I speakie Englishee

As a native English teacher in a Korean High School, I get the privilege of conducting speaking tests for all of the 1st and 2nd graders in my school. I just got finished with the 1st grade tests... each class takes 2 class periods to do, so they lasted for 2 weeks... The prompts were:

1. Tell me about yourself (introduce yourself)
2. Describe your favorite movie or a book
3. Explain the differences between Korean High School and American High School (this is because I did a lesson on this with my classes)

They were told to make it under 2 minutes and they were graded on grammar, vocabulary, fluency,  pronunciation and task completion, each counting for either 12, 14, 16, 18 or 20 points.

Some of the responses were OK, others struggled pretty badly, but others blew me away... I wanted to share a few of the moments or common comments I heard throughout the 2 weeks of 1st grade tests (a follow up blog on the 2nd graders to follow after those are finished).....

1. Most students started their speech by saying "From now on, please listen carefully.".... as if I wasn't going to listen to your speaking test, since it is just you and me out here in this hot hallway

2. A lot of students told me their height and weight (yes even girls, though their weight was usually "secret")... except they pronounced it "hate" and "weight"... guess because they are spelled alike, they think they sound alike.

3. Everything is "cute" or "funny".... their sisters are cute, their friends are cute, the color blue is cute... their favorite movie is funny and soccer is funny too.

4. I'd really like to know who told them to say "My family number is four"....

5. After "My family number is four" they would continue with "Mother, Father..." and every time I wanted to interrupt "GENTLEMAN" right after... only one student joked about it... I gave her extra points... if you don't know what I'm talking about watch this

6. I've never heard a hotel manager called a "hotelier" until now... and EVERY SINGLE Korean calls it that

7. One girl explained the difference between American HS and Korean HS and told me how, in Korea, everyone wants to go to college, but in America only a few people want to go to college

8. One boy told me "I'm shorter than my friends, so I drink milk every day"

9. Hopefully they don't think it is OK to, before sitting down, violently cough on someone that you will be speaking to... but apparently one boy did

10. One student told me that they are interested in learning other cultures, so they watch the Simpsons a lot to learn about America... oh great

11. One student said "My favorite color is blue, because I like it"

12. Another boy sat down and stared at me for a few seconds, then mumbled something in Korean, got up, and walked away

13. That boy unfortunately got the same score (as low as I could give) as the boy who sent the Korean teacher out to tell me he didn't prepare anything at all and wouldn't be coming out to try

14. A classic example of what "maybe" means in this country... when I asked someone if they were finished... "Yes, maybe" then proceeded to get up and leave

15. One boy, whom I knew had studied abroad before, just blurted at the end of his perfectly natural introduction "Can I go now?" uh, sure I guess...

16. One girl sat down, and started to speak perfect English, however it went something like this: "I like actually studied in America for like one and a half years. Like, I lived in Atlanta. Like. LIKE. LIIIKKKEEE"... though I gave her a 100, I really wanted to tell her, like, she shouldn't, like, use "like" like all the time. LIKE.

17. One boy sang me part of Jason Mraz's Lucky... he knows the way to my heart, and could really sing!

18. Another girl sang part of Beyonce's Halo (she was great)

Overall though I was really impressed. A lot of the students did very well... a LOT better than I had expected. I was so happy when I was surprised by someones English, but I was also proud of myself for realizing who a lot of the students were and knew kind of what to expect.

It was, however, hilarious to see how nervous they were... So many of the students would sit down and whine... several were shocked when I started the clock and made me stop it and start over... You could pretty much tell that most of them were reciting a memorized speech... it was like I could see them staring off into space, reading the lines of the paper in their head... though that's better than the few that ACTUALLY just read from their paper... I really wish I could've video taped these kids... they were just so darn cute!

It was a great time listening to the 1st graders responses, but I'm even more excited to hear what my 2nd graders have to say (and meeting the classes I don't teach yet)! Another blog to follow...