Ideas for Big Sr./Jr.High classes

I’d like to find some idea or suggestions from experienced h.s. or jr. high teachers. I’ve been in buxibans for years, taught adults for other years, and now I’ve started at a high school and so far I really like it. But mang…the classes aren’t so much classes as audiences. And I only get them for fifty minutes, so I blink and it’s over. It’s pretty ridiculous like most of Taiwan education.

That being said, I want to give them the best experience possible. I’d like it to be effective yet fun and interesting, and integrative, involving them, so that when they graduate they feel it wasn’t the usual boring grammar shoved down their throats by a local incompetent but a productive learning experience with a qualified native speaker.

The school doesn’t seem to care what I do, which is good, cuz if they did I’d probably not wanna do it. I’d like to find out what others have done.

Any suggestions? Or point me in the right direction where there’s a bank of ideas used specifically for Taiwan or Asian public schools?

thanks!

There is no curriculum provided? Teach them how how to ask others out on a date and do some roll play. Maybe some pick up lines. That should keep their attention. having worksheets ready to go is also not a bad idea.

[quote=“Rupert”]I’d like to find some idea or suggestions from experienced h.s. or jr. high teachers. I’ve been in buxibans for years, taught adults for other years, and now I’ve started at a high school and so far I really like it. But mang…the classes aren’t so much classes as audiences. And I only get them for fifty minutes, so I blink and it’s over. It’s pretty ridiculous like most of Taiwan education.

That being said, I want to give them the best experience possible. I’d like it to be effective yet fun and interesting, and integrative, involving them, so that when they graduate they feel it wasn’t the usual boring grammar shoved down their throats by a local incompetent but a productive learning experience with a qualified native speaker.

The school doesn’t seem to care what I do, which is good, cuz if they did I’d probably not wanna do it. I’d like to find out what others have done.

Any suggestions? Or point me in the right direction where there’s a bank of ideas used specifically for Taiwan or Asian public schools?

thanks![/quote]

I have been teaching for 11 years hear and much of it has been in private high school and Jr High schools. My classes are also 50 min. I have tried many different things and I have finally found something that works well. I do have a text book and I use Smart Choice 1,2 and 3. It isn’t my favorite book, but I am required to teach it. I each high school class twice a week for 50 min. So first day I usually play a warm up game then I teach the book. I usually get through it fast and play another activity. First off I my classroom is huge so I have rearranged all the desks into groups. I only have 25 students, so if you have more it might be harder. I put them in 6 groups (4 desks together, but yes one group will obviously have 5 desks). This just makes it easy for me for activities or games.

The second day I do lots of GEPT style speaking practice or reading in class. So basically I give them a question. Something like, “If you could travel to any place in the world, where would you travel and why?” Then I make a student from every group stand up. I usually let the students to play “paper, scissor, stone” to see who loses. Then the losing students stand up (all 6 or sometimes I make 7 of them) and I let them think about the question for a bit. Sometimes I even let them write 10-15 words on a piece of paper to help them remember what they want to say, but they aren’t allowed to write complete sentences. Then I have a 1 min conversation with them. If they don’t talk, then I stop the timer and try to give them some ideas to help them communicate. I help correct their English and grammar along the way.

Also, instead of giving them a question, I will change it up and give them a problem. For example, “You friend has been talking behind your back, but he/she is a really good friend of yours. How are you going to deal with this problem?” I also give them time to thing about it and then we talk about it for a minute. If they wanna keep talking over a minute than let them.

I do this same thing for GEPT style reading. I basically pick one student from the group to stand up and read a paragraph. They read until I say stop. I also correct them along the way.

After this, I usually teach them 3 idioms or slang terms that are popular and write the definitions for them and give them examples. I make them write them down in their English notebooks that the school provides them with. I give them quizzes on these idioms about twice a semester.

I usually have 5-10 min left after all of this and I have a ton of activities that I do with them. Just like category games. I have actually published a book and have gotten really good feedback from it. There are 55 games in the book and I use all of them in my High School classes. Here is the website, if you are interested feel free to message me. There are a few sample games in the website. http://eslgamesbible.jimdo.com/

Anyway, I hope this helps a bit.

You must be on fire for that fifty minutes, especially if you have time left at the end.

Initially I wasn’t sure about grouping them because some of these rooms are so damn crowded there’s barely room for the podium. But if I can make it fly I’d like them to always be in groups, always. After I give my first test I should have an idea of who the stronger students are, and I’d like to assign them to each group to help others. Then I would be able to go around and to each group and help on a more human level rather than talking at 40 or 50 of them at a time.

I was very hesitant about working in a high school, and especially a jr. high school, but so far, I have to say I like it. The school has stayed out of my way so far, and I hope that doesn’t change.

I will check out your book. Thank you for your suggestions.

[quote=“Rupert”]You must be on fire for that fifty minutes, especially if you have time left at the end.

Initially I wasn’t sure about grouping them because some of these rooms are so damn crowded there’s barely room for the podium. But if I can make it fly I’d like them to always be in groups, always. After I give my first test I should have an idea of who the stronger students are, and I’d like to assign them to each group to help others. Then I would be able to go around and to each group and help on a more human level rather than talking at 40 or 50 of them at a time.

I was very hesitant about working in a high school, and especially a jr. high school, but so far, I have to say I like it. The school has stayed out of my way so far, and I hope that doesn’t change.

I will check out your book. Thank you for your suggestions.[/quote]

No not on fire at all actually, I think you misread my post and you think I do all those things during one class. Hahah. For a GEPT style 50 min class it would look like this.

  1. Students come in usually late 5 min. I shoot the shit with them for a few minutes or I play a quick 5 min game. (10 min)
  2. I write the conversation question on the board, explain it and usually give an example of myself. Then make 6-7 students stand up. I give them a few minutes to think about what they want to say. Then, I make each student talk to me for 1 min which is timed. (total time 10-15 min)
  3. Now, I teach them 3 new idioms, explain them and make the students write them down in their notebooks. (10 min)
  4. Now I usually have 10-15 min remaining and I do an activity.

Now for my GEPT classes I like to mix it up so it doesn’t get so monotonous. Instead of giving them a question, I sometimes just pick 6-7 students to read a paragraph, or I give them a problem solving question, or 6-7 students do a picture description. They have 1 min to tell me everything about the picture that I provide them. They are also allowed to make up a story involving the people in the picture if they want just as long as it correlates with the picture. Every GEPT class I give them 3 idioms.

Now like I said, I see these students twice a week. So one class is GEPT style and the other class I just do their Smart Choice text book. I will teach 2-3 pages every time in their text books. I will usually play a quick 10 min game at the beginning of these classes (you can find these in my games book) and the losers will have to talk with me for a min or I will review my idioms and ask them the meaning. If I have any time left after the book has been completed then I will do another activity, but I usually don’t have time.

Also, I have a projector in my class and I plug in my laptop a lot and let the children show me funny Youtube clips and then we talk about it for a min. I also type up lyrics to their favorite popular songs (don’t even do your favorite songs, they hate them). I usually type up the lyrics with either missing lyrics or I purposely type a few wrong words and make them circle the mistakes when listening to the song. After we listen to the song, i will show them the video.

So I’m curious, have you had much luck putting them in groups? Do you let them choose which group to be in? If I let mine choose I’ll end up with all the quiet Kikis in one group. How do you deal with the logistics. I suppose they can move their desks into the groups and just move. I was worried about theft of their personal things, but some of the students told me that that is rarely a problem. I’m also concerned about the time to get moved; by the time they stare at me and each other confirming (Taiwan style) in fifty different ways that I really do want them to move, it’ll be time for lunch.

I think I’ll try group my seniors (the majors) together and try that out. My jr. high kids will be a bigger task, and I"ll have to wait on that.

[quote=“Rupert”]So I’m curious, have you had much luck putting them in groups? Do you let them choose which group to be in? If I let mine choose I’ll end up with all the quiet Kikis in one group. How do you deal with the logistics. I suppose they can move their desks into the groups and just move. I was worried about theft of their personal things, but some of the students told me that that is rarely a problem. I’m also concerned about the time to get moved; by the time they stare at me and each other confirming (Taiwan style) in fifty different ways that I really do want them to move, it’ll be time for lunch.

I think I’ll try group my seniors (the majors) together and try that out. My jr. high kids will be a bigger task, and I"ll have to wait on that.[/quote]

Well, I have my own classroom and I don’t share it with anyone else. So I keep the desks grouped together. I personally like the groups, but they aren’t for everyone. So, the desks are all in groups of 4 (and one group of 5) shaped like a box, but all the students are basically facing me if you can picture that. What I do is let every student chose a partner. Usually that means two boys and two girls, but I make two boys sit diagonally from each other in the group. I do the same for the girls too. If two boys are really strong in English, I will place two girls with them that aren’t as strong. At first they whine and cry about their girl partners, but within that 50 min they are all best friends. I keep these groups like that the entire semester. I do sometimes have to make some adjustments. Sometimes two boys are playing the “touchy feely” game too much so I move them.

I keep two desks in the back of my room for a punishment. If any of my students can’t handle sitting with their classmates then I nicely tell them to move in the back and I separate those two desks. I will make them sit in the back and basically ignore them the entire hour. I give them one more chance to sit together again and if they can’t I move them. If I have an odd number of girls or boys then I will create a group right up front with me with 3 boys together. Sometimes I let 4 girls sit together, but I will chose who sits there. So every time we start class the desks are all the same and they all know where to sit.

I teach jr high as well and I do the same seating with them. The jr’s are more of a pain in the ass, but I find that the seating works better than the traditional way for my classes because I do lots of group work and activities. Anyway, it has worked for me. My students really respect me. My Chinese is decent, so that might help a lot. I don’t try to speak Chinese in class, but sometimes it makes my life easier.

Before I did it this way, I put all the desks in a huge U shape around the room facing me. The helped from the students turning around and talking to friends. Also helped with randomly getting up out of their seats to borrow things. I also broke them up into groups of 4. I would just leave 2 or 3 feet between every group to space them out a bit. I liked way a lot too, but I was thrown in a smaller classroom and I had to change the way I arranged my desks. This way might work for you too.