Hello, this is my first serious post here since I became a middle-school teacher in March. After my first couple of weeks I was thrown head-first into an after school 'conversation class' with about 20 students. I was given no instructions or resources and just told I could do what I want. All well and good, but for an hour and a half I'm struggling to keep all the kids engaged, and my improvised lesson plans sometimes veer from being too difficult for some kids, to patronizingly simple for others. I'm also keen not to only play games and I want to add something valuable to the lessons. They range from average ability to very good and so far I've had no consistent structure to my lesson, despite finding some great stuff on the net.

So my big question is: are any of you in the same boat, and if so, do you follow any kind of structure or plan through the year? Do you have any tips on how I can keep a consistently interesting class?

haha well welcome to teaching in Korea!
It's gonna be like this for the entire year. Although I will admit that it gets better....there are always going to be days when you feel totally useless.

That being said, you can still play lots of games with your students and still get them to learn something from it. In my classes when we do games, it's all about team work in my class. The kids hated it at the beginning because my games require them to be mixed grades and not just with their friends. But now they are used to the idea.

What level of students do you have? I've got some brilliant kids in my class which definitely helps when I want to do something a little more challenging.

Here are a few things Ive done over the past few years that have been quite successful. Hope they help.

- Pen pals with another school in America / Canada/ England / South Africa (alot easier if you have contact with an English teacher from a school you are familiar with)

- Video Project / Music video with re-vamped English subtitles (I asked the students to create their own English song to a famous Korean pop song and make a video)

- Write your own fairy tale ending. Take a really popular fairy tale (I did aladdin and goldie locks and the three bears last year) that all students know and give the students half the story. Have them read it, and answer some comprehension questions. Tell them to then come up with an alternative ending. I got some hilarious endings. This year we're doing jack and the beanstalk.

- Comic books. Do a lesson on story structure and introduce plot, genre, and setting.
Then in teams give each team a random genre and setting and tell them to create a story based on the information you give them. You can then take this idea and after they write their story have them transform it into a comic book.

- Movie reviews: Get the students to watch a 5-10 minute animated movie (just search youtube...pixar movies work great for this) and then have them write a movie review about what they saw. They can then discuss the movie with their friends or with you.

-Play scrabble or cards with your students. The more you sit with them the more they will talk to you about random stuff. Teaching isn't just about lesson planning!

- Scenario games:
The typical what would you bring if you were on a deserted island is a fun 20 minute filler

- NASA moon game. (NASA pub)
  Tell the students they crashed on the moon. They must walk to the other side of the moon to meet the mothership and get home. There are 10 things they can bring. Have the students rank them from most important to least important.
I included the answers but If you dont like my answers change them how you see fit.
-First talk about what you know about the moon. (no air, low gravity, dark side vs light side, lots of craters)
- Second go through each item
- Third Get the students to rank the items and then fill out the activity sheet where the describe what the item can do to help them / why it wouldnt help.

Mario RPG Game (saveprincesspeach ppt / mario sheets easy)
A survival scenatrio game. Put the students into teams. They must assemble 3 teams of 4 members that will help them save Princess Peach. there are 12 team members (all popular mario characters) and 3 worlds to play though.... but each character can only be used once. The students must read all the information and decide who is good for which world.

Dream vacation. (sweep ppt. / alaska pub / disneyland pub)
Tell the students they won a dream vacation. They can choose between a trip to Alaska or Disneyworld. After going through the ppt discuss the pros and cons for each trip. Then have the students choose which vacation they want to take and let them tell you why they choose it.

Korea's got this amazing fantasy that conversation classes are all about debating. So many times I've been told if we should do a discussion/opinionated class about a difficult topic in English and I know it i just going to BOMB. Actually I want to do a discussion class to show them how much of a pain it is.
Woah? Students thinking for themselves???
Students expressing their own ideas?!!!
IN ENGLISH?!

I pray I enter a middle school class where I could have a heated debate like the pictures I see in my textbooks where students enjoy that sort of thing. I feel like middle school is just not the place for that.
 My kids want to be entertained...and most of them are in my class because they know I give ice cream and they dont want to play sports. (Although, I do have some of the smartest kids in my class and I am proud they want to be in my class)

Having fun with your students and all forms of conversation is discussion...whether it be about a opinion or having them tell you about their pet chicken named Dragon who overdosed on blueberries and had to get its stomache pumped (true story)

Good luck with the class!