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TEACHING: TOO MANY, TOO MUCH, & ENOUGH

11/3/2015

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"Too many," "too much," and "enough" can be a bit boring to teach. As teachers, we often try to find ways to make a lesson "less boring." But it's not always easy!
I am sharing a kind of funny and easy way to introduce the target language. Note: this is NOT an entire lesson plan. 
First of all, we need a theme. And the theme here is "problems." 

For the warm up activity, I ask my students to rank the list of problems based on their own opinions. 
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Once they've completed the task, they need to share their answers with a partner. Here, I've given them an example of how they can explain.

I ranked friendship number one because...
After that, I normally ask 3 to 4 students to share their number one problem with the rest of the class. 

Next, I would show them a picture and ask them: "What do you think is her problem?" Students would usually shout words such as: homework, assignment, study...etc. After answers have been elicited from the students, I ask them which of the following is the correct way to say it.
Is it "too many homeworks"? "enough homework"? "too much homework"? or "not enough homeworks"? 

​In most cases, I would hear two answers: too many homeworks and too much homework.
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Then, I move on to tell them 2 short stories.

Story 1: These 3 guys are hungry. I'm going to give them some hamburgers. I'm going to give the first guy a small burger. As for the second guy, ​I'm going to give him a nice hamburger. I'm going to give the boy 3 hamburgers. Let's go back to the first guy. Do you think he's still going to be hungry after eating that tiny burger?

Students would say "Yes."

​That's right. What's the problem here? It is "not enough."

Let's go to the second guy. Do you think he's still going to be hungry after eating the nice hamburger? 


Students: "No."

That's right. Is he going to be VERY full?

Students: "No."

Correct! That's because it is "enough."

Let's move on to the little boy. Is he still going to be hungry after eating all three hamburgers?

Students: "No."

Is he going to be VERY full?

Students: "Yes."

What's the problem here? He's got "too many" hamburgers. 
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Story 2: Now, let's look at these 3 guys. Take a look at the first guy. Does he look happy?

Students: "No."

​Do you know why? That's because he has only had a tiny glass of margarita. 

Does the second guy look happy?


Students: "Yes."

Right. That's because he has had four glasses of beer.

Look at the third guy. What is he doing?


Students usually start giggling and say: "He's sleeping." "He's lying on the ground." 

Do you know how much he has drunk? Six bottles of soju!

The first guy looks sad because the margarita is "not enough." The second guy is happy because he's had "enough." The third guy has drunk "too much." 
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After that, I introduce the usage of too many, too much, enough, and not enough. 

Then, I ask my students to talk about the problems in their hometown. They are required to use the new language that was just learned. 

​You can download the PPT file from here. Have fun!
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REVIEWING PRESENT PERFECT

10/1/2015

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SPEAKING BOARD GAME

This speaking board game is pretty simple. You can pair the students up or put them in groups of 3 or 4. All the students have to do is to throw the dice and move from square to square until they reach the finish square. The topic questions aren't perfect, but they sure get the students talking!  
You can download it from here. This is what it looks like:
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SONG LISTENING ACTIVITY: HAVE YOU EVER?

I designed a worksheet which keeps students busy filling in the blanks, choosing the correct words, matching, and unscrambling a sentence. Depending on the ability of my students, I ask my students to explain the lyrics or discuss the song in small groups. 
You can download the worksheet here. 
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TEACHING: USED TO

9/19/2015

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Unlike the Past Simple tense, “Used to” is one of those grammar points that does not appear in every single English textbook. Used to + verb (infinitive) refers to a habit or state in the past. In other words, it means something that happened but does not happen anymore. It is used only in the past tense. 
When do you use use to without the d at the end? This can be a bit confusing for both native and non-native English speakers because the d and t sounds between the words go together. It is actually very simple! Drop the d when there is “did” or “didn’t” in the sentence. 
I have created and shared a video that introduces the usage of used to.
In the warm up stage, I tell my students a short story about Children in Victorian Times. This activity always catches my students’ attentions as they are curious about life in Western countries. I use both used to and the past simple tense in the story to express a state that existed in the past but does not exist now. Note: It is very important to use a different color for all the words and phrases that talk about the past. 
After the short story, I would ask a few comprehensive questions. I normally start by asking: What is the story about? It is about now, the future, or the past? This step reinforces the “tense” of the story. 
Once I am sure that the students understood the story, I would go on and introduce when/how we can use used to using sentences from the story. At this point, my only focus is on the positive form. 
In the practice stage, students create their own sentences using used to about Children in the Joseon Era or Children in the Meiji Era. I ask each group to share their sentences with the class. 
Next, I show the students how we can use the negative form: didn’t use to. 
After that, there is “discussion.” The questions allow the students to use the target language. I encourage my students to give many details, and their partners need to ask follow up questions. 
I normally like to do a target language review activity at the end of the class. Who would hate the idea of listening to a pop song while practicing the language? ;-)  Here is the worksheet that I created with a song by Daughtry – “Used To.”  
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SONG ACTIVITY: PRESENT CONTINUOUS

9/12/2015

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Student-centered communicative teaching methods have become new trends in the field of English education. “Nowadays technology has practically changed every aspect of language teaching.” (Hassanzadeh, Ghollami, Allahyar, & Noordin, 2012, p. 74) Using songs as supplemental materials in a language learning classroom setting is NOT a new idea. The question is: How can we make song related activities effective in our classroom? The answer is simple: fun!
Tip #1: Students hate worksheets that only contain “fill in the blank” activities. Mix it up! Keep them busy!
 “Tom’s Diner” is a perfect song for introducing/reviewing the Present Continuous tense. You can download the worksheet from here. 

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teaching Present perfect

9/9/2015

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Quite a number of universities in Seoul ask their candidates to do a “demo lesson” during the interview. Very often, the grammar point that they will ask you to teach is “Present Perfect.” However, it can be a rather challenging task to do in English. Based on my personal experience, the easiest way is to show the differences between Past Simple and Present Perfect. How can we explain it in a way that is easy enough for our students to follow? How can it be done in a fun and interesting way?

I have created a video that illustrates the difference between Past Simple and Present Perfect in a more “exciting” manner. Enjoy!
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    MR. DUB

    A professional who currently teaches at a university in Seoul.

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