Lesson Planning 101

Every week I have the task of coming up with an exciting lesson.  I have found that understanding the needs of my students ahead of mine are the most important aspect to take into consideration when planning any lesson. As teachers it is vital for us to identify the type of learners we have (i.e. visual, auditory, kinesthetic) before planning a lesson as it makes work a little easier.  I'm currently teaching at an all boys middle school and I've found that majority of my students are visual learners; however, I try to fit in activities that also appeal to my auditory and kinesthetic (tactical) learners so that they don't fall behind.

The next step is to pick a topic that will appeal to everyone in class (teacher included).  For the purpose of this post I have chosen "Animals".  It's one my favourite topics as it can be taught to any grade in numerous ways.

Now that I have a topic and I know what type of learners I have I will start planning each step of the lesson taking time into consideration.  My classes in Korea are 45 minutes long so I will need to have enough prepared to fill that time without becoming repetitive or redundant.

OK! Let the planning begin!

Step One:  Lead-in ( 3minutes)
This is where you will introduce your topic to the class.  Audio visual aids such as a music video is an excellent lead-in tool.  The lead-in should be 5 minutes or less as it is just a warm-up. For example: **Old McDonald had a farm**, could be a  fun lead-in for a lesson on animals.
After listening to the song/watching the video you can ask the students to guess the topic, it gives them a little thrill when they make the correct guess.

Step Two: Elicitation (5 minutes)
Here, you want to find out how much your students know about the topic.  A good way to elicit information from the students is show them a prop such as flashcards or a PowerPoint presentation.  Each image or prop will get the students talking. For example in a lesson on animals you will show the students images of different animals to check if they can identify the animal.  You can take it a step further with higher level students and check if the kids know the names of the offspring and to make things more exciting, you can talk about the sounds animals make.

NB:  Using funny looking images creates a lighter atmosphere in the classroom as it draws the student in and builds greater engagement.

 Step Three:  Presentation (7 minutes)
In this step you will be presenting the main topic.  So if you chose the theme of animals you have a sub-topic such as animal homes.  During your presentation you will talk about this.  PowerPoints; Flashcards or Charts are great for presentations.


Step Four:  Controlled Practice (10 minutes)
At this point you would want the kids to put into practice everything they have studied.  The best way to test their knowledge on the day's lesson is through a work sheet.  Another great tool is doing a role-play.  Most often your topic will dictate the type of practice most suited for the lesson.

Step Five: Freer Practice (15 minutes)
Once again you will be testing the students knowledge on the lesson just taught however with this step you can be more flexible.  Games are great for this as it creates a "freer" learning environment.  It's both entertaining and educational. With this set you can do more that one activity depending on your time.

Step Six: Review   (5 minutes)
Towards the end of the lesson it's good to do a quick review to tie up the lesson. Review could be a short worksheet like a word search which they can complete in class or something longer if you wish to give the students homework for the day.












Pictures courtesy of Google Images

Vocab Builder

I'm in the process of planning fun activities for my summer camp.  Like every lesson that I plan, I have to take into consideration my "target audience".  The kids who usually sign up for my vacation classes want to be entertained and not taught.  These classes are four hours a day for 2 weeks but they can feel like an eternity if you have insufficient material prepared, unenthusiastic students or worse, BORING lessons.  With fours years of camps under my belt I have found what works and what doesn't.

My students are huge fan of games and movies. They cringe every time I pull out a worksheet and pass out as soon as I start talking for more than 10 minutes.  Taking those hurdles into consideration I have planned some exciting tutorials and activities for this summer.

Sample Board

While preparing and researching ideas for new activities I came across this gem ===>

                   A boggle bulletin board

You will paste the letters on your blackboard (or a wall of your choice) so that everyone in class has a good view of it.  Give each student his/her own answer sheet and get the kids to make up words.
It's a wonderful opportunity for the students to build their vocabulary and practice thinking independently.  To make things more exciting you could set a time limit and dish out candy to whoever gets the most words in that time.


It's exciting when the kids get all competitive and you can steal a few moments of silence whilst they are busy writing out their words.








Source: www.technologyrocksseriously.com
Images courtesy of Google images

Hiatus

Wow!  It seems like ages since I've posted.  The guilt is slowly nibbling at me but before it consumes me I have decided to write a little apology to myself and whoever has visited my page with the hope of finding something resourceful.

 Mitchell Park Zoo, Durban

In Korea, native teachers are given the opportunity to renew their contracts.  The benefits of renewing allows you a two week vacation as well as a handsome bonus.  I used my bonus to book a flight to South Africa where I could spend some much needed time with my loved ones.  Fortunately for me, I was able to combine my winter break with my 'bonus' two weeks which gave me a wonderful month to regroup in the comfort of my family home.

Durban Harbour

The weeks leading up to my big return home were unpleasant as I caught a cold due to the serve winter weather that we experience here.  To make matters worse, I had to teach at our school's winter camp; that did not aid in the recovery process at all.  I kept joking that when I got to South Africa I would defrost under the African sun and will finally be rid of all the cold bugs.  Little did I know, these little bugs caught a piggy back ride with me home.

Flag Farm, Ballito

From the day I landed in SA till the day I left, I had experienced all sorts of aliments.  It wasn't the best of vacations; however, having my family around to take care of me was comforting.  On the few days that I was feeling a bit well, I was able to be a little touristy in my own backyard.  It was wonderful just being under African skies, listening; smelling; and tasting, all the things I grew up with.

Dubai_UAE

Before coming back to Korea, I had a stop-over in Dubai.  I was granted a tourist visa and free accommodation by my airline which afforded me the opportunity to tour the stunning Arab city.  And then, it was back to Korea!

I arrived in Busan the night before our new school year began so the first day at work was absolute torture.  

We are a few months into the new semester and I think I've finally adjusted to being back.  The work load for me this semester has been daunting, hence my failure to blog.  To add to that, I've been falling ill frequently which completely slays me.  I guess it's true when they say "old age is a pain!"

Boys!

I have the joy of teaching at a boys middle school.  I say joy because my students bring me a ton of happiness especially on those offish days when I feel like life is horrible and all I want to do is curl up in bed and sob like a 3 year old.  They are always full of life and their smiles melt my insides. When my boys see me outside school they run to greet me or will stop in the middle of the street to bow. However, there is also a dark side to them.

They are boys! So, naturally they are rough, dirty and noisy.  Like most teenagers, they are super competitive as well.  A simple game of bingo can become very violent, very quickly.  Don't ask me how! It just happens.

Sports Day '12 - The Chicken Fight

We have a 10 minute recess in between each class.  This gives the teachers a chance to make a quick dash to the toilet or grab a cup of coffee which means the students are left without supervision.  During this time the kids behave as though they have just been released from prison.  You will find them running up and down the hallway; hugging each other; throwing stuff at each other; and kicking around all sorts of little things they can find.  But, as the saying goes, "it's all fun and games till someone gets hurt".  One minute you will hear roars of laughter, the next you will find an army of boys rushing to the nurse with an injured boy.  Injuries usually range from a tiny scratch to nose bleeds, broken limbs and a number of other bloody wounds.
Over the past two weeks we have seen a few casualties come to the teachers office with the same injury.  It's like a growing epidemic or something but somehow 3 boys all sustained injuries around their left eye that required stitches.

Ji Woo's rendition of the Gangnam Style dance

Needless to say, the injuries do not stop these kids from running wild and from showing their affection toward each other through playful violence.  At times I'm torn between laughing at them and feeling sympathy.  There's constant entertainment at my school and I'm never left with a dull moment.

Teaching Evaluation

Koreans take education very seriously.  Parents are more involved and teachers have sleepless nights thinking up new ways to improve their lessons to be effective in their classrooms. To add to their stress all teachers, both Korean and guest English teachers, are required to open their classrooms to parents, fellow members of faculty and teachers from neighbouring schools.  

I was required to host several open classes since I started teaching. Having the parents sit in your class is not so stressful as most of them don't know much English and won't understand what's going on.  They are just thrilled at hearing their children say a few words in a foreign language.  My stress built up when the principal, vice principal, all my co-teachers and a few senior members of faculty came into my class, not just to watch! They came to evaluate my teaching skills. 

Last year (2011) was no different, I spent weeks preparing my lesson to impress their socks off.  Finally, the big day arrived, my students were a dream to teach.  They were well behaved, answered my questions to point, they actively participated in the activities and completed all written tasks. After the class I received a heap of compliments and my stress was over.  But, that was short lived. Little did I know that I was secretly being entered into a competition with other native teachers within my district.  A few months after my open class I was informed that I ranked among the top ten teachers in our teaching district which meant that I would have to host another open class.  I did not know if I was happy or sad with the news; but, I took on the challenge and began working on my lesson plan for my  follow up class.  Again, my school evaluated me but, this time my class was recorded and a copy of the video was sent to the education office for evaluation.  Just before we went on our summer break I was informed that I had passed the second round of the competition and now ranked in the top 5.  "Yay me!" I thought. However, this meant that I had to have ANOTHER open class, only difference this time was that there would be guest English teachers from neighbouring schools observing my class.  Talk about pressure!

Many MANY visitors

I spent the entire summer break perfecting my lesson.  I stressed everyday for 2 months until D-Day.  My co-teacher sent out invites to all schools in our district thinking that only a few teachers would actually show up.  To my horror, I had over 20 visitors on top of the teachers from my school.  This class was also recorded for the education office to evaluate.  During the class I focused on my students and blocked out the crowd of judging eyes. 

In my eyes, the class was a success and my co-teachers took me out for a huge dinner to celebrate.  Before the semester ended we received a call from the education office informing my school that I was crowned "Super Teacher" in our district.  I received a certificate of excellence from the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education as well as a cash incentive.  It has certainly been the highlight of my time in Korea.  All my stress and hours of planning definitely paid off.

Below is a link to the video from my open class.  My friend, Tom, was kind enough to upload it to his YouTube channel so that we can demonstrate what teaching ESL in Korea is like.  

**Video Courtesy of: http://www.youtube.com/user/SeoulTee **

Happy Halloween

The 31st of October is commonly referred to as the scariest day of the year.  Growing up in South Africa I never celebrated Halloween.  Somehow the spooky holiday never made it to our country.  It never quite made it to Korea either; however, with the gradual "westernisation" of Korea certain "American" traditions have crept in, namely, Halloween.

Being at a middle school it's safe to assume that my students have already had their introduction to Halloween.  I was proven right in that assumption when I first began teaching because my boys somehow knew a lot more than me about this creepy day.  Therefore, this Halloween I decided to take a different approach.  I quickly ran through the reasoning behind Halloween and what people do in celebration of this day followed by a music video.  

I played "Backstreet's Back" by the Backstreet Boys ~ They are stranded at a haunted house and turn into various monsters... Very Halloween! :)

Since my class focuses predominately on reading, I opted to read a Halloween themed story.  We read through the story once and I explained each line as we went along, I also picked out difficult vocabulary and explained it.   This particular story has an open ending which allows for the students to get creative and write their own ending to the story.  I gave them a few examples of how the story could end and explained that they were at liberty to decide if the story had a happy, sad or horrific ending.

My students' intended to write horrific endings but with their choice of words and over dramatisation I found them to be quite hilarious.

For a more controlled practice I prepared a set of comprehension questions which they were required to answer before they left.

To end the class on a high I hid candy under a few chairs and used the last 2 minutes of the lesson for the "great candy search". It saved me from having to buy a ton of Halloween candy and scored me some points with the kids. :)

Source: http://bogglesworldesl.com/halloween_worksheets.htm

Inspiration

Over the past three years that I have been teaching in Korea, I have had many laughs.  My students' never cease to assume me with the quirky little things they say and do.  But, there are times when they say the most mind-blowing stuff which leaves me speechless.

This week, I have been testing the students' speaking ability. The test is structured in the form of an interview so I get to speak one-on-one with my boys. This test has given me a little more insight into some of my students and I feel more connected to them.

I selected three questions which have more of a personal feel.  I went through each question in class a few weeks earlier in preparation for the test and gave the students some skeleton points to work with when answering the questions.  A few students asked me to check their grammar and sentence construction because they were really determined to get a perfect score on this test.  It really pleased me to see the great initiative that was put in by most of my boys.

And so the interviews began... Some better than others. Some were excruciatingly painful for me because of the blank looks on their faces.  I had a few laughs along the way but what really caught my attention was the heart warming answers that some of my students gave.

Here are a few of those precious conversations with my second grade (8th grade) students.

Question:  Travel can be a great experience. Which country would you like to visit and why?
Answer: I would like to visit different countries in Africa because they are poor and I want to help them.
Question: How would you help them?
Answer: I will get money from my father and give to them.


Question:  Which country would you like to visit?
Answer: North Korea!
Question: Why?
Answer: I want to take food and money to them.


Question: What is your dream job?

Min Chul: I would like to be a dentist because there are many poor people with no teeth and I want to help them.

Oh Won:  I want to be a diplomat and work to bring peace in the world.


Jae Young: I want to be a teacher like you and help students study hard.

Chan Huk: I would like to be a doctor because my sister is sick and she is always kind to me but I'm not so  kind so I want to be her magician and make her better.
**This student went on to tell me what was wrong with his sister and how sad his family is.  I was brought to tears.**


The next one is slightly funny but at the same time it's really sweet.

Question: Tell me about your best friend.
Answer: My friend is very cute. He looks like a flower and he has many girlfriends.
Question: Do you also have a girlfriend?
Answer: No!
Question: Are you sad that your friend has many girlfriends and you don't?
Answer: No, I'm not sad because he is my friend and he is happy so I'm happy with him.

It's an absolute blessing to be teaching these boys.  They can be a handful at times but they bring so much joy on a daily basis.  I love them to bits!