it's genius i tell you!

I have been struggling for a week now trying to come up with a way to teach the middle schoolers english in a way that might get it to stick. it really seems like nothing that has been tried has worked. english for them is a struggle, which is understandable considering just how different the two languages are. I am also finding it difficult because the middle schoolers that come to this center are all guys except for 1 female and all 13-14 years old. I was really fighting myself trying to come up with ideas on what to do, and couldn't come up with anything. I have always been full of ideas for the elementary school students because they are young and love the little games and gimicks. Learning for them is still fun, and they are attentive and easy to teach for the most part. I was just sitting reading a book today, when an idea popped into my head, and I knew that it JUST might work.

What do the 14 year old boys and I have in common? A love of sports. They especially love basketball and ... BASEBALL. Which is what got me thinking. The point of this experience isn't just to teach them English. It's also to teach them about the culture of where we live, etc. Well, at first I was just thinking of things like basic geography, politics, and other boring things, but why not teach them about American SPORTS. All these thoughts culminated in this:

I can teach them all the different sports terms, especially in baseball, including the names of all the positions, balls and strikes (they actually do know ball and strike!), strike out, pitching terms, etc. Then it occured to me that the BASEBALL season starts in April!!! I am going to teach them all the different teams in the MLB, and then have them PICK ONE. And since I will be teaching TWO middle school groups at the center, i can have one group pick from the American League, and one group pick from the National League. We can set up standings, and have a little contest. It's going to take a lot of work, but it also enables me to follow the baseball season and consider it a part of work stuff :)

If anyone has any more ideas to add to this, it would be welcome, but I really like this idea! Of course I will teach them other english too, but i can build it around sports as well (when it gets warmer we can play a baseball game, and teach them tenses like i am running to first base and then i ran to first base... etc)!

Okay feedback welcome just dont dash my hope i really really really think its good.....

-me

Seoul tomorrow!!!