Lesson plans

Hello!

So I guess I have a lot to write about. Yesterday morning (Sunday) I successfully did laundry. I was a little nervous, but in fact there were some directions in English posted, and everything turned out for the best, although I seem to have lost a shirt somewhere between here and the laundry room, and the dryer ate my money. Nonetheless, I now have clean clothes, which is definitely cool.

Also yesterday I went with a couple of Key Club members and other ETAs to what I guess is like a Boys and Girls Center in Chuncheon. At first they told us it was an elementary school, but then it was clarified that it actually serves mostly students from families with very low economic backgrounds, and some orphans. It's a pretty big complex on a beautiful property (right on a lake), and there didn't seem to be any classes going on, so we deduced that it was probably like a boys and girls center where kids could be while their parents were working a million hours a day. (We were there on a Sunday, and hung out with a small group.) The kids were cute, especially the littlest ones, although they were kind of afraid of us and embarassed. We were encouraged to speak all the Korean we know to them, but it's awkward because we've only learned to speak in the kinda-formal-to-your-equals-or-superiors way, a way you would never use speaking to children, so they laughed at us and thought it was weird. The kids were full of energy. There was one girl who was the ringleader, and kind of a bully. We ended up playing a variation of rock-paper-scissors, helping them practice their pronunciation of the alphabet, eating barbecue, and watching the girls sing with a noraebang (karaoke) machine. We were there about three hours, and it was a neat experience, if exhausting. I now have a lot of sympathy for the elementary ETAs--I can't imagine knowing that I would be working with kids who knew NO English.

Then, last night, I met with my partner to finalize our lesson plan for our first activity. I pretty much wrote it, so I'll post it here at the bottom for you to look at, if you're interested. We also had a general meeting last night about filling out our preferences for our placement. There's a number of things we can express preference for, including school size (# of students), location size (rural/suburban/rural), gender (boys school/girls school/co-ed), age (high school/middle school), specific geographic area, and level of proficiency (advanced, intermediate, low). I think the three most important things for me are:

1. teaching HIGH SCHOOL
2. small school (so that I can have fewer students, get to know them better, and maybe meet more often than once a week)
3. high/advanced English proficiency

I think I'd prefer boys, but I might like girls too. I just don't want to be in a co-ed school, I think. Don't want to deal with those issues. So yeah, I need to fill out that form by Friday, as perfectly as possible to convey my desires, and then hope for the best. They stressed, of course, that there are loads of factors that go into what our placement is, so we shouldn't assume we'll get what we want. I'm sure I'll make the best of whatever I get, and I don't know what any of the experiences would be like, but those things are things I think I would like, so we'll see. I should know in about ten days, I heard.

After that, I spent a lot of time studying for this morning's quiz. This morning's quiz was actually really easy. I might have missed one of the dictation, but I definitely passed. Class is still agonizingly long, but I'm getting through it. I learned one of the two number systems today, which was cool. This afternoon's workshop was on culture shock, and it was interesting. There were some things related to it that I wanted to blog about, but I can't exactly remember what they are, and I'm tired. One interesting activity we did that related to it was to make a list of words that we use to define ourselves, then to make another that represented how South Korea might define us. Just trying to look at yourself from a different perspective--a pretty useful thing to do.

After that workshop I worked on another lesson plan with my group for the special club activity, had dinner, went to Key Club (where we discussed the existence of aliens), and wrote another lesson plan, which I will also post here, if you're interested.

I'm sure there was more I wanted to say, but I can't think of it off the top of my head. Check these out, if you want:

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Lesson Plan #1 (Advanced), Wednesday
Lesson Title: Who am I?

Objectives:
Main aim: To give students the opportunity to practice asking and answering questions in a simple structure and descriptive vocabulary in order to discover what celebrity they are.
Secondary aims: To improve students’ social skills by encouraging them to help each other, to test and increase students’ knowledge of both Korean and world pop culture.
Personal aims: To practice enunciating and using a vocabulary appropriate to the students’ language level.

Skills: The lesson will specifically emphasize speaking and listening (asking and answering questions), but students will also do some writing at the end of the activit.

Assumptions: It is assumed that students know basic adjectives and nouns dealing with nationality, gender, appearance, and profession. The introduction (after the hook) will review this vocabulary and test students’ understanding, and worksheets with sample questions will be provided. Students may also feel tempted to ask questions that are not ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions or to resort to Korean if they cannot figure out which celebrity they are. This will hopefully be avoided by making the rules very clear in the beginning, by offering the sample handout, and by circulating to offer help to any students who have questions.

Materials: 15 index cards with the name of a Korean or world celebrity/famous figure on each, Tape for affixing the card to each student’s back, Handouts with sample questions, (Optional: Powerpoint with pictures of each figure for review and more fun)

Hook: Ask the question “Who am I?” then hangman with my name, instructor introduction and go though sample questions—have students answer the first few about the instructor/s.

Lesson:
Stage 1: Ask the question “Who am I?” then play hangman with instructor names (2-3 minutes)
Stage 2: Instructor/s myself (2 minutes)
Stage 3: Students brainstorm questions and ask each other, go through vocabulary worksheet (10 minutes)
Stage 4: Handout sample questions worksheet… Go through the format (“Am I…” “Yes/no, you are/aren’t”) and the first few sample questions. Have students answer them as they relate to the instructor/s (“Am I Korean?” “Am I American?” “Am I a man?” Am I a woman?”) (10 minutes)
Stage 5: Check to make sure students understand the format and demonstrate the game—(1) Have a student pick one of the celebrity/famous person cards and stick it to the instructors’ backs, (2) Ask the students’ questions in an attempt to figure out which celebrity we are. Celebrities will be introduced (either with PowerPoint or pictures and writing on the board) to check for familiarity and give them the possible answers for the game (10 minutes)
Stage 6: Have students line up and tape the cards to their backs, then form two lines facing each other. They will ask the person across from them a yes/no question, then move on to the next person. As students finish, we will encourage them to write down the things they learned about themselves on a separate biography handout (“My name is… I am a Korean/American man/woman. I have blonde/brown hair.) (15 minutes)
Stage 7 (optional): Remaining time: have extra cards for the students to come up with their own person and play the game again.

Closing:
Stage 8: [REVIEW] Use PowerPoint (optional) or pictures to go through each famous person. Ask “Who is… Brad Pitt?” and then have the student introduce him/herself in the format from the biography handout, concluding with “It’s nice to meet you.” (7-10 minutes)

Evaluation: We will be able to tell if students have achieved the objectives by whether or not they are able to identify themselves to complete the game, complete the handouts, and feel comfortable introducing themselves.

Other Considerations: If there is time left over, we will have students complete stage 7. If time is running short, we will shorten the powerpoint review and introductions.


Vocabulary:
Appearance:
Hair- blonde, brunette, redhead
Height- Tall, short, medium-height
Weight- Fat, chubby, thin, skinny
Eye color- brown, blue, green

Nationality: British, American, Korean

Profession: Actor, singer, politician, president, athlete, rapper, businessman

Age: Young, twenty-something, middle-aged, old/elderly

Lesson Plan #2 (Intermediate/Advanced), Monday
Lesson Title: Similes and Metaphors

Objectives:
Main aim: To expose students to similes and metaphors to help them grow more sophisticated in their descriptions
Secondary aims: To encourage students to think creatively by creating sentences with both literal and figurative meanings
Personal aims: To practice enunciating and using a vocabulary appropriate to the students’ language level.

Skills: The lesson will specifically emphasize writing and construction of language, but students will also be reading many examples of similes/metaphors and reading theirs to the class

Assumptions: It is assumed that students have a fairly strong vocabulary of simple nouns and adjectives, although handouts with sample ideas will be provided to help less advanced students.

Materials: Two page-sized pictures, index cards, optional-powerpoint

Hook: Start by showing two pictures: a comically tall man and a very beautiful woman, and having students describe them. Then say we’re going to learn an even better way to describe them. Write the word ‘simile’ on the board.

Lesson:
Stage 1: Instructor introduction and have students describe two initial pictures (3 minutes).
Stage 2: Introduce the first two basic forms of simile (“[Noun] is like a [noun]” and “[Noun] is as [adjective] as a [noun].” Give examples of similes using the pictures of the tall man and the beautiful woman. (“He is as tall as a giraffe/skyscraper/tower/statue”… “She is as beautiful as a rose/celebrity… pretty as a picture.”) (12 minutes)
Stage 3: Give each student an index card with half of a very simple simile on it. Instruct them to go around and find the other half of their simile, reading aloud to each other each time. As students find their other half, they should check it with the teacher then sit down. When all pairs are matched, students will read their simile for the class. (5 minutes)
Stage 4: Students will work in pairs to write two of their own similes by filling in blanks on the handouts, drawing (if they would like) on the recommended subjects and adjectives. (5 minutes)
Stage 5: Introduce metaphor as another way of describing that does NOT include the words “like” or “as.” Use a simple common example “You are my sunshine” to introduce the structure (“[Noun] is a [noun]”) and ask students to think about what that means (What adjectives does this imply? Bright, happy, light). (10 minutes)
-> IF students seem to understand well, introduce Shakespeare’s “All the world is a stage / And all the men and women merely players. / They have their entrances and exits.”
-> IF students are struggling, go over other examples of simple metaphors, then have them work in pairs to write one of their own and explain it to the class. (5 minutes)

Closing:
Stage 8: [REVIEW] Have students identify whether a given comparison is a metaphor or simile. Offer one more for discussion.

Evaluation: We will be able to tell if students have achieved the objectives by whether or not they are able to tell the difference between the final similes and metaphors, and whether they are able to think about the figurative meaning of the final comparison.

Sample similes:
He is as tall as a skyscraper*.