What’s new for Genki English in 2024/2025!
Even though we’ve been doing this for 25 years (!), we’ve had a LOT ...
Lesson 1: Genki Disco Warm Up
Lesson Plan Partย 1: Warm Up & Review
This is the first lesson in the curriculum so nothing to review today. ๐
Lesson Plan Part 2: Input with new language & song
Use the Words section of the Teacher’s Setย to introduce the new language with gestures.
Play theย Teacher’s Setย mini lesson and finally the animated song with lots of gestures!
As with all the other lessons you can of course do this in a one-on-one class, you just move along with the student.
Or Virginie has taken it all the way for a huge class – complete with parents!
Lesson Plan Part 3: Output with the class game
As this is the first lesson we take it nice and easy, ย the students simply get in pairs and give each other lots of commands!
โก๏ธ Ninja Online Tips: ย Get the kids to make a “remote control” with pictures for each gesture. ย They can then press the pictures whilst saying each word to make their favorite doll or toy do the actions on camera! ย Then they get to try with the teacher!ย
Other Games: ย You could also launch into theย Simon Says Please game
And as you can see with the videos above these lessons get an amazing reaction – and results of course! – from Asia, Europe, Africa & just about everywhere in the world!
“Genki Disco Warm Up”
by Richard Graham
by Richard Graham
Stand up, sit down.
Hands up, hands down.
Stand up, and bow.
Sit down, sit down.
And clap.
Stand up, sit down.
Hands up, hands down.
Stand up, and bow.
Sit down. Sit down.
And cheer!
Come on, louder!
Stand up, sit down.
Hands up, hands down.
Stand up, and bow.
Sit down, sit down.
And cheer!
Genki Disco Warm Up Extended Mix
Stand up, sit down.
Hands up, hands down.
Stand up, and bow.
Sit down, sit down.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle your nose.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle your toes.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle your cheeks.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle your ears.
And clap!
(Repeat Chorus)
Shake, shake, shake your head.
Shake, shake, shake your hands.
Shake, shake, shake your arms.
Shake, shake, shake your legs.
And cheer!
Come on, louder!
(Repeat Chorus)
And cheer!
Ninja Tip:ย Did you know that last year they used the Genki Disco Warm Up music in the computer game Fortnite?ย Yep.ย Just in case you were wondering whether to also use it for your too cool for school teenagers and tweens. ๐ย ย Using Fortnite music in class:ย Teacher Coolness Factor 10!
P.S.ย If Fortnite is banned in your school then of course keep this our little secret ๐ย
Bonus VIP Printables
If you have theย Teacher’s Setย you can also download these extra printables
Bonus: See for yourself!
If you want to see what it really feels like for students learning this way, try learning some Japanese with the version below!
24 Responses to “Lesson 1: Genki Disco Warm Up”
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Tremendous! Dynamite teaching methods for ESL. I am very impressed with your fire, enthusiasm, vision and passion for your esl work. I teach k – 5 esl in Italy. Tomorrow I will engage my students with some of the high-charged material presented for the warm-up in your first video! Cool stuff!
Great program! The kids in my mixed language class really enjoy your music and activities!
Great fun using the Disco Warm Up .. really Genki – Students love it … especially when they give me commands ๐
) I am about to start teaching english in kindergarten. Till this very moment I was afraid I wouldn’t know what to do. How to engage kids? Now, the only thing I’m afraid of is will I manage to keep that tremendous temp. It’s cool! Thank you!
Great stuff. I am so impressed with your music
Hi Richard
I’ve been using Genki English for a while but in a random fashion to supplement my lessons but today I am starting a class of Spanish five year olds right from the beginning. Really excited to see how it works. I’ll let you know!
Judith
I’ll try it tomorrow in my first class!!! So nervous
Hi Richard. You are simply awesome. I think the most important thing when teaching children is to stay positive and have lots of fun. I am starting my first lesson tomorrow with the group of 4-8 years old. Wish me luck.
What can I say that’s not been said before?
I am sooo pleased I made the choice of investing in the Genki English teacher’s set, it’s made my very busy teaching life so much easier and always enjoyable for me but more so for the kids….an hour just passes without even realizing it and best of all are the kids…… They just don’t want to go home!!!
Fantastic!
Thank you Sarah and everyone else for the amazing comments – Thank you!!
Hello there! For two years I “thought” about Genki English. As Russian proverb says, I was “Inventer of bicycle” , preparing for my English lessons. I’m really tired. Yesterday I bought a Teacher’s Set! Wow! I’m happy! You saved me from osteochondrosis, sleepless nights and an endless brainstorming . Especially thank you for the Games and Genkiphonics !!!!! Thank you!!!!!! I really enjoy life and want to play ball with you . Be Genki!
I love using Genki English so much. Its so great watching the kids develop and putting sentences together and asking questions in English. I teach in Thailand and Genki English makes it so easy to learn for the children because the song are so catchy, the games are fun and the pictures and animations are really beautiful and colourful. Its a really easy and effective system the students just feel like they are having fun but at the same time they lean so much which provides a great sense of satisfaction to the teacher. There are so many different ideas and videos you can watch on the website too that has helped me to improve a lot as a teacher. Gengki English has also helped boost my passion for teaching and helps me to provide the students with fun and interesting lessons which the students remember. I’m having little conversations in English with my kindergarten students now and Its all from watching all the videos and exploring the Ganki English website. I cant say thanks enough, its the best!
That’s brilliant, I’ve tried it today with my prathon 1 students and they loved it! I was so proud to see that even the very shy ones wanted to get involved and produce the target language. I could see that it gave them a lot of confidence.
I am definitely going to use this game and maybe modify it a bit to teach them some basic vocab that I need them to know for the science classes I have with them like ‘to draw’ or ‘to write’ or ‘quiet’.
Hi Richard, after a long time reading your e-mails and watching some videos you have posted about your Genki lessons methodology I started to dream about have my own English School in my house. I am bored with my job and although I am a self taught English speaker I want to challenge myself in this field. I am Brazilian ( half Japanese nationality) living in Japan, my aim is to teach children both Japanese and Brazilian. I am taking a course (TEFL/TESOL) to help me because I have not any degree and of course also learning a lot from your homepage. My question is how to start it?
P.S: My budget is almost zero !!:((
Hi Alessandra,
Fantastic you want to start your own school! You’ll find everything you need on the teaching side on the pages here. And for the business side of things, have a look at my mini course here – the first lesson is on how to start with zero money ๐
http://genkienglish.net/teaching/tips-for-starting-your-own-school/
Hi Richard, I came across your teaching method only the day before yesterday and I canยดt stop admiring it and searching on your website and YouTube videos. I completely resonate with your teaching philosophy. Iยดve always refused to use textbooks and was desperate not to be able to find a way to teach children ยดnaturallyยด in a non-English speaking country. And now hereยดs THE way to teach English. Thanks a lot for your Genki English! I canยดt wait for the beginning of the school year to try the method on my pupils:-). I really appreciate it. Lucy
At school I have to give a 110 minute lesson twice a week (total time: 4 hours a week).
I want to start the curriculum ‘Adventure’. May I teach lesson 1 and 2 in two hours or just extend the time to cover 1 lesson in 2 hours?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Johan,
These first few lessons are a little “different” in that there isn’t much of a review at the beginning so they do take less time.
Then once you get settled down into the curriculum then I’d definitely recommend doing two themes in each 110 minute block. Do 45 minutes as per the lesson plan, then something totally different for 10-15 minutes e.g. yoga or meditation ( NOT crafts or anything cognitive) then start another lesson. That way you’ll get through 4 themes per week and have some really amazing results in a very short period of time!
Hi, Richard:
I shared this with you before. Just want to let you know one more time – your Genki English has “saved” my lessons teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Thank you! You know how hard it could be using the very traditional style to teach and learn a foreign language!
May I check with you if your Genki Chinese online games can still be assessed? Cause I couldn’t get into it anymore.
Thank you very much for making teaching a foreign language so much hopeful and fun!
Kitty Au, Hong Kong
Wow!!! It’s really cool!!!
Fantastic Richard, I have watched this video in Japanese and I have experienced what children feel when they listen to new words and try to associate them to movements in order to learn.
In those days I have been studying your material as I bought it few times ago. Nearly ready to try at school with my classes in three different schools at the beginning of October!
I am an English teacher in Greece.I have decided to use your Genki disco warm up for kids 2-6 years whom are at home ,due to quarantine,waiting for an english lesson everyday.Its great.
Hi Richard! On Tuesday I’m having my first on line course, the disco Warm Up lesson. New children are attending my course. Do you think it is better to give the commands to the children first? Then I could see how they move and reverse the roles? I normally do in this way in my class because they have the time to memorize the words. The children are 4-5 yars old. I think I won’t divide them into rooms. We could play together for the first time and leave the rooms for another lessons. They will be 3 or 4 children. I don’t not it, yet! thanks Elisa
Hi Elisa,
When you say “new children are attending” that means it’s a new class with all new kids, yeah? (We never add new kids to an existing class, that causes all sorts of problems ๐ )
If so, then no worries, just do the lesson exactly the same as in the videos etc. above, there’s no real difference between offline and online with this lesson. Also for 3 to 4 children you don’t need breakout rooms. Those are for bigger classes ๐
Good luck!
P.S. Make your minimum for the next new class to be 8 and see what happens. ๐