One of the projects that my students enjoyed the most was the Nations Project. At the beginning of the year, I formed groups.
I told them...
"There's been a nuclear war and you are the only survivors. Civilization must go on and you must form your own countries and laws."
Each group was asked to come up with:
- The name of their nation
- Their country flag: what does each symbol stand for?
- Their anthem
- Type of government: monarchy, dictatorship, democracy...etc.
- Their Leader: Why did you choose this person?
- Their motto
- Set of rules
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The girls in this team decided to call themselves Olympus. Each leaf on the laurel crown stands for one of the members. Note law number 3: "if someone brings disgrace on other, slave him". A bit harsh, no? The grammar isn't perfect but they get their point across.
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All the students enjoyed working together on a group project--something that they don't actually have much experience with in the South Korea. Due to a combination of several factors (from the focus on high-stakes testing and the consequent teaching to the test and the Neo-Confucian cultural system) many classes in South Korea largely consist of teachers lecturing, students taking notes, and everyone going through pages and pages of workbook problems and practice tests. As such, the students found my classes, which largely focused on group projects, presentations, and games, quite refreshing.
My goal as a Native English Teacher (NET) was not to teach students grammar. My goal was to teach them that English could be fun. It, like any other language, should be used to communicate. Grammar rules and vocabulary are important and can help prevent misunderstanding but they are not the end all of an entire language. I wanted my students to have fun learning and speaking English.
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