General Teaching Methods
Use blindfolds. When students have to walk around the classroom with blindfolds on, it makes listening much more important. It's also kind of hilarious, just make sure no one gets hurt. In the Korean Elementary school books, one of the most best uses for the blindfolds is during the "Asking/giving directions" chapters.
Tell simple stories. Use hats for different roles and do a whole play on your own. I did this with a kindergarten class for a whole semester and it worked great. I had two baseball caps and I drew two small, simple pictures on paper, one of a big fish, and one of a little fish, and I taped them to their respective hats. Each week I told very simple stories using the vocabulary which I had taught the students, and I made the stories so that 'big fish' was always brash and overconfident, and 'little fish' was smart, and usually right in the end. Especially if you're into drama, this is something you'll want to try.
Use a puppet in class to talk about the lessons with. It can be a real puppet (usually expensive) or as simple as a sock with a face drawn on it (usually cheap).
Role play is a great way to get the students to use the sentences they're learning in a real life situation. Break the students into groups and have them assign roles and memorize their parts for the script. Then clear a space at the front of the class and have the groups take turns coming to the front and performing. This will be A LOT more fun if there are props and/or simple costumes. The funnier and cuter, the better. I've made lots of different things out of cardboard boxes. The students love it when you bring in some new mysterious object into class.
In my experience, role play works best for 3rd and 4th graders. Sometimes 5th and 6th graders think they're too cool to go to the front and be expressive. However, a while back I attended another teacher's open class, she was teaching 5th grade and conducted an incredibly successful role play class with her students. Each group did a restaurant play, complete with a dining table, host, customer and restaurant server roles, menu, and food props. The kids not only seemed to enjoy it, but some even went so far as to show off their acting skills.
When singing songs in class, try singing songs extremely slow or extremely fast. It's really fun for the students and also practical since, by singing slowly at first, the students can learn correct pronunciation more accurately.
In Korean culture, it is proper ettiquette for students to "greet" any teacher they walk by. They are supposed to bow and say "Annyeonghaseyo" respectfully. Even to a foreign teacher they will many times do this by habit. Take advantage of this compulsory greeting practice by starting up short conversations with your students to help them practice English outside the classroom. For example, "Hi, How are you? Where are you going? How's the weather?" etc.
Learn how to use PowerPoint beyond the basics, if you don't already. Even though many teachers have already made powerpoints for classes like yours, knowing how to take advantage of the many capabilities of the program on your own will make your presentations much smoother and the included material will be more efficient for classes' specific needs.
Add motions to any songs you sing in class. There may already be some motions in an accompanying video, but of course you can also make your own. Especially 3rd and 4th grade love doing motions to songs. Ask students to give their own suggestions for what the motions should be.
In an emergency situation, when you need the students to play a game, and they don't understand at all, your Korean co-teacher can quickly explain the game to them in Korean. However, as much as possible, try to explain games and activities in English. For me, explaining REALLY SIMPLY in English turned out to be much harder than I thought it would be. To do this, I realized that I needed to first type out a "game instruction script", then I read it out loud. As I read it, I tried to put myself in my student's shoes, and analyze it to see whether they'd be able to understand it. (Using hand motions also helps a lot). The one thing you don't want is students playing a game they don't understand. The students will spend the whole time making up their own rules and arguing about them, speak no English, no one learns, no game, no fun. :-(
Pronunciation: During the class, try to use every opportunity to help the students with pronunciation. Pay special attention to 'R', 'L', short 'I', 'V', 'F', and 'Z'. Even if you're in the middle of a listening exercise, or a singing a song, if a difficult-to-pronounce word shows up, take 10 or 20 seconds to have the students repeat after you. Remember to overexaggerate the pronunciation focus, e.g. "Good eVVVening", or "It's a LLLLion"
In these lesson plans, you may notice a lot of mention of the squeaky hammer . Much like blindfolds, if you can find a way to include the squeaky hammer, English class will be more fun.
Bring some cards with pictures related to the current vocabulary and flash the cards quickly in front of the class. If no one sees it the first time, flash the card in front of them again. Have the students guess what it was until someone says the right answer.
End class on a positive, happy note.
Tell simple stories. Use hats for different roles and do a whole play on your own. I did this with a kindergarten class for a whole semester and it worked great. I had two baseball caps and I drew two small, simple pictures on paper, one of a big fish, and one of a little fish, and I taped them to their respective hats. Each week I told very simple stories using the vocabulary which I had taught the students, and I made the stories so that 'big fish' was always brash and overconfident, and 'little fish' was smart, and usually right in the end. Especially if you're into drama, this is something you'll want to try.
Use a puppet in class to talk about the lessons with. It can be a real puppet (usually expensive) or as simple as a sock with a face drawn on it (usually cheap).
Role play is a great way to get the students to use the sentences they're learning in a real life situation. Break the students into groups and have them assign roles and memorize their parts for the script. Then clear a space at the front of the class and have the groups take turns coming to the front and performing. This will be A LOT more fun if there are props and/or simple costumes. The funnier and cuter, the better. I've made lots of different things out of cardboard boxes. The students love it when you bring in some new mysterious object into class.
In my experience, role play works best for 3rd and 4th graders. Sometimes 5th and 6th graders think they're too cool to go to the front and be expressive. However, a while back I attended another teacher's open class, she was teaching 5th grade and conducted an incredibly successful role play class with her students. Each group did a restaurant play, complete with a dining table, host, customer and restaurant server roles, menu, and food props. The kids not only seemed to enjoy it, but some even went so far as to show off their acting skills.
When singing songs in class, try singing songs extremely slow or extremely fast. It's really fun for the students and also practical since, by singing slowly at first, the students can learn correct pronunciation more accurately.
In Korean culture, it is proper ettiquette for students to "greet" any teacher they walk by. They are supposed to bow and say "Annyeonghaseyo" respectfully. Even to a foreign teacher they will many times do this by habit. Take advantage of this compulsory greeting practice by starting up short conversations with your students to help them practice English outside the classroom. For example, "Hi, How are you? Where are you going? How's the weather?" etc.
Learn how to use PowerPoint beyond the basics, if you don't already. Even though many teachers have already made powerpoints for classes like yours, knowing how to take advantage of the many capabilities of the program on your own will make your presentations much smoother and the included material will be more efficient for classes' specific needs.
Add motions to any songs you sing in class. There may already be some motions in an accompanying video, but of course you can also make your own. Especially 3rd and 4th grade love doing motions to songs. Ask students to give their own suggestions for what the motions should be.
In an emergency situation, when you need the students to play a game, and they don't understand at all, your Korean co-teacher can quickly explain the game to them in Korean. However, as much as possible, try to explain games and activities in English. For me, explaining REALLY SIMPLY in English turned out to be much harder than I thought it would be. To do this, I realized that I needed to first type out a "game instruction script", then I read it out loud. As I read it, I tried to put myself in my student's shoes, and analyze it to see whether they'd be able to understand it. (Using hand motions also helps a lot). The one thing you don't want is students playing a game they don't understand. The students will spend the whole time making up their own rules and arguing about them, speak no English, no one learns, no game, no fun. :-(
Pronunciation: During the class, try to use every opportunity to help the students with pronunciation. Pay special attention to 'R', 'L', short 'I', 'V', 'F', and 'Z'. Even if you're in the middle of a listening exercise, or a singing a song, if a difficult-to-pronounce word shows up, take 10 or 20 seconds to have the students repeat after you. Remember to overexaggerate the pronunciation focus, e.g. "Good eVVVening", or "It's a LLLLion"
In these lesson plans, you may notice a lot of mention of the squeaky hammer . Much like blindfolds, if you can find a way to include the squeaky hammer, English class will be more fun.
Bring some cards with pictures related to the current vocabulary and flash the cards quickly in front of the class. If no one sees it the first time, flash the card in front of them again. Have the students guess what it was until someone says the right answer.
End class on a positive, happy note.