My Crazy Kimchi! Teaching Blog Update

My two class Smiley students: 5th grader, Jung In and 4th grader, Sung-In and my first student artwork gift.

What am I thankful for this Thanksgiving? The answer is easy~ it's my students! They've been my biggest source of inspiration, motivation and learning; they are my love life!

(I mean that in an innocent way and not skeevy... just wanted to clarify)

Thanksgiving is this week and while I won't be celebrating the holiday, I will be teaching it to my Korean 4th graders; so at least I won't lack in spirit! But seeing as this is a time for sharing and being grateful for what we've learned from others, I thought I'd share some tips and inspirations from others, as well as what I've learned from my students and in the Korean classroom.

Great Finds in my Reading Bin:
• i-to-i has two awesome articles: Important tips for the aspiring teach abroad teachers, 7 Questions You Should Ask About Your TEFL Job to useful teaching tips for the newbie NET. Had I read How to Create the Perfect Lesson Plan earlier, it might have made me the ultra-awesome teacher I aspired to be. Instead, I guess I'll just have to settle for awesome!...



Here's some of my favorite My Crazy Kimchi! updates thus far~

Classroom Tips:
Classroom Tip #4: Communicate the Goal
Classroom Tip #3: Having Students Grow "Smart Brains"
Classroom Tip #2: Employ the Art of Listening
Classroom Tip #1: Raising Stakes

Teaching techniques:
• 'Give me More!' Technique: Part 1
• 'Give Me More' Technique: Using it for Multi-level Adult Students (Part II)

• The Power of a Question: 4 Tricks to Creating Questions your ESL students can answer.
• Raising Stakes on Learning English?
• 4 Tricks for Getting Slow ESL Learners to Start Learning Fast.
• Why I think Speed Games are great for my slow students

Co-teaching & the ESL Classroom:

The ESL Classroom:
• 10 Surprising Facts about Korean Schools via GRRRLTRAVELER
• Video: My First Day at a Korean Elementary School via GRRRLTRAVELER

Classroom Inspirations:
Why I Love Teaching English to my Korean Students via GRRRLTRAVELER
The Special Ed kids in my class will surprise you.
Can you transform bad students into Good ones?

Growing Pains of Co-teaching:
• Why doesn't my co-teacher listen to my ideas? (Part 3)
• Top 4 rants of Native English Teachers in the Classroom (Part 2)
• A Ticking Time Bomb? (Part 1)
• When your Expat Honeymoon Fades (Pt I: hitting the 6-month mark) via GRRRLTRAVELER
• By the Way, You're Teaching Adult's English This Semester...
• Decoding my Korean workplace: an NET’s Class Schedules via GRRRLTRAVELER

Coping (coping tip to keep in Korea vs on the next plane home):
• 5 Tips for New NETs in Korea via GRRRLTRAVELER
• 5 Reasons to Join your Expat Community when Living Abroad via GRRRLTRAVELER
• GRRRL Goes Whimpery in Her New Korean Location via GRRRLTRAVELER

Teaching Adults (Dealing with level-differentiation):
•'Give Me More' Technique: Using it for Multi-level Adult Students (Part II)
• Breaking Ice, Introductions and my first Adult English class!
• By the Way, You're Teaching Adult's English This Semester...

Cultural Clues and Tips:
• Sharing your Culture (a Lesson on Halloween)
• Teaching Koreans: Common English Mistakes Made by Koreans

What are English Camps?
• Lessons from a Superhero Factory (teaching Actions)
• ESL Summer Camp: From the Monster World via GRRRLTRAVELER
• Lessons from the Monster Factory (teaching Feelings)
• ESL Summer Camp: from the Superhero Factory (Part II) via GRRRLTRAVELER
• ESL Summer Camp Updates from the Superhero Factory (Part I) via GRRRLTRAVELER
• ESL Camp is upon us! via GRRRLTRAVELER

NET News:
• A Sigh of Relief & Clarifications for NETs on Korea's new Visa Extensions
• The DMOE's Letter of New Visa Extension Requirements for NETs
• NETs gain school holidays, not freedom from desk-warming