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Goals for the first week?

Hi..I didn't introduce myself on the intro discussion board, so I will do so here. I am teaching middle school in S. Korea. I am just finishing up my first year of teaching ever and I have really learned a lot, much of it from trial and error. I will start my next year at a new, bigger school that will already be 1 month into the new semester. The 2nd and 3rd year coed students that I will be teaching have been learning from a native English teacher with whom they are familiar. I wanted to ask other teachers here what are realistic goals for the first week in my new classroom. I am planning on introducing myself and our class procedures (starting class journals, seating arrangements, behavior guidelines, etc.), playing some simple introduction games to 'feel out' student ability levels, decorate the English zone and start learning student names. Anyone have any other ideas of things that might be useful in my situation? Any specific strategies? Should I already have a full semester plan in place? Any icebreakers you recommend? I want to thank anyone ahead of time for helping. I apologize if any of this is redundant material covered elsewhere, but I have been doing a lot of research lately and it seems that the endless variety of all of the sources I have been mining info from are leaving me feeling a bit overwhelmed and scatterbrained....

Tags: Korea, classroom_management, icebreakers, methodology, middle-school, skills, suggestions, tips

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SupporterPermalink Reply by Ellen Pham on March 4, 2009 at 7:48am

Cute pic, Jim : ) I can't be much help with goals for the first week of class, but I can relate to information overload and feeling scatterbrained! Even very experienced teachers feel that acute nervousness at the beginning of the school year... as David once quipped when I had a case of nerves, Yep, teaching is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get! But it will all turn out fine.

One activity that comes to mind is Find Someone Who.... Easy, always works, and you don't really need a prize. And there are LOTS more ideas in the Lessons in a Can discussion (10 pages worth, maybe overwhelming, but a great resource). And if you are a story teller (or want to become one), David has some great ones listed in Stories to Teach & Inspire.

I'm not teaching EFL at the moment, but there is so much rich experience here, many members who could add lots more relevant information : )

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Permalink Reply by James on March 4, 2009 at 8:45am

Thanks for the encouragement Ellen..I just want to make sure that I have a good foundation to start this semester on...

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SupporterPermalink Reply by ddeubel on March 4, 2009 at 9:55am

Jim,

Great topic! You seem to have everything "in mind" but it really is all in the "eating" and not just the cooking.....

I'd suggest be patient. The first week your goal should be to introduce yourself and create an "atmosphere" for each class. This is so important in Korea where students are often full of "fear' of speaking and no comfortable risk taking. Take the time to get to know your students and most importantly for them to know you. The second time/session/lesson -- talk about rules and routines and get that settled in stone. But the first week, keep it light and about relationships.

I will post up some materials tomorrow when I get to the office.Nice icebreakers . Here's a few more ideas.

Lots more to say but now got to tackle my well deserved plate of potatoes!

Ellen -- thanks for the suggestions from our "underbelly". I will be thinking about ways to better index things like Lessons in a Can etc..... yep, like a box of chocolates - sweet but sometimes you can get sick! :)

Here are a few things which might help others....more later.

David

Attachments:

100 Games - Teaching English to Children in Asia.pdf, 9.8 MB
CommunicationFavourites.pdf, 11.3 MB
Guess about classmates.pdf, 350 KB

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SupporterPermalink Reply by ddeubel on March 5, 2009 at 1:29am

Jim,

See this list of icebreakers - I really love the snowball one and have used that effectively many times.

See more activity ideas (hundreds) here. This site has loads of ideas!

This worksheet is great for a first day activity for beginners. A great way to get to know your students or to use for further presentations.

Attachments:

warmupsicebreakers.doc, 64 KB

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Permalink Reply by James on March 5, 2009 at 4:39am

Awesome..Thanks David. I know I speak for many others when I say your contribution to the EFL community is colossally beneficial...One last thing, what are everyone's feelings on having plans for lessons for the whole semester laid out? Do you feel it is it important to have long-term planning ready after the initial week, or is it more effective to develop it as you go along? I have tried a bit of both and find there are pros and cons to both. I think I will be complementing textbook materials that I am not familiar with right now so don't know how much or how little I should be planning ahead.

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SupporterPermalink Reply by Ellen Pham on March 5, 2009 at 7:14am

Oh Jim, just you thinking and wondering about it makes me feel secure everything is going to be just fine! What more could a student or parent ask than to have the teacher so honestly concerned with doing a good job? It touches me... I wish I could be of more help for your specific situation, but that's all I got :D

Well, maybe a little more : ) For myself, I like to know where I am going, have a specific-general plan (I know, I know, that is a contradiction)... meaning I like to have the materials I think I might use ready 3 or 4 or 5 classes in advance. That way, I have time to change course and create/ discover new curriculum activities when the need or inspiration hits. It's kind of like a security blanket, I know I have materials/ ideas/ goals planned, and that actually gives me more freedom (ie unstressed time to reflect and ponder) to grow and change as the class develops.

I tend to think in units or themes, and I have a map in my head and often on paper for 3 or 4 weeks out, but all the specifics are not filled in. It's been awhile, and I am sure I am forgetting things, and also I am an elementary teacher, so when I say 3 or 4 or 5 classes, I really mean days (I have the same kids all day). So it is natural to think of how one area of curriculum can integrate and enrich another. And then I have the overall picture of where we are going for the year in my head and also on paper, very flexible, but I've thought about it a lot, and planned at least in general what materials we will use.

I wonder if theme-based instruction would be useful in the EFL classroom? I also wonder, do you check out the curriculum the students are learning in their other classes, and integrate that into your English instruction? Is that useful or practical? Also, how often do you meet with a class- daily for an hour, 2x/week, once a week?

Thank you for opening this discussion, Jim, and giving me the opportunity to learn more about what it's really like to be an EFL teacher in a foreign country.

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Permalink Reply by James on March 5, 2009 at 12:11pm

I definitely like the idea of themes, and I try to group things into themes or units if I can. The tricky thing is that I find that some of the material from the textbooks, which I have been encouraged to integrate into my lessons, is organized around what I find to be very odd themes. For instance, I have seen some textbooks introduce grammar points using stories about robots going on a picnic in one lesson, and then move on to talk about animals in the zoo in the next lesson. Given a creative approach, these two themes can be related, but it seems awkward at times. I tend to try to integrate themes from current events, cultural celebrations, or students' interests whenever possible. Textbooks in Korea tend to be shoddy at times, some actually having grammar errors and very unnatural expressions. To answer your last question, I see approximately 22 different classes a week. This makes planning materials for a few different ability levels somewhat manageable on a long-term scale, the only major obstacle being the frequent, last-minute schedule changes for which Korean schools are infamous.
I will take a bit of your advice and attempt to have at least a 3 to 4 week (in my case) plan in place after the first week, amending it as needed. Thanks again for the input.

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Permalink Reply by Nelson Beard on March 5, 2009 at 12:38pm

Do think about your approach to a lesson, especially in a language classroom. Maybe take some time and read up on lesson planning here: Lesson Planning Resources. This should give you a new frame of reference to discern and make choices with.

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SupporterPermalink Reply by Ellen Pham on March 5, 2009 at 6:53pm

Jim, forgive me for being such a newbie in understanding the structure you teach under, but are you saying you teach 22 separate classes? And assuming that each class has about 40 students, does that mean you have 880 different students?

I'm scared to ask the next one... do you see these classes once a week or twice a week? For 45 minutes or so each time? Do the children have EFL everyday, and you are their once a week treat with a native speaker? Or is the English instruction more limited than that? How many different teachers do you work with?

Thanks Jim, in advance, for answering these questions. It will make a big difference in what types of curriculum and teaching methods/ ideas I put out there. Right now I am WIDE EYED at the # of students, but I realize I might have it all ass-backward, as we say : ).

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Permalink Reply by James on March 6, 2009 at 12:03am

Ellen you are spot on...I will in fact be seeing 880+ different students per week for a 45 min lesson, and so I am therefore their once-a-week "treat" :P This is why I am so interested in getting the most out of each lesson. I will also be teaching with 4 or 5 different Korean co-teachers in any given week, and these teachers typically conduct the bulk of their other English classes in Korean. This means that the majority of these students' exposure to natural, conversational English is in the native speaker's classroom. I hope this gives you a better understanding of where I am coming from. This kind of arrangement is common for ESL teachers in the Korean public school system. Thanks again everyone for the input.

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SupporterPermalink Reply by Ellen Pham on March 6, 2009 at 4:21am

Wow, Jim. I am awed. Now I am thinking maybe the most helpful resource here would be Zen and the Art of Teaching. I know if I were in your position, I would be needing a lot of Zen :D. Great nuggets of wisdom and comfort there, no matter what your personal beliefs are...

Just thinking out loud here, what I might be thinking of if I was teaching in your shoes...no need to respond if it doesn't reverberate... Putting aside the textbook and outside expectations, what are my goals for my students? What do I hope they will be able to do by the end of the semester? How do I hope they will feel about speaking English?

What are my student's goals? What do they hope to get out of English class? What do they wish class was like? What would they like to do with English, in the future, but also right now?

The other big concern I would have is that 45 minutes/wk conversational practice in a class of 40+ is just not enough .Are social networking opportunities open to them? (Facebook, Skype, chat rooms, etc) Are they savvy and cautious enough to use these sites safely, or is it not a good idea? What other outside resources are available for the kids to practice spoken English, where you would not have to be directly involved?

If you're interested in developing safe, child centered outside resources, I'd be happy to help search for some. I know the BBC has an ESL site geared for children, and the teachers are at least somewhat screened. I signed up at one point (you have to be approved, but I don't remember what the criteria was) but didn't go any further with it. And they can always sign up for English for Friendship & Fun. I'm a certified k-9 teacher in the state of Oregon, and I will baby them : ).

One last thought I've had, about working with co-teachers. David wrote a great blog, Co-Teaching, Setting it up for Success. This is a truly valuable resource. As I was looking for the Trouble with a co-teacher discussion, I found this discussion, Books to help teach in the Korean Context. I browsed the Tell Me More, chp 1-4 pdf, and it seems like many of the activities are just right for the age group you are teaching- definitely worth a look, it could form the basis of your classes.

When are you starting your new assignment? Let us know how it is going!

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SupporterPermalink Reply by Ellen Pham on March 6, 2009 at 8:26am

One part of the Tell Me More program that I really liked was it includes interesting, interactive homework for the students. This encourages the children to converse in English outside of class. It would be ideal if the cooperating teacher would take responsibility for collecting the HW and checking off that it was completed, realizing that with seeing 880+ students every week, this would be almost impossible for you to keep on top of.