Homework

My students--Korean students in general--do a lot of homework since they have multiple teachers: at least one at their public schools, two at our English academy (1 foreign and 1 Korean), and at least one for each of the other academies they attend.

All of these teachers give them homework.

So, being the nice guy that I am, I try not to give them too much; they seldom complain about homework, and I respect them for that.

I don't think the amount of homework they have to do is necessarily good, or, to put it another way, it helps them learn and keeps them from watching too much tv (they simply don't have the time), but I think it stifles their creativity and limits extra-curricular activities.

Anyway, I try to be fair.

With about 5 minutes to go until the end of a class (50 min.), I tell them to get out their homework sheets and I prepare to write the homework on the whiteboard for them to copy.

It usually looks something like this (for a 3rd to 6th grade class):

  LG SB 13 LR 3X
  WB 11
  NB SB 13 B. W1X
  ES p. 6

That translates as:

  Let's Go Student Book page 13 Listen/Repeat 3 times
  Let's Go Workbook Page 11 (do)
  In your notebook, write exercise B. on page 13 from the student book 1 time
  English Skills workbook page 6 (do)

Yesterday, when I was about to start writing homework on the whiteboard, one student began to tell the others what I was going to write, just for fun (this happens on a weekly basis in several classes, and I have learned to play along) . . . "Teacher, Let's Go page 10, and um, workbook page 9 . . . no, page 8, and . . ."

It so happened that I had forgotten to write down their notebook homework, and so would not have assigned it, but when he was speaking he reminded me to do so.  Thus, they got more homework than they would have.  I had a hard time not laughing about it.

In another class, a student began to list the homework as I was writing it, only he jokingly said, "Write 100 times".

I turned around and said, straight-faced, "100 times?  Ok." and I wrote W100X on the board.

The other students in the class were horrified and said, "Teacher, no!  Please!  Only him!  Please teacher!"

Again, rather funny, at least for me.  They sometimes do not know when I am joking, and I like to play off of that uncertainty.

There's No Privacy? Really?

My view is that Mitt Romney,the privileged Republican Presidential hopeful (caught on video saying some things that perhaps he shouldn't have), and the ever-popular Duchess of Cambridge (caught on camera exposing some things she shouldn't have), perhaps should have a conversation about the unavoidable lack of privacy in this modern world and, perhaps, about how supposedly intelligent people might deal with it.  But that's just my opinion.

Post-Typhoon Sanba

The typhoon--named Sanba--that came through quite a ways south of us today did no damage, thankfully, though we got quite a bit of rain (little wind).

The news is stating that the typhoon was the 16th one to hit Korea this year, though in the greater-Seoul area I think we have only gotten significant weather from 4 or 5.

I hope that was the last one:)

Tricky Student

One of my advanced students, a 6th grade girl, was assigned to write an essay, and when she gave it to me, she said, "Teacher, isn't my handwriting good?"

Since we have talked about her handwriting before, it was a natural comment, so I looked at the writing paper I had given her (normally I ask her to type assignments, but she had told me the week before that her family's printer was out of ink).

I responded, "Your handwriting looks good . . . wait a minute--it's all the same!  You typed it . . . you changed the font!"

While I know teaching is a profession filled with "firsts"--something new happens all the time--never, ever have I had a student try to trick me like this.

She laughed and told me how she had changed the font and fed the writing paper through the printer.

Nice try!:)

P.S.  Yes, we did fix her grammar errors, especially the subject-verb inconsistency, errors she should not be making in the first place.

Online Games

If you are a teacher fortunate enough to have classes in rooms with a computer/video system, or if you want your kids to play educational English computer games at home, then check out the games on these websites:

http://www.manythings.org/vocabulary/

http://eslgamesworld.com/members/games/grammar/index.html

You'll have to search the sites for the appropriate level games.  Some of them are great, some not-so-great.

Typhoon Sanba is Coming

Another typhoon is coming:(

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/14/world/asia/typhoon-sanba/index.html?hpt=ias_c1

Typhoon Sanba is expected to hit Korea on Monday, coming in at the southern tip from the Japanese island of Okinawa,  and travelling straight up the peninsula.  It is expected to be as strong as typhoon Bolaven, which did quite a bit of damage a few weeks ago (some food prices are higher because of it) and killed a number of people.

The good news is that by the time it gets to the wider Seoul area, where I live, the typhoon's strength should have weakened.

The bad news is that the southern parts of South Korea may get hammered pretty hard.

Tomorrow I am going to do some preparation that I didn't do last time.

Those of you in Korea (or elsewhere) looking for news about the storm can check here:

http://web.kma.go.kr/eng/weather/typoon/typhoon_5days.jsp

which is the Korean Meteorological Administration's "typhoon" "forecast chart" webpage, and also here:

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/index.asp

http://www.koreaherald.com/

at the two main Korean English-language newspapers.

I'm not going to worry yet; my thoughts are more that this typhoon stuff is getting a bit old, and that I feel bad for the farmers here.

Bingo

Bingo.

My all-around, number-one favorite game.

Why?

Because it requires students to use all four skill sets: reading, listening, speaking, and writing.

Also, it can be adjusted to fit most time frames.

In addition, it provides the teacher an opportunity to review different sets of vocabulary.

Finally, it is also a useful way of practicing classsroom language.

I start by giving students a half-sheet of paper (The other side has been used, so it's being recycled).

I write on the white board 3 lines vertically and 3 lines horizontally, and tell them to do the same on the paper that I gave them (or, for a short/fast game, 2 X 2).

Then I tell the students what the vocabulary is; sometimes I refer them to pages in their text book, and sometime I write on the whiteboard.  For example:

16 words
*8 Past tense verbs
*8 animals

It usually takes about 3 minutes for the students to fill in the vocabulary, and I help them, if needed, by writing on the whiteboard.

Then we begin.  I select a student to go first.  That student says a word from his/her grid, and the other students cross it off if they have it.

Then it's the next student's turn (I always have them go in a circular pattern around the classroom).

They have to use language like:


*It's Mike's turn
*Can you repeat that
*What was your word?
*That word is finished

When we played bingo in a class yesterday, I heard students saying, "You".

I stopped the game and said, "It's really not polite to say 'You'.  It's much better to say 'It's your turn'."