Teaching with kpop

I was told at orientation that one of the things that can get students really excited is using kpop in the classroom. Not everywhere all the time, because students need to feel that your lessons are serious business too..but used sparingly just to grab their attention.

Use kpop in the classroom? Um, yes!

I try not to let my bias for Big Bang determine what I use in the classroom. On the first day of school I let my students tell me who they liked, and I keep that in mind when I select photos to use in things like powerpoints. For the curious, my students like: DBSK, Rain, Big Bang, Beast, SNSD, 2NE1, somee Super Junior, somee F.T. Island, somee C.N. Blue. Since I teach at a girl's high school, more boy groups are represented than girl groups.

I usually won't do kpop related things in the classroom unless its with vocabulary related activities. For instance:






And it works really well. The response to the first slide is always funny--there's a big ruckus with girls gasping, trying to get into a better position to see the board, a lot of murmuring and even face covering. It's really cute.

But there are other instances where I just let my Big Bang bias slip in. I can't help it.