One thing I've learned since starting this whole teaching elementary-to-middle-school age range that writing is a punishment. They'll write in their books of course, however much they're supposed to, but if you give them EXTRA writing for homework, THAT'S when kids associate writing as the result of doing something wrong.
I have a class of 3 middle school boys whom I just love: Jay, Roy, & Leo. I think every teacher who has them loves them-- I know Jennifer the Korean teacher has come back from their class talking about how funny they are. And they are, even though they're doing pretty much all of their joking in Korean. But hey, this is English class, so I usually start insisting on English.
One day, Jay & Roy were talking about a rapper and farting because, of course they were, they're males, and the male sense of humor for the majority reached maturity at 8 years old. Still, being a woman, plus having a brain means it really doesn't register how these 2 things can be laughter-inducing for over an hour. There must be other stuff being said.
& because I know these kids are capable of being silly and talking in English, I tried my usual punishment on Jay & Roy when it felt like they just weren't listening to me at all. They were to write down everything they'd said the past 5 minutes, & then their homework would be to translate it. I figured this last part would be the real punishment, although Jay kept saying he couldn't remember anything he had just said, including what he'd say in Korean at that moment to Roy. I know google translate is a mess, but it's a start.
To my great surprise, both boys translated their short paragraphs in maybe 5 minutes. And lo & behold, it was no different than the summary they'd given before. Except for my personal favorite part, where Roy interrupts himself when talking to Jay & Leo to apologize to me... in Korean. (Also note that Jay is guilty of the Korean speaker's inability to distinguish between L & R.
Jay
The video is very fun! Ha Ha. How can the lap appear? Ha Ha. He has brave "Hello, I will take fart. Ha. There is [he actually drew a rectangle here] Maybe He spent a lot of time to make the lap. Then, there was a funny happens. All of students laughed. ' 산이 [or 산디, I can't tell which the last is]' said good words for him.
Roy
Check! I'm the Korean the top class Hip pop nobless... hahaha! That rap is so fun! haha I don't know the lyrics, but it is so funny, haha! Check I'm the Korean the top class... sorry! teacher. You see the Ujin Kim's prank? That is so fun! haha. You know tail shin's rap? That's BGM is so good.
2 times a week tyler has to write a story based on a starter sentence and then draw a picture. must be 3 original sentences and 5 colors for drawing min. even if he has to come up with a new idea, he wont EVER write that 4th sentence. ha
ReplyDeletePoor Ty, only because I know the little sweetie doesn't like homework. Maybe he'll just come around to dabbling more into writing later.
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