Have you ever chased the mosquito truck?

When I first arrived in Korea in 1999, I had quite a bit of success discussing childhood experiences that require students to use a variety of past verb tenses. One of my favorite "gold nuggets" that was always a sure winner to elicit responses and create a jovial mood of collective harmony with my students was to pose the question "have you ever chased the mosquito truck?". After trying to figure out what I was asking them (because they didn't usually understand the verb 'chase'), my students always laughed and said "yes, I have".

Almost 8 years later, I find myself bombing on this question with students less than 30 years old. It seems times have changed. Students by and large don't share those childhood (neighborhood) experiences anymore (or they share fewer ones). It's rare that I find students under 30 who haven't spent every waking moment of their freedom in Hag Wons or at PC rooms.

What I would like to ask the other experienced teachers in our class is: What common childhood experiences, games or interests (that we can discuss in class) do the youngsters share nowadays? Do they share anything outside of school, Hag Wons or PC rooms? I'm sure they do, but I'm having some difficulty locating a new "gold nugget" that will be a sure thing in my conversation classes. The mere mention of "sashimi" with combined stabbing motion is still a sure thing (thank goodness). I look forward to hearing your suggestions.

What kind of "artsy/craftsy" things have you done in your English classes?

I think the main form of artistic expression that facilitates language learning in my classes is probably some form of drawing with pens, pencils, crayons and colored grease pencils. In an elementary school class that I taught over the winter break, I attempted a paper mache mask project with my students. It went surprisingly well considering the age-range (9-11). It was a lot of fun but it took a lot of class time. I think the students really enjoyed it and they had a chance to become exposed paper-mache/painting specific terminology in a very "hands on" setting. Although the supplies were somewhat costly (because I had to buy some kind of protective wear for the students), I look forward to doing it again in the future. It should be cheaper the next time around, because I had a lot of the paper-mache decorative items left over.

I am looking for project ideas outside of simple drawing exercises. I look forward to your comments and suggestions on what tactile artistic experiences I might explore in my future classes.

I have attached a picture (hopefully some pictures) of the masks my class made in January of 2007. I hope you enjoy the it/them.

Using Multi-media in EFL Classes in Korea

How have you successfully used multi-media in your EFL classes in Korea?
As for me, my multi-media experience is limited to chalk (with a fancy aluminum chalk holder), various colors of dry-erase markers and a copy (not coffee) machine. That's about it.