Need advice teaching kidergardeners

[warda123]

Today, we were supposed to be learning about the meanings of "I'm," "You're," "He's," "She's," "It's," "We're," and "They,re." The kids were having trouble understanding. Even after saying the words "I am," and "I'm" while pointing to myself, and writing it up on the board, the kids just stared blankly at me. I held up a picture of a smily face and said, "I'm happy!" pointing to myself, I tried to get the kids to do the same, but when pointing to themselves, they would only say, "happy" and point to the book. It wasn't long before all attention was lost, and we almost got to songtime before class let out!
Now I have parents calling in saying their kids are crying because they dont understand the homework, and this is my first week of teaching. Now I'm just stressed and getting heartburn. How can I explain these words to the class in a fun way that keeps them focused and learning? I followed the teacher's guide as close as I could, but the kids did not instantly understand, as the "Teacher's Guide" implied they might.
I am using "Gogo Loves English 2." The kids are Koreans, and all I can say in their language is "thank you." Please help, my class is tomorrow afternoon and I am busy preparing for others too!

[Tdol]

Even after saying the words "I am," and "I'm"

Imagine looking at that through their eyes- two words using an unfamiliar alphabet mysteriously become one and one symbol is replaced by an apostophe, yet they're the same. Also, there may be differences in the pronoun system and the way they are used, so the underlying concepts may be trickier than they seem. There may, for instance be different forms of you or cultural issues about using the word- in some cultures using you when speaking to a teacher might be considered overfamiliar. Can you check what system there is in Korean? Also, build on what they can use- if they're OK with happy, add other adjectives, then move them on to 'I'm happy' a bit later.

[RonBee]

And be patient. Rome wasn't built in a day. (I don't know why you expect them to learn everything instantly.)

[poorboy_9]

Warda123, Thanks for bringing a smile to my face; I'm reliving my first few days of teaching here in China. (I'm smiling with you, not at you!)
As a suggestion: HE/SHE IS __?_. (big, fat, tall, happy, sad, etc.)- If you have visuals (cards) for the different "fill-ins", and repeat the phrase over and over you can use the rote method of imprinting the phrase with the children. As a second step, you can hold up a card and the students must answer "he/she is (card)" By hearing you say the phrase first several times, and then saying it as you do (mimic), they will feel a bit more comfortable.-Now the hard part!! I used the word "television" & TV to explain how we "shorten" words in English. The younger the student, the less you need to explain the gramatical structure of contractions, other than what they mean. The phrase "HE/SHE IS ___ "can quickly become ""HE'S/SHE'S ___" ( From personal experience I've had to watch MY pronunciation for the first phrase, so that I didn't automatically go straight to the contraction). I don't know if this will be any help, but this is one of the best website to get hints and answers to most of your questions (my replys not withstanding!)
B.