As I've mentioned elsewhere, I am not currently employed as a teacher. I'm studying Korean at a university right now and it's giving me a fresh perspective on what it's like on the
other side of the classroom, so to speak.
I guess I would call myself a high-beginner in Korean. My listening class I think is the most useful class every day, and in it we regularly do a set of activities that I have not used as a teacher in my English classes. Maybe other teachers are doing this, and if so I would say you are on the right track.
FIRST, haul out the tape deck and play one or two short conversations.
NEXT, rewind. Repeat.
NEXT, rewind. Repeat the conversations line by line and have students repeat chorally. Boring, you say? NO! Very, very useful to build confidence in new structures and expressions.
NEXT, the teacher asks random students some comprehension questions.
AFTER comprehension has been verified, we pair off and practice the same dialogues with a partner. Some of us have taken notes, most of us have not, so it's kind of
ad lib but following the guideline of the models.
NEXT, the teacher calls on random people to reenact the dialogues openly in class. This can be quite funny when students substitute in their own personal information.
FINALLY, after everyone has practiced the dialogues out loud, the teacher asks a few random students to summarize each one.
I know that before I had lived through this type of class, I would not have planned this kind of lesson. I admit is sounds dry. But it has been so, so useful I felt like I need to let somebody know.
