Page in Japanese

Left and Right - Directions!

The most popular Genki English theme!

Theme	Directions: Left, right, forward, back, Stand up, Sit down				Level	Kindergarten to Junior High school 1
Games	Mr Bump Game or Star Wars Lightsaber Battle Game or "Laser Sword Battle" (on the DVD)
Paid for Stuff	Song - Karaoke - Pronunciation Guide - Interactive Quiz - Worksheet - Teaching Guide Video (hi res) (in the Teachers Set) Also in the Download Pack.							Kids Workbook - Audio Quiz ( owners page)	DVD

Owners Club Bonus Materials... Worksheet Printable Lesson Plan (What's this?) English Japanese (give to class teacher) Owners Club Members can click on the pictures above to print them out

The left and right song is a great way to review vocab prior to doing the Mr Bump Game or the Star Wars game. During our shows I find it's actually possible to teach the song and dance in about 10 minutes. But obviously it's better if you spend some time going over the vocab correctly!

As you've probably guessed, the song was based around the idea of the kids moving. The chorus lyrics are "Left and right, forward and back". The best way I find to do it is to get the kids to just move together en masse whilst signing the words, as Mr Aygo will demonstrate below!






For the verse part of the song, I usually find it better for the kids to simply listen and do the moves themselves. They can usually figure them out even on the first listen. The first verse goes "Sit down, stand up, turn left, turn right and jump, jump, jump!". Mr Aygo will now demonstrate this! Although note that he should really be facing the opposite way!



I then get the kids to join in singing and dancing the chorus and then listening and moving for the 2nd verse.

But of course, feel free to develop your own ideas. For example some people have told me they do this in the form of a circle, a bit like the "Hokey Cokey" (or "Pokey" if you prefer!!). When I first wrote this song, I was doing a rough mix of it at school and when I turned round I had some of my 2nd year junior high kids trying to do the dance!!! Ideally it's aimed at elementary school kids though!! My 5th years voted it as their favourite song - enjoy!!

See for yourself ...

To see how well this works with your children, try teaching yourself some Japanese with the same song!
Be warned it will stick in your head!



Online Game


Left & Right Code

Click here for the Teachers' Notes.



Worksheet:

Left and Right Chess is a great game to practise directions. The game is played by 2 people. Each person cuts out their four counters and places them on the 4 squares nearest them. One person has Mr Monkey counters, one person has Aygo counters. Then you cut out the dice, fold the faces and stick glue onto the tabs. The players take it in turns to roll the dice and then move one piece one space in the corresponding direction! The "forward x 2" face means you can move one piece either 1 or 2 places, "forward x 3" means you can move one piece 1,2 or 3 places. Obviously you cannot start until you have scored a "forward". The trick is that you cannot move until you say, in English, the direction you are moving in! You receive one point for every counter that reaches the far side - this counter is then removed from the game. However, if you can move your counter over the top of an opponent's counter then you capture it, and it's taken out of the game! If you get a "forward x2" or "forwardx3" and there are no more spaces left, then you stop at the edge of the board and have scored your point. You cannot "Jump" over an opponent, if they get in your way you remove their piece from the board and your piece replaces theirs. The winner is the person with the most points when all the pieces have been removed from the board. You could also try the "speed version" and the person is the winner who has the most points at the end of a certain time!

The song "left and right" can be found on the Genki English CD Vol 1. and in the Download Pack.

If you like this page, please tell a friend. If you have a blog, please send a link! Subscribe to the blog via email And get a FREE Top Ten Games eBook! Or Subscribe in an RSS reader

Copyright (C) 1999/2010 by Richard Graham www.GenkiEnglish.com