For my first week back at school, I thought I would keep it simple. It’s part of my new teaching strategy of taking a step back and trying to make my lessons more easy and fun for the kids and less stressful and aggravating for me.

I devised a moronically simple task where I posted signs saying “yes” and “no” on opposite sides of the classroom. I then asked the class some questions about what they did during their summer vacation, and they had to go to one side of the room or the other, depending on their answer. The idea was that I would next ask some follow-up questions to get them talking. What I failed to consider was that if they stay on the “no” side, then they don’t have to talk. Some students figured this out and began gaming the system. By mid-week I had abandoned this task with the upper grades, but it works slightly better with the younger students.

For the second half of the lesson, I’m teaching them the “She sells seashells” tongue-twister. Did you know there’s a lot more to it than just the first line? I swear for all my life I thought it was just the first bit. The whole thing goes:

She sells seashells by the seashore

The shells she sells are surely seashells

So if she sells shells on the seashore

I’m sure she sells seashore shells

That part is going much better. As part of my introduction I ask the class if they can tell me any Korean tongue twisters they know. That is a lot of fun. I even told my students I would learn a Korean tongue twister since I am teaching them an English one. I’ll probably try the following…

Sorry, I was going to provide a Romanized version, but I decided I can’t be bothered. I’d probably get it wrong anyway. It translates roughly as, “I draw a giraffe picture, a pretty giraffe picture. You draw a giraffe picture, an ugly giraffe picture.”