concepts that students have to deal with every day like washing the dishes, and cheating in soccer. You can take a look at my upload if you want. Maybe you can talk about Maradona's 'hand of God' and show this video?

. Also, You can reference Thierry henry's hand of fraud against Ireland in World Cup qualifiers too!

jlamp · « **Reply #378 on:** September 06, 2011, 03:07:55 PM »

@ machoman...
Outside of one or two classes, My 3rd graders are pretty horrible. I kind've dread the classes. They're too self conscious and too worried about what their friends think to want to speak, so I think your co-teach is asking way too much of you, don't think she's being realistic. I always have them write stuff down and then read that, cause everytime i try to get them to speak off the top of their head, it's just crickets. Even listen and repeat is useless...so don't worry about it. If my co-teacher said something like that to me I think i'd laugh in her face. I'd love to talk about the social issues of the day with them in english but it ain't gonna happen, so listen and repeat it is.

Anyways, here are some simple agree/disagree topics for the 2nd grade dialogue in lesson 7. Pretty simple but I got some good answers. I had them write on a white board then speak, but maybe you can just use it for conversation.

Hollysparrow · « **Reply #379 on:** September 06, 2011, 04:38:03 PM »

Thanks renard.tami! Although I've already done the lesson 7 with my grade 3 students, I downloaded your handout and I think it will be a good thing to have the kids work on as review later in the year.