June 21, 2016, 12:32:53 AM


Author Topic: Suggestions for Unstructured "Creative Speaking" class?  (Read 731 times)

Offline peachkitten

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Suggestions for Unstructured "Creative Speaking" class?
« on: March 10, 2016, 04:50:19 PM »
Okay, first off let me give you the background on this class.
There are 5 girls, 2nd or 3rd graders, with pretty good English ability. We can have conversations, they can ask me what certain words mean and understand when I explain it to them.
The class is labeled as a "creative speaking" class. It has no textbook, because apparently these girls have been at this academy for years and they wanted to appease the parents who asked for 2 classes a week where the girls won't have to study from a book.
I know this class has a LOT of potential and at first, I was excited. I thought we could do all sorts of games, activities, free talking. And we did at first. But now a new semester (3 months) has started and I just feel like things are starting to get stale.
The class has no computer or TV, and although we've asked the director for even a small budget, he won't part with a single man won. 
The teacher that taught them before me used to do 'making classes' with them once a week where he would buy materials out of his own pocket (food , art and crafts, etc) and do that. I think they got used to it, but as much as I like these girls, I don't think it's fair if I have to feel obligated to use my own money to make this guy's academy better. He has the money to spare 20,000 a month. Plus he acts like a douche towards me, so yeah, no.

Okay so with that background, I guess I am just asking for suggestions of where to go with this class.
I would really like to give it some structure.
We have done a couple of 'projects' that span a few class periods, such as making a paper dragon (even though I brought some of my own materials in), and finding things I can make with them using A4 paper and glue (the only materials at my disposal that I wouldn't have to buy).  I have also done a superhero project where we spent a few days building up and discussing their characters.

If I make it too 'boring', such as: "Tuesdays we will brainstorm together on a topic and fill in the blanks on a speech about it, and Thursdays you will draw an accompanying picture (oh yeah, also now the parents are saying there is too much coloring in the class so the director doesn't want a lot of that) and present your speech.", I think the kids will find that too boring and repetitive and complain to their parents.
But for now, I am leaning towards something like that.

Anyway I  just want to hear what you guys have to say and if you have any suggestions for a more structured class. As opposed to me just choosing a random topic and then playing a warm up game for half the class so that when we start freetalking about it they won't run out of things to say before class is over.

Mind you, I have been trying, I just don't know where to go. If only we had a bit of a budget, I could really see myself doing a kind of  'camp' with them each month/every 2 weeks. Like a Harry Potter theme camp or Frozen. I have seen so many ideas online but they require materials and technology I don't have access to.

Sorry rambling! Advice, suggestions, and comforting words would be welcome. :) Thank you~

Offline MeaghanAshley25

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Re: Suggestions for Unstructured "Creative Speaking" class?
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2016, 12:45:49 PM »
I know you said that you need to cut back on the drawing/colouring, so you may not be able to use these suggestions, but I'll share them anyway.

Clue is a great game and you can make this a bigger project by having them create their own cards and even design their own board with different rooms in a school, a house, or a shopping mall. Here is a thread about Clue with basic cards you can use to teach them how to play before they design their own: http://www.waygook.org/index.php/topic,83444.msg525212.html#msg525212

Another project I did with a conversation class before was the Olympics. They invented their own country, designed a flag, drew a map, and talked about their country's culture, population and demographics, geography, etc. Then you can have them compete in some Minute to Win It games using simple objects you can find around your apartment. Since the Olympics will be taking place this year, and in Pyeongchang in 2018, they might be interested in this and you may be able to get them talking.

I also did a Harry Potter camp for which I bought all the materials out of my own pocket, so I definitely understand your frustrations there. If you're interested, though, I think you can do it on a fairly low budget. I bought coloured paper, scissors, glue, and various juices and soft drinks. The main activities were The Sorting - they took a "personality test" which determined their house, made a banner/flag, and talked about the qualities their house possesses; Potions Class - I took the labels off the juices and labelled them instead as things like "Unicorn Blood," "Mermaid Tears," etc. I got some paper cups from the teachers' office and they made their own "potion," including a step-by-step recipe, name, and effects; and Quidditch - for this, I used foil plates, chopsticks, and tape to make the goal hoops and a crumpled up ball of red paper for the Quaffle (in retrospect, an actual ball would have worked better) and we basically played beer pong. I used more paper cups and each cup had a question on the bottom of it, so if they sink a cup they need to answer the question in order to eliminate it. One cup on each side had the Golden Snitch on the bottom, and I honestly can't remember what that was for. In addition to these activities, the students wrote an "Owl Post" each day describing what they did, what they enjoyed, and what they didn't enjoy or didn't understand.

Hope these help! I'll post again if I come up with any more ideas.

Offline luckksy

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Re: Suggestions for Unstructured "Creative Speaking" class?
« Reply #2 on: March 11, 2016, 01:06:05 PM »
I've also struggled the past year for some structure. I don't know if you'd like this to be a "content based instruction" class, but I found that this gave some structure to all the misc. classes I'd covered in the first 6 months or so. What I did was I would give my class a basic idea on a certain theme each month. With that big idea in mind it was easier for me to plan things ahead and also review stuff we did. The themes I've covered basically are 1. cooking, 2. science experiments, 3. paper crafts(art), 4. drama, and 5. music and 6.storytelling. This I am planning to repeat over a 6 months period, with different ideas with more difficult vocab and complex structures.
Hope this helps a bit.

Offline peachkitten

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Re: Suggestions for Unstructured "Creative Speaking" class?
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2016, 09:44:12 PM »
Thank you both for your replies! Meagan, I especially like the idea for the low budget HP camp!

 

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