[judayxlo]

Teaching ESL in Taiwan is a lot different from teaching English in Korea. For one, in Taiwan, if the children get a bad grade or are not improving in their English skills, instead of blaming their own children, parents tend to blame the teacher. Teachers are also expected to teach through playing games, and apparently the children absolutely HAVE to like the teacher. Every single lesson has to be interesting, but also needs to cover the allotted materials. AND the language centers do not pay by the hour.
You cannot beat the children like in Korea, you cannot send the children outside the classroom for causing a disturbance, and you cannot tell the parents that their child is misbehaving.
Now..I'm pretty new at teaching in Taiwan, and am having a hard time with it.
I was wondering, under these circumstances, how would you get children ranging from ages 5-6, 6-7, 8-9, and 7-12 to behave? I'm pretty much at the end of my rope here. The language center director isn't giving me much to work with. She tells me that I need to be this superwoman.
Anyone out there have any advice? Would be much appreciated.

[mesmark]

well ... hmm

What are you doing? Can you give us an idea of how your typical lesson runs?

[judayxlo]

I basically teach four classes: K1, C1, C2, and C3. K1 consists of children from the ages 5-6, C1 6-7, C2 6-9, and C3 6-12.
C1: [1 hour]
We go over all of the vocabulary from the chapter, and we play a review game right after. [I either describe the word and have them spell it, or I draw what the word means.] After the review game, we go over the phonics and we play another review game. [Spelling the words] Then we look in the book, read the dialogue together, and then read the chant in the back of the lesson with motions.
C2: [1 hour]
We usually begin with a vocabulary quiz from the previous chapter. Only about 5-6 words, but this takes 20 minutes, because they write very slow. After the quiz, I grade them all in class, and depending on how well they scored on the test, I give them fake paper money. Then, I collect the homework. [Out of 10 kids, only 3 of them do the homework.] After the homework, I begin teaching them the lesson, starting with the vocabulary. I explain to them what each word means, then have one of the brighter kids say the meaning in Chinese. They all write it down in their books. Then we read the dialogue in the chapter twice. I then go over the grammar of the lesson, and if we have time, we play a game.
K1: [45 minutes]
These kids cannot understand anything I say, so I use motions most of the time. Everyday is different with this class because all they know how to say is 'play game', and that's all they want to do. We go into the 'ball room', and I try to build their vocabulary. Each day we learn a different theme. [i.e: colors, animals, actions] Then we play a game where the children either act out the word or touch the word.
C3: [1 hour and 15 minutes]
This is my most advanced class and they can pretty much understand and respond to anything I say.
On Wednesdays, we take a vocabulary quiz from the previous chapter. After the quiz, which usually takes 15-20 minutes, we begin the new chapter by reading the narration. I call on the kids and have them read a sentence each. Then, I explain the vocabulary by drawing pictures and giving examples. Then I have each kid make a sentence using the word. After we go over all the vocabulary [10+], we play a vocabulary game. Whichever team wins do not have to take the vocab quiz the next week. This is a typical Wednesday.
On Fridays, we continue on with the grammar. I explain the grammar thoroughly, and give an example sentence for each main point. Then I have them make their own sentences in their books. Afterwards I have them write their sentences on the board. Then I give them a worksheet that I wrote for the chapter, and go over each section, then tell them it's due on Wednesday.