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Unit 8; The Super Advanced Teacher Aims To understand an advanced SLE student. To know how to organize an advanced class. To plan and use and supplement the sent articles. Why advanced lessons should not be a free talking hour. How to enjoy the advanced level as both teacher and student. How to focus on language development as well as discussion.
What is the advanced SLE program? Students who join the SLE advanced program often have one simple goal in mind; to improve their language to native or near-native level. It is a bookless course for a very simple reason; we expect the students at advanced level not to need to follow a skill-building course in the same way as other students do. From 1A – 3C we focus very much on building blocks, improving understanding of and teaching essential vocabulary and grammar to the point of fluency. The advanced program is all about that, to practice fluency through discussion and task not to learn about the structure of the English language. Instead of the book then every SLE advanced teacher receives 20 articles especially compiled for the program each month covering a wide range of topics and interests to stimulate discussion. In this way we keep the program relevant, up to date and above all engaging for students and teacher alike. Who is the typical advanced SLE student? An advanced student should be someone who is near native and the emphasis falls completely on nearly. This could be a student who falls into one of the following categories; Someone who has lived/studied abroad for an extended period of time. Someone who has been in the SLE program for a long time but who began in level 3. Someone whose job requires English on a regular basis and comes into contact with native speakers regularly. People for whom Korean is not their first language and they use English as their lingua franca (e.g embassy staff) Every advanced student should be just that, someone who can function at a very high level of English only making small errors with word choice or applying certain concepts incorrectly. Students who make grammatical mistakes with verb tenses or poor pronunciation cannot be considered advanced.
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Unit 8; The Super Advanced Teacher
How to structure an advanced class. The biggest mistake a teacher can make in an advanced class is to consider that it is all about free-talking. Free talking implies a topic free environment that is closer to a chat which is what we do when we are outside of a classroom environment. While this can in many ways be useful, generally it is not something we would be happy to pay for outside of possibly purchasing some beer and nibbles. Our students expect to be in a learning environment. Interest in topic is also crucial and we can't always rely on each and every student finding the article stimulating but this is not as important as involving the students in using language to express themselves. Simply giving students an article, telling them to read it and then discuss it often results in a quiet class and at worst a boring class that too often ends with the teacher blaming the article and not themselves for lack of organization. The teacher should think about the following points when preparing the class; a) The Article – Is it something I think will be motivating to my class? Consider your students, older, younger, business, university, a mix....If you don't like the topic, change it to something that you know will work. b) What is the aim of the class? To express opinion, to summarize, to come to a consensus on an issue etc. What vocabulary could cause difficulties? Does it contain expressions or idiomatic sentences that will need explaining in context? Have I thought about how I am going to explain this? c) What activities are going to be included? - The article will come with suggested activities but you should not feel you are limited to only these, likewise don't assume that the article will automatically start an in depth discussion or debate. Like a good party it needs to be hosted! d) How will I ensure aims are met? - Too many advanced classes seem to come to an end when the discussion has run out of steam or the students seem bored with the topic which is when we end up with free talking about anything again. e) How am I assessing my students? - Teachers often find themselves leading all discussions in the class and moving away from any real pair or group work. The problem with this approach is the limited amount of time students have to speak and you as a teacher don't have the opportunity to listen to and assess the students in action. How then at the end of the month do you properly evaluate them? f) Even an advanced class should follow a certain plan; Warm Up – Get the students thinking about the topic Vocabulary – Have you thought about what you need to teach and what students need to be able to understand the topic. Language – Are there any structures the students should be using, idiomatic language they should practice in its context, have you thought about how you will teach it. Activities – The variety and focus of each activity is important, discussion, task, agree / disagree etc not simply 'talking' Feedback/correction – Almost all classes will require language focus and correction, this could be small errors, pronunciation or better use of English. It will all help. Wrap Up – Summarize the lesson, have a natural ending to the topic.
Unit 8; The Super Advanced Teacher Korean-American entrepreneur discovers possibilities for Korean cuisine in N.Y. Warm Up: What are some of your favorite foods that are originally not from your country? What are some foods that are currently popular and trendy in your country? Reading:
When popular online dining and drinking site Eater.com announced its search for the “Greatest Burger in America” in April, few expected the winning burger would be infused with a traditional Korean dish. The “bibimbap burger,” created by Korean-American entrepreneur Bobby Kwak, is a hamburger topped with ingredients from the popular Korean dish “bibimbap,” vegetables and meat mixed with steamed rice and hot pepper sauce. The bibimbap burger was quietly nominated as a contender for the best burger in New York City, a surprise even to the owners of Social Eatz that served it. It won the honor soon after, and went on to win the title of “the Greatest Burger in America” via online voting, surpassing the best burgers from eight other cities. This bibimbap burger story began in January with Bobby Kwak. As Kwak was getting ready to open a new casual restaurant in Manhattan with the concept of offering “American comfort food with an Asian kick,” he approached Social Eatz’s executive chef and former Top Chef contestant Angelo Sosa. The young minds of Kwak and Sosa, both in their 30’s, clicked, and they began working on the menu together. Kwak suggested Korean-inspired menu items like the bibimbap burger and Korean spiced slaw. Through the culinary finesse of Sosa, the recipes were refined and the bibimbap burger, an American classic that incorporates sesame oil and gochujang, became the greatest burger in America within two months of its debut. Prior to his Social Eatz fame, Kwak was already a successful entrepreneur. He is the owner of the event-planning company Arena, the ever-popular Club CIRCLE, and the karaoke lounge Pulse in Times Square in Manhattan. Although the glitz and glamour of his current businesses are often highlighted, Bobby Kwak had had a series of ventures over the years that helped him hone his business acumen. After graduating from Rutgers University in 1999, Bobby Kwak held corporate positions for four years before deciding to run his own business. “I think it was always in my blood. I wanted to work for myself,” said Kwak as he recalled the time he left Yahoo! despite the high salary and young corporate culture. He took over a failing business that was located in his own alma mater. He streamlined the business of First Class Notes, for which he provided students summary class notes in a standardized format taken by top students and teaching assistants. Then in 2006, with three partners, Kwak opened an eatery in Manhattan. BAMN! sold fresh, cheap American comfort foods through vending machines that were attached to the kitchen. It was an updated revival of the ‘automat’ concept from early 1900s in the young, hip neighborhood with diverse food culture. All major media, including culinary magazines and personalities, covered the return of this nostalgic American concept. In 2008, when he had an opportunity to acquire an event space in Times Square, he sold his share in BAMN! and focused on building his business in the busiest area of Manhattan. During the week, the multi-level, 6-meter ceiling space is used for major corporate parties and fashion shows. On weekends, it turns into a hopping club, best known as the place to go for Korean Americans with surprise guest appearances of top Korean entertainers such as JYP and Brown Eyed Girls. Among a handful of business plans he is currently working on, Kwak is particularly excited about opening his first
Unit 8; The Super Advanced Teacher restaurants in Koreatown of Manhattan with “traditional Korean flavors, updated decor and top-notch service.” “Restaurants in Koreatown could use an update,” said Kwak. “I want to make my places refined, comfortable for everyone, even those who are not familiar with Korean food. Anyone can come in and enjoy the traditional flavors of Korean food in a relaxed atmosphere.” Source: http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20111214000574 (edited for length) Vocabulary: Make sentences with the following vocabulary words. infused (adj) added or introduced; filled with kick (n) a quality that produces a powerful effect skill and cleverness that is shown in the way someone deals with a situation, finesse (n) problem, etc. to hone (v) to make something better or more effective to streamline (v) to make something simpler, more effective, or more productive top-notch (adj) of the best quality Discussion: 1. Discuss possible reasons why the bibimbap burger concept has become so successful. Why and how do you think Korean food is gaining growing interest and popularity in the United States? What other Korean foods do you think could become mainstream in the United States? 2. How much of Kwak’s success with the bibimbap burger do you think was due to his business acumen alone? Do you think the bibimbap burger would have become as popular if Kwak had not worked with chef Angelo Sosa? Why or why not? 3. Discuss whether or not you think Kwak’s ideas have staying power. Do you think his current ventures are simply trendy phenomena or do you think he is introducing ideas that will make a significant impact on Americans’ perception of Korean food? What do you think is necessary in order for an idea to have staying power? 4. Do you think the bibimbap burger, and similar ventures, could become popular in less cosmopolitan areas in the United States where the population of Korean-Americans is often much smaller? Why or why not? What marketing strategies might you use for these less urban communities? 5. Is the food and dining industry profitable in your country? In your country, in what field do you think entrepreneurs have the most potential to achieve success? Discuss your answers. Activity: With a partner, discuss current trends and products that seem to be popular in your country right now. Why and how do you think these trends and products have gained popularity? Which of these trends and products do you like? Which do you not like? Why? Do you think these things will be popular for a long time or do you think it is just a passing fad? Why?
Fashion
Electronics/Technology Entertainment (Music, Movies, TV)
Food
Unit 8; The Super Advanced Teacher Example SLE Advanced Lesson Plan Topic:
The popularity of fusion food.
Aim:
Students to give opinion on fusion food and to create their own imaginary business plan for a fusion restaurant.
Subject:
Language:Future forms for planning Vocabulary: infused, entrepreneur, glitz and glamour, eatery, finesse etc
Time
Topic
Presentation / Activity
Materials
5
Warm up
5
Vocabulary
I will tell the students we are going to read about a successful, Korean entrepreneur in New York, this is the first of the vocabulary words. I will tell the students in their pairs to go through the list and see if they can define the words in the context of a restaurant. Then we will go through them together using as many student examples as possible. I will give examples for those the students are unsure about.
White board.
5
Vocab Practice
To concept check the vocabulary, I will tell the students they are going to introduce a Korean fusion food to McDonalds. In their pairs they must create a short pitch using the vocabulary. I will give the example of 'chicken McGalbi' on my laptop. I will monitor the activity. We will then listen to the pairs.
Laptop and white board.
2
Pre-reading
The students will discuss which Korean Article food they think would be most popular with Americans?
5
Reading
For the reading task they are to skim for Article the name of the food and how popular it was. The second time they will scan for details of how successful the entrepreneur has been.
5
Post-reading
I will write the words 'fusion food' on White board and the board. I will give an example of a laptop. strange fusion salad I recently ate (with the example on my laptop). I will then tell the students to work in pairs and a) define what fusion means and b) discuss their good and bad experiences with fusion food. We will then hear some as a class. While they are discussing I will write some vocabulary on the board.
We will check the answers to the questions then in different pairs they will discuss Qs 1 + 2 on page 2. I will monitor the activity. We will hear their opinions as a class. I will ask the students whether they would like the
Article
Unit 8; The Super Advanced Teacher chance to do what Bobby Kwak has done? 10
Produce
Well now they have the chance, in Laptop, handout. groups of 3 they are going to launch their own fusion business with a short business plan. They will only be small 4 main foods, drink, décor and entertainment. They must use future forms for plans ( we will do/We need to etc) and as much of the vocabulary as possible, I will give a short example on my laptop. I will monitor the activity. After 8 minutes we will listen to the presentations and decide which sounds the most likely to succeed.
2012년 5월 8일
Feedback
I will write some sentences up on the board for attention, correction or pronunciation focus. For 5 minutes the students will correct in their pairs and then as a group.
5
Wrap up
I will ask the students for recommendations both fusion and nonfusion to eat in Seoul.
*
Back up
I have some pictures of very strange fusion food, we will look at them and discuss whether we would want to try them or not.
White board.
Laptop or print outs
Summary of the lesson plan:
.
It would be easy, too easy to simply follow the lesson plan as it is laid down on the article handout above. However, my class find more than a couple of discussion questions boring so there would be no point me giving them 5 to do. They also generally dislike a few long activities so I have given them more short activities to keep them interested. The produce activity in the original lesson is also a little too unstructured for my class so I have adapted it to something that I feel will involve the vocabulary more and also be a good way to assess their understanding of the topic. As this is a fairly large class it is also important that they have a lot of pair/small group work to practice as much as possible and to allow me to assess them properly. The key to all of this is adaption. It is difficult to keep the lessons interesting if you simply take in the article and activities as they are and hope that it makes for a useful, languagefocused class. As a teacher you have to consider your students and what they will find motivating and stimulating to do.
Unit 8; The Super Advanced Teacher Common mistakes and how to avoid them 1.“I just like to let them go with the flow man” Hmmmm, there's a reason the hippy movement faded away into nothingness. Nothing ever got done! Again free talking can have its place but that is not necessarily 20 days in a row in a language class. The lesson plan above would achieve far more language practice and satisfaction for both teacher and students than simply talking about anything. Structure! 2.“My class doesn't like the articles, I've promised them on day 17 we will do something more fun” I kid you not, I have heard this several times. If your class don't like the articles, there are two possible problems here. One, you are not teaching well and therefore everything seems boring. Or Two, your class really don't like these kinds of articles so why would you take them into class promising them that eventually you will do something more interesting. In the first case look at your lesson plan compared to the one above and try harder. In the second case find out what your students do like and start with that. 3. “You say give more feedback but there's nothing to correct in an advanced class!” I have sat and observed more than 30 advanced classes which is more than one month's worth of lessons. Not once have I sat in a class where there was no feedback needed to be given to the students although many times when no feedback was given at all. While it is true that they won't be the same type of corrections you would make at lower levels there is still plenty to focus on. Start with the target language, check it is being used correctly and review its' meaning. During the pair work (presuming you had any) listen out for inappropriate use, better English suggestions, pronunciation problems, wrong use of prepositions etc. There is always room for improvement at any level and will show the students that you are focused on them. 4. “The students in my class are not really advanced and it's so difficult to teach them!” A minute ago they were so advanced you had nothing to teach them and now you're complaining that you have to teach them? There is never a class in which nothing can be taught. If you feel the material is too difficult, change it, take some material from one of the other level SLE books to use in the class that you think is more appropriate to their level. Clearly if they are not advanced, then there is plenty that you can teach them so get to it! 5. “There's nowhere for advanced students to go, they will always stay in the same level” Exactly! Fantastic! Wonderful! Having worked so hard they have achieved the level where the biggest goal is to become more and more native. This takes time, effort, planning, a lot of practice and help from the teacher. Get to it! No more excuses!
Unit 8; The Super Advanced Teacher
Advanced Topics & Activities Let's take a look at some good topics and possible activities for your advanced classes. These obviously will be different to the articles that are sent out each month. 1. Changing Role of Words – Upping my ante There are many words in English that have changed their classification and advanced students need to learn these sort of words. They can be as simple as nouns into verbs (e.g to chair / to table / to pen / to pencil / to up etc). It is important that students demonstrate exact understanding of the verbs so should match to definitions or fill in the blanks then they could use them to create a business diary. 2. Lingua Franca – Talking about how language and culture are related. Instead of focusing on language as education or work advancement, we look at how language and culture are often interwoven. A short article about how Catalans in Spain are no longer learning Spanish at school or how non Welsh speaking Welsh people are losing out on jobs in Wales due to positive discrimination can lead to a debate. Utilizing important expressions of agreement/disagreement (I see your point but / look at it this way / as history shows etc) students can argue the case for national language vs a multilingual society. 3. Not all who wander are lost – Talking about the reasons behind travel. This topic is about the purpose of traveling not simply going on vacation. The lesson would begin with a series of quotes about traveling (I traveled the world over to find myself and found myself at home, the grass is greener etc) for opinions on how much we agree/disagree. A short text will introduce different perspectives of travel (to get away, relax, to experience culture, to find love etc) and students will discuss how possible each one is and if they have experiences. As an extension they will discuss their own reasons for travel and make recommendations. 4. Building a better world - talking about the world's problems The lesson begins with a series of short headlines (Euro plunges again / Racism still Rife in USA / Tiger on verge of Oblivion etc) the students discuss what they all represent. This will then lead onto a list of possible solutions to the problems some serious, some ridiculous and some falling in between. In groups the students discuss which ones they would adopt if they were the government of a country. As an extension to this they could also imagine they are creating a new society in a remote location. What will the laws be and who will they allow in? 5. What's the Craic? - what makes you laugh? The point of this lesson is to look at humour from a cultural perspective and how different things make different people laugh. The vocabulary would revolve around types of humour (parody, satire, slapstick, observational etc) and ways we laugh (giggle, guffaw, snicker, belly laugh) students would essentially look at how they respond to different humour and if they agree that Korean culture prefers certain types of humour. As a language test they will have to read and deliver short jokes in English trying to decide the correct stress and intonation to make it funny. A great lesson for video/audio clips.
Unit 8; The Super Advanced Teacher
Topic vs Task A common complaint from teachers is that their students don't enjoy too many discussion questions, this is not surprising we often have limited opinions on topics and even native speakers will get fed up with endless 'what do you think?' style questions. Much better to adapt them into a more involved yet easy to instruct task that will get the students speaking and using the language in a real way. Here are some examples from the February advanced articles.
1. Making Realistic New Year's resolutions Original Activity There are many different kinds of resolutions that people make year after year. With a partner, discuss the following information related to some New Year’s resolutions: Resolutions you’ve either made or heard of. Strategies that could help in achieving these goals. Challenges which may make the resolution difficult to achieve. 2. Without Wikipedia. Activity: The continuing advancements in technology and increasing use of the Internet have made it more and more difficult to combat online piracy. With a partner, discuss some possible strategies that policymakers, technology leaders and the general public could use to decrease online piracy. Consider the following factors in your discussion:
Alternative Activity Read through the following 1.Volunteer in a poor resolutions and tell your partner 3 African country for 6 you would try and 3 you would months. probably not try. What are your 2. Drink no alcohol or reasons? Do you agree with each coffee for a year. other's choices? 3. Always keep the bedroom tidy. 4. Take care of street cats and dogs. 5. Eat no meat for the year. etc Alternative Activity (match what you think) Problems Solutions
What makes piracy 1. People spend more than 7 popular in the first hours per day online. 2. Children watching sexual place? or violent content online. What incentives 3. People downloading illegal copies of music or and/or movies. disincentives could 4. 70% of the internet is be used to deter pornography. piracy? 5. Most of the information on the internet is unchecked What challenges and anybody can upload are created by the anything. 6. Not being able to delete international nature of the embarrassing photos of you in your swim suit. Internet?
a) The internet should become text only. b) We should have internet police to watch out for dangerous people. c) University professors should read and approve all information for accuracy and style. d) Each government should have emergency powers to close down any dangerous website. e) Automatic jail sentences for crimes committed on the internet.
3. Celebrities and Franchises Activity: If you were to open an establishment, what kind of image would you want associated with it? With a partner, discuss what kind of image you would want if you were opening each type of establishment and why you feel this image would lead to success. Then, for fun, pick a celebrity you feel is compatible with the image you are trying to achieve and that you would consider using to help market your establishment. * Image and Celebrity
Alternative Activity Choose your celebrity staff for Planet Famous; who will be the chefs, managers, waiting staff, maitre'd and entertainment. Also choose your most famous dish (including a celebrity name) and the name of your restaurant. Give your reasons and brand image. For example; Ban-Ki-Munchies Chef: Gordon Ramsey Waitresses: Boa, Ivy and Tanika Tikaram. Manager; Jackie Chan Most Famous Dish: Lee Myun Bacalao