Teaching English to teachers and parents

[JessicaFisk1]

Hey. I was just told that I will have 2 weekly "afterschool" classes. One for teachers and one for parents. What kind of materials should I use? I was thinking about reading newspaper articles and discussing, but I don't know if their level will be high enough for that.

Anyone have to do anything like this before? What did you find to be the most successful lessons?

[krtastic]

I use this phrase book with my teachers, since their English level is not that great. It's in Korean and English.

http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Everyday-Expressions-McGraw-Hill-References/dp/0844257796/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298872201&sr=8-1

They all seem to like it as well because its phrases they can learn for travel purposes, which in my case is why most of them are there. You can find this book on any korean book website as well. I just linked the amazon one because it is in English.

I've also played little games such as truth or lie to lighten the class up a bit.

[gangwon]

I found that the teachers likes to play games like pictionary and taboo and also have simple debates. I would give half the teacher one view point and half another. They would talk about it in Korean and then with my help work out what they wanted to say in English. Things like "Money alone can make you happy / money alone cannot make you happy". I think most people will agree that even if attendance is good at the beginning it will quickly tail off to just a couple of teachers.

Charlie

[bisp13]

These classes can either be a lot of fun or a serious pain depending on who is in the class.  Try this "Taboo Word Game" ppt and also http://breakingnewsenglish.com/.  I use both of these in addition to conversation prompts that can be found all over the internet as well as http://bogglesworldesl.com/.  Good luck and let me know if you come across any other useful materials.

[JessicaFisk1]

Thank you so much for your great ideas, guys!!

[foreverJ]

If they are lower level, try this (it's an almost full course): http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,4081.0.html

[waygookshawn]

I had to do the same thing last semester.  I began teaching the parents news articles/discussion and after a few weeks I was politely told that they were extremely bored.  Afterwards, I began teaching them basic conversation skills (time, introductions, weather, etc) and they found it very useful.  Also, try to use realia from home such as photos, the contents of your wallet (i.e. driver's license, costco cards, currency, etc), and food.  I actually made them tacos (I'm from California) and they absolutely loved it.

As for the teachers, I taught them English idioms using powerpoint/photos.  They found it extrememly comical to translate and dissect an idiom in the literal sense (i.e. "ball and chain", "get off my back" and my favorite, "going postal").  Also, I taught a lot about culture.  For example, they had no idea about Bigfoot, the Lochness monster, prom night, the process of getting a driver's license, etc. 
Teaching the parents and teachers can be extremely fun..don't stress out about it too much.

[adamwatch]

"They found it extrememly comical to translate and dissect an idiom in the literal sense (i.e. "ball and chain", "get off my back" and my favorite, "going postal")"

Thats's a new one on me what does going postal mean?

Adam

[GEK]

I use Exploring English with low level adults.  The teacher's guide is pricey, but helpful.

I tried to post an image, but was unsuccessful...

[waygookshawn]

Thats's a new one on me what does going postal mean?

Adam

Haha...Using urbandictionary.com to answer, "originally coined from a series of real life shootings in the postal service, it now usually means that someone is about to go nuts or off the deep end. the reason for going postal is usually trivial."

On that note, it's equally important to remind your audience of which country the idioms originate...obviously "going postal" is more commonly used in America.

[halfmousey]

I have this class too and found it extremely difficult to work out what they wanted from it. I've not been very successful with debates as all the teachers in my group tend to agree with whoever spoke first teacher. Assigning 'viewpoints' as a way of getting discussion going was only slightly more helpful - I think it might have made some people feel uncomfortable.

At the end of a long day/semester I found my teachers really didn't want to do formal classes. So I've tried to do more practical things in my class and just let the conversation flow.

* Looking at recipies and expressions for instructions one week, the next week I took in a small camping cooker and made pancakes with them.
* Looking at cut up song lyrics/listening to the music then ordering the verses - there's normally a good grammar point to discuss here too
* Photo diary - take a photo a day for a week/take a bunch of photos over a weekend/holiday day and show them to the class and talk about them - good at Chuseok etc.
* Ask them to teach you a Korean card game using only English instructions. This was very popular and good for me too.

Good luck with it.

[sancho]

Hey,

I just posted something on a similar topic under general discussion and am in much the same situation (2 classes per week of low level teachers). Can I ask you guys what you did on the first day? I wanted to do some sort of assessment to gain an idea of their levels. Any ideas for that first class would be very much appreciated!

Many thanks

[klorptar]

Fortunately, I've never had the teacher's class, but I did have a class for parents for 90 minutes every Wednesday morning for 6 months. I usually devoted the first 45 minutes to teaching words and phrases related to a specific topic(weather, homes, vacations, family, etc.) then I spent the second half only asking discussion questions related to the material. I told them on the first day that single word answers were acceptable, but I made it clear that they weren't helping themselves or others if they answered with one word. From the first day, everyone tried extremely hard. I was always intimidated by that class--it just felt a lot different than teaching kids--but it was one of my favorite classes. Plus, they always brought breakfast and coffee. I'll post some materials when I'm back at my computer.

[sancho]

Hi Klorptar,

Your lessons sound like a good idea and probably what they actually want to learn so any materials you still have would be really appreciated. Do you still remember what you did for the first lesson? That is the one I am dreading as I don't know their levels and haven't actually taught adults before.

Thanks!