Take any problem in the World and it's invariably caused (or made worse)
by a lack of education. Too many kids hate school because it's too boring.
The aim of Genki Learning is to have all subjects in all countries taught
in a fun, engaging and effective way. There are already a few million kids
benefiting from this, and even a whole country where the government has
put it in all their schools. But there's still a long way to go!
While I'm on the road you'll hear about my travels & workshops, and
when I'm doing studio work I'll keep you up to date with ideas, updates
to the site and some of my favourite teaching resources. So if you want
to find out what's it's like behind the scenes or how & why I do what
I do or even if you're just nosey or a bit bored, have a read.
I'll update the diary as often as I can, so keep coming back. And of course
whilst I'm away, the office staff are always ready to send off your CD orders just as soon as you send them in!
February 1st 2010 - New Genki Phonics Worksheets / Workbook
A few of you know I've been working on a completely new integrated phonics system, so once your students can speak and listen with the main Genki English curriculum it's really easy to teach them to read.
The programme is still going to take quite a while to finish, but the first
part of the workbook is just about ready. So in the spirit of "it's
better out there than stuck on my hard drive" I've made it ready for
you to download!
To get the most out of it you really need to follow a good phonics lesson
plan, but even without that it's better than 99.9% of the other phonics
worksheets / workbooks out there on the internet!
What do you think?
January 24th 2010 - Creative Questions from Tokyo Teachers
Today we had a private full day workshop for a new set of schools in Tokyo.
The cool thing was that the participants were all creative professionals
(we had a professional singer, dancer, orchestral percussionist and 2 movie
producers!) who are going to be using their talents alongside the Genki English curriculum for premium style English classes.
It's quite an exciting way of doing things, and everyone was really great.
Being creative types though the questions we had in the beginning were
a little different to say the least! As well as the usual, discipline, which style of teaching etc. we also had some funky ones such as:
* Do the children love me?
* Should we feed them?
* What happens to bullies?
* Do the kids really want to be there?
* Am I qualified?
* Is it OK to yell?
* Should I be friends with the students?
At first I thought they were kidding, but no these were real deep questions
they were genuinely asking!
So I might as well write up my answers for you guys here...
Do the children love me?
A very deep question. The answer we came up with is "yes".
Should we feed them?
No. Although everyone loves candy, allergies, diets and all the other concerns
of modern life mean an over abundance of caution is probably the better
course. You wouldn't want to kill a kid with candy. In most public schools
giving the children food is banned anyway.
What happens to bullies?
They all live a life of misery? If only! This went back to the usual discipline questions.
Do the kids really want to be there?
In the beginning, probably not. Our job is to make the lessons as exciting,
challenging and inviting as the latest Playstation game, so that after
the first lesson is over they really do want to be there, every week!
Am I qualified?
If you speak English and are passionate about what you are doing, you are
more qualified that 99.9% of English teachers in the world. From then on
it's just a case of learning as much as you can about your chosen art,
from books, videos and the net and real life experience.
Is it OK to yell?
No. Getting angry is the final resort and once you go there you've nothing left. This doesn't mean you mustn't discipline. As with any type of management "strong and calm" is the key. But never get angry.
“A man is about as big as the things that make him angry” says Winston
Churchill.
Should I be friends with the students?
Different people have different thoughts on this, but I'd say "Be
friendly but not necessarily friends". With adult students who are
friends it can get a little blurred, but just make sure your role is as
the teacher in class time and everything should work out fine.
Thanks to everyone for today, and I look forward to seeing how you guys
get along with the real Genki English lessons!
Anyway, what are your thoughts on the above questions? We'd all love to
hear them in the comments below!
January 13th 2010 - Is LASIK laser eye surgery worth it .... No!
Is it worth having LASIK laser eye surgery? Well, I think I have to say
no it isn't! Why? Simply because they don't tell you just how long you
might have to take off work - and how much that would cost.
I just had my 4 week check up and explained to the doctor that it's still
really hard for me to concentrate on a computer screen for more than a
few minutes at a time or more than an hour or so per day. Guess what he
said "Oh, that's quite normal. It will probably take up to 3 months
for you to be able to use a computer normally again. Just work through
the headaches and eyestrain."
Then he said not to be anywhere that's dry. Upon telling him I had a 24
flight coming up he said "Hmmm, when you step off the plane you'll
regret ever having them done". He was right. And I have another one
coming up in two weeks! And now I have a load of funky gel to keep putting
in my eyes.
It really is my own fault for not doing more research, I fell for all the
ads where they show people who say they are seeing perfectly and back at
work after just a couple of days. But if you have a look most of those
people seem to be athletes and sports people - i.e. people who don't have
to look at a screen all day. I can see, I just can't concentrate on one
thing for long at all.
I'm quite lucky in that you've been all really understanding and I have
been able to take the time off. But not so in that if I don't work I don't
get paid! And my hour or so a day of PC work has been taken up with more
mundane things such as taxes and admin stuff rather than all the funky
new materials I wanted to bring you.
So I'd have to say if you use a computer a lot then really think about
how much time off you may have to take with laser eye surgery. I know I
probably wouldn't have had it done had I known. But then again I haven't
seen the real benefits yet.
Good side
But looking on the good side it has made me realise that I need to make
Genki English a lot less reliant on myself and more about you guys. So
hopefully I'll have some masters of the Genki English graphics available
so you can make and share worksheets amongst yourselves.
How you can help!
And the biggest thing you could possibly do for me and each other would
be to just keep spreading the word to other teachers, friends and students
about the Genki English materials and the Genki English website. The current
idea of members getting lots of new material for free also means I have
to keep new customers coming and buying from the site. I don't spend silly
money on big adverts and it looks like I will have to rely on you guys
to help Genki English keep growing in the coming months. I am so glad I
can rely on you all - and I promise I'll make it up to you once I'm 100%
back to normal!
December 17th 2009 - Losing your eyesight
I often get asked "are you always so positive and genki all the time?"
Well, mostly, yes.
I wasn't always like that though. At school I was fat, wore glasses, was
bullied and hated it. It was when I left that I decided to change. I read
some books on thinking positive, took up Tae Kwon Do, got thin, got contact
lenses and never looked back.
Until this week.
Losing your eye sight, even if it's only temporary after laser eye surgery,
really, really messes up your head. For a few days there, and maybe still
now, it was as if everything had been washed away. I was empty. Not able
to think of anything, anyone or the reasons why I should bother to do anything.
It was a lot like being a teenager, wanting to do things but not being
able. I couldn't see, couldn't work, couldn't even go out in the sunshine.
I couldn't do anything.
And it's when you don't have anything that depressing thoughts can invade
like Harry Potter's dementors. I never worry and I'm never scared. But
last week I was.
Now my eyesight is coming back it is becoming a little better. But it does
mean I have to really re-build up why I do everything and re-evaluate where
I am and where I am going from scratch.
I very much need and appreciate you all for all your support in my professional
life.
And when my girlfriend arrives next week she will certainly be a sight
for very sore eyes.
December 11th 2009 - End of Year Review
It's coming up to the end of year, where kids probably want to have a bit
of fun and do something special.
Here's what Margit has been doing, it sounds like a fantastic end to the
year!
This week I used the digital whiteboard with 12 classes, 5+6grade.
As with 36 kids the room is gettiing pretty narrow when it has projector and whiteboard and cables I decided to concentrate on whiteboard and do a total review.
I went through all the topics we had done so far; (about 5-6) , with some
of them I did the computer game right away, some we did the song togehter then the game.
Some I would have the students do the game with others I did it myself but I closed my eyes, and the kids had to guide me, "left, right up, down"
With the How much game (1) I chose 4 kids , three shoppers who alled the kid at the whiteboard: "Excuse me" "How much is the apple?"
The kid would click the apple listen to the price and hit it on the register. After three times switch roles.
It was great!
Also Richard,
there were pretty many surprises, because I hadn't noticed several details of the pictures so far, and the kids reaction made me aware:
For example
When Aigo is going back he grows and grows (hadn't noticed this)
In the Left and Right he disappears in the air when jumping . The kids couldn't stop laughing
while doing the song and tried to do a super jump themselves.
The Memory game of "How are you" was a big hit as well, especially the voice , "I'm sad"
There was some more, so it's like having a new CD after watching these with the kids. For one thing I think it's there imagination, but as I do watch it at home as well and non of my students has reacted to these details so far, I guess it's the size of the screen as well.
I don't think I would use a digital whiteboard for all of my lessons, but for a review at the end of the term it was more then perfect.
Some classes I told it's going to be a "Listening test" and well, actually it IS, just without "X"s.
Anyway, everybody who has the chance I can highly reccomend it for a last
lesson this year, especailly with the beautiful magical Christmas color song in the very end.
It was so weird because after that song kids and teacher didn't know what to do anymore; they just stayed in their place in absolute silence, even the chime had gone and I had said Goodbye!
If you have a Digital Whiteboard ( or even just a projector!) get it set up and give your kids a treat! You already have the software on your CDs or Downloads, just pop them into a computer!
December 7th 2009 - Gingerbread Test
Here are another couple of worksheets from Flossy and her daughter.
The first one is a listening test to go with the Gingerbread house. You say one of the words and the kids circle the correct picture.
December 7th 2009 - Flossy's Christmas Printable Games
Flossy's daughter has come up with some excellent new Christmas games
for you.
Here's the first, a series of unbuilt snowmen, and you draw a line between
the ones that are the same. I've never seen this idea before but it's really
fun to do!
If you are doing reading (remember to start with phonics!) then your kids could try this one - underline the correct sentence,
snowman or fruit?!
Hope that's enough to keep you going till tomorrow!
P.S. I'm having my eyes lasered with LASIK today so I might be behind on
my emails for a few days! But the office and website are open as usually
to fill your orders!
December 7th 2009 - Buy me! "is" Game
Here' a cool little review game from Eby...
------------------------
1. Draw some circles on the board, one for each item you want to review.
2. Put a flashcard in each circle,
3. Under each circle, write an amount like $5 etc.
4. On top of each circle write numbers 1 to 8 (or however many cards you
have)
5. Form 2 to 3 teams.
6. Teacher calls out a number
7. The first team to yell out the item and the dollar price in gets the
amount of $.
Kids love playing money. My kids enjoyed it so much. try it u will see
that even quiet kids will take part and yell
------------------------------
Thanks Eby!
This would be really easy to do with What would you like for Christmas? and is a great practice of the word "is" e.g. The robot is 10 dollars. You can also review How much?
You could of course do it with any song you like, you simply say the dollar price and the kids have to shout out
the sentence from the card e.g. using it with the Where are the Christmas presents? song and the kids have to shout out "behind the snowman!" etc.
If you have any cool games that aren't on the site yet, be sure to send them in. Your fame awaits!
December 4th 2009 - 2010 Genki Calendar + More Xmas Worksheets!
Always a welcome gift, here's the 2010 Genki English Calendar to bring a rainbow of colours to your classroom. Of course the 2009 one is still online just in case you need it!
Want more? I've got a touch of free time in between studio sessions this
week (a stylish new Xmas body parts song hopefully coming soon!) so send
in your requests and I'll see what I can do!
December 1st 2009 - ESL Pronouns Song in Video
This has to be one of my favourite themes, it is so easy to do and is so,
so useful: CD9's "I, you, he, she, we" pronouns song Check out the gestures in the video below:
Doing the gestures in the video means you can teach it in just a few minutes,
then try the "Dinosaur Danger" game from the song page to go with it.
So much language in so little time!
It's so versatile as you can combine it with I'm a superhero song to come up with "I/you/he/she/we can jump/swim/fly etc." or How are you? to come up with "I am/ you are / he is happy etc." Then you
can use it with the And .... but song to make really long sentences like "I am hungry and he is thirsty
but she is cold and he is tired!" Thousands and thousands of combinations,
all, thanks to the songs, from less than 60 minutes teaching time, which is a huge, huge motivation
boost for the kids!
What other themes would you combine it with?
November 27th 2009 - Soldiers & Ninjas Video
Flossy asked for new Warm Up / Review Games. The Lines Quiz is always my favourite, but as Flossy said, after doing it every lesson
for over a year it is a bit much!
So my number 2 review game is Soldiers & Ninjas!
1. Select 9 students to become the soldiers. They stand in rows to protect you, the king or queen!
2. The other kids, the ninjas, have to answer one soldier's question from
each line and then beat that soldier at “Rock, Paper, Scissors” before moving on to the next line. You can choose the questions from
previous lessons e.g. What's your name?Where do you live? or any thing really.
3. If they make it to the final soldier, i.e. they have answered all the
questions and beaten one soldier from every line at “Rock, Paper, Scissors” they must answer a random English question from the king or queen!
4. If they can answer this question in English correctly and they beat
the king or queen at “rock, paper, scissors” they become the new king or queen!
5. Keep going and going! (Of course the deposed kings and queens want their thrones back so start back as ninjas answering and battling with the soldiers!)
November 26th 2009 - from Austria: Gingerbread House (Christmas Play Idea?)
Now I'm back in the land of unlimited internet I can show you a clip of
where we had this weekend's workshop. By the Imperial Palace in Tokyo,
central Beijing & Bangkok, Arctic Sweden and now very Christmassy Austria...
All very inspirational, especially as Beethoven used to spend his Summers
just round the corner!
So what did we come up with? One was a great way to do the Gingerbread House song: simply get the kids to go round in a circle building an imaginary Gingerbread
House as they sing the chorus. Or even better, what about making a cardboard
Gingerbread House that the kids can put together as they sing, perfect
for a Christmas Play!
November 30th 2009 - Discipline: Class Rules & why you need them
Setting up class rules can be very important, but all too often we completely
forget them or just think "well aren't they obvious?" But unless
we set them out clearly, we can't expect the students to follow them!
For example in last week's workshop we had one lady who broke my first
rule which is
Respect each other and the teacher.
Now you may think this is obvious for a workshop aimed at professional
teachers, but it wasn't for this lady. She was chatting when other teachers
were talking and was generally rude. But I couldn't blame her because I
hadn't specifically laid out the rules!
It's the same with kids, we may think that certain behaviour is just common
sense or general good manners. But for some kids they might never have
even heard of listening to other people when they speak, respecting other
people or being positive. So it really, really pays to spell out your rules
right from the start.
Of course you need to speak the kids' language to do this, it doesn't work
in English!
The key is also to keep the rules as short as possible, as Mark Twain says
"If I had had more time I would have written less", so my rules
are usually:
1. Respect each other and the teacher
2. Be positive.
Then you can use something like Power Teaching to enforce them.
It really makes such a difference and along with setting your goals of
what you want to achieve, is one of the most important things you can do
for your class.
And when they do fail completely you need the next step, which I'll write
about tomorrow!
So, what are your class rules? Write them up in the comments!
November 24th 2009 - Eigo Note, or even English, to be abolished? Gov.
wants you to choose!
Whilst I'm over in Europe, all the excitement is going over in Japan. As
has happened every time before, the new government has decided to upturn
what the last lot did, so apparently they are looking to abolish the English
Education reforms.
The good news is that this looks like the scrapping of the horrendous Eigo Note (yeah!) but might also mean the scrapping of elementary English altogether
(boo!) Anyway the Ministry is apparently asking teachers their opinions
to see if they can overturn the decision or even get the Eigo Note reinstated.
So what are your thoughts? Are you for or against the Eigo Note? For or
against primary school English? How should it be taught? Check out the
Ministry's page here: http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/kaikei/sassin/1286925.htm And be sure to send them your opinion: to suz-tak@mext.go.jp and you must write the name and number of the project: The number of the project is 7 & the name of the project is 英語教育改革総合プラン、学校ICT活用推進事業
The deadline is Dec.15
It is pretty cool that teachers are getting a say in this. Here's more
on the system they are using.
Full marks for Yumiko's 小学校英語ブログ for bringing this to my attention and keeping everyone informed on the
forum!
So, let your voice be heard!
November 22nd 2009 - Fire your students!
Firing your students? Am I crazy?
Well...
One of the reasons we give for why private school teachers (for rich or
poor) are better than public school teachers is that they can be fired.
Do a great job, keep it. Do a bad job, lose it.
But it can also apply to your students.
Although as teachers we feel we want to appeal to and reach every single
student, sometimes pragmatics have to take over. Pareto's principal says
that 80% of your problems are caused by 20% of your students (or more likely
their parents!) and whilst you can probably "deal with it", if
it affects the other students then it can really be a case of stealing
their hard earned lesson time and money. It can really affect the atmosphere
and hence outcome of a class.
In that case I recommend firing the student! If you run the school then
give them their money back and suggest they find another place to study.
Sometimes things just don't click and it works out better for everyone.
You can use your energy to help more students.
Practice what I preach
I found myself in the same situation the other day. I had a paid for workshop
and one teacher was constantly arguing with me. I'm quite happy with constructive
criticism and it is part of the scientific method. But constantly moaning
about why Genki English is bad in a Genki English workshop is just silly.
Never mind how rudely she presented them.
So I just asked the teacher if she would like to leave and we would gladly
refund her money for the time that was left. She of course didn't want
to leave right then, but quietly slipped out during the next break.
The atmosphere in the room changed immediately. The other teachers got
so much more out of it once she was gone, it was like the sunshine had
come out to play.
Now I am thick skinned enough to take criticism, but taking so much time
and energy away from the other "students" in my class wasn't
really on. Superman only works because of kyroptonite, and without all
the boring methods to battle against then Genki English wouldn't win the
hearts of so many teachers. But at some point you have to say, enough is
enough, this isn't working for anyone and just offer their money back and
"fire" the student. It takes courage, but you have to do it.
It works out better for you, much, much better for the rest of the students
and hopefully in the long run for the student who got fired as well!
November 21st 2009 - Genki in Austria
Today was my only teaching workshop in Europe this year and we had people
fly in from all over the continent, from Spain, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania
and of course Austria!
Amongst all the general rules and positivity behind Genki English we did...
After we did a needs assessment.
Then ...
Extra warm up games with Lines Quiz and Soldiers & Ninjas + mingle to get into groups
Then a demo lesson with What's the weather like? + Clap Clap Game
Then how to use the software - some people were surprised that they already had it on their CDs!
Then computer games - for the Playstation generation - Do you like..? OK but too easy = boring, Genki Chinese - too easy! Genki Korean, more of a challenge, everyone on the edge of their seats - really saw
how the computer games work!
Then Hip Hop games for higher level.
Got asked about "That's not in the exams" - that's fine, we teach
the kids to speak, then the exams become easy later!
Then Superhero to finish off and out for dinner!
Overall a really great day with a great bunch of teachers in a fabulous location. And as usual the exact same challenges that everyone else has came up. Although brilliantly when I asked for "problems" in the needs assessment, none of them had any! Very cool.
Then the next day we did even more cool stuff...
November 22nd 2009 - Genki in Austria Day 2
Some of the very genki teachers from this weekend's workshop!
A foggy Christmassy morning, so we started off with
- When, when, when?
- I am , you are pronouns song + dinosaur game - which only sort of worked because I was the only guy in the room! But
it shows how just a couple of Genki English themes can lead to hundreds
of new phrases.
- What time is it 2? + Game (remember, 1:10, 3:15 etc. is used much more often than "quarter
past" etc. and 3:30 is especially useful for German speakers!)
Then I went through the brand new integrated phonics system from the forum. The lesson plan I have and the worksheets are done, but the gestures
aren't going to work with "finger spelling" here, so it looks
like it will take longer for it to be finally out there for you!
Then another great lunch before...
- What colour is Christmas? which was really, far, far too slow, then the normal colours song which everyone found much better paced!
- Rocket Launch - the long version on the software to show funky lighting techniques!
- Gingerbread house + Let's build a snowman, where I took some fantastic videos of how to teach it, hopefully I'll
have them on the site soon - they're amazing!
- Then I asked one of the participants to leave - I'll blog about that
later!
Then Flossy did a fantastic presentation on how she uses Genki English with a laptop and iPod speakers. I really should have videoed it as it really energised everyone there!
- Then projects - getting the kids talking with other countries!
- Then the $50 digital whiteboard which I'll blog about later, cool video
coming.
- Then in ten minutes we learnt left, right, forward & back in Japanese and did the Mr Bump game in Japanese. If you had been told you could speak and communicate in Japanese
in just ten minutes - would you have believed it? That's Genki English
for you!
- And finally Can you speak? English and the pro rules to finish on a fantastic high note!
It was an amazing weekend! Thank you to Elizabeth for organising everything
so wonderfully, and thank you to everyone who came, those who came from
nearby and those who flew in from afar. It really was amazing to present
to teachers from so many different countries and have everyone join in
and get so much out of it!
I've got a ton of video that I'll hopefully get uploaded when I have a
more economical internet connection - you're going to love them!
And that was a whole new country added to the Genki English repertoire!
Where's next, your country? Just get in touch, that's what Elizabeth did and ended up with a whole weekend of genkiness!
And if you attended, did you enjoy it? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
: )
November 16th 2009 - Education Policy Lecture
Some of the students on the Education Policy and Entrepreneurship for Development
course.
Today I was invited back by the University of Newcastle to give my lecture
to the students on the Masters of Education course in Education Policy
and Entrepreneurship for Development.
First the Doctor in charge gave a run through the phonics programmes and
the research they'd done on the effectiveness of phonics and Genki English.
Then we had some very cool videos about phonics teaching in Ghana.
Then it was my turn. Just like last year I was invited as an "Education Entrepreneur" and it was a trip through why I started Genki English (appalling ways of teaching, kids sleeping in class, inequality between public and private schools), how we teach (finding out what the kids want to learn & how they want to learn it), how successful we have been (180 countries, every school in Thailand, 1 billion students by 2012) and the problems we face (teacher apathy!) I also talked about the research projects in developing countries and I also left on a question "do we really need teachers at all?" which is something they'll be covering in other parts of the course.
Then lots of really good questions from the students (exactly how did you
develop the curriculum? Use of mother tongue in the class? What research
data do we have? Does it really work even with no teacher?)
After a few months focussing on Genki English business development (i.e.
getting more Genki English sales) then it was really good to get back to
the education development issues. It is nice to sell a load of Download Packs (thank you very much, it looks like we'll have another record breaking
month this month!), and that is really important to fund things, but it's
how much we are helping kids in the worlds' poorest areas that really motivates
and excites me. It's always good re-seeing the results of the India and
China programmes and to see how it is affecting the kids there, because
in the day to day running of things you tend to forget the big picture.
Big, big business
Then lunch with some people talking about some very exciting ways to do
more education development work using more corporate ways of doing things,
not just small scale entrepreneurship. Very exciting. After reading the
Leaving Microsoft to Change the World book (highly recommended) last week
about the amazing Room to Read programme, this is also something I've been
really interested in. We have a really good programme, it's now a case
of how quickly we can get it out to more schools on a huge scale, not just
thousands, but 100s of thousands of schools.
So very, very motivating and I also got a name check in the acknowledgement section of the Beautiful Tree book!
Thank you very much again for inviting me back and I'm really looking forward
to the future, it's a whole new chapter and there are so many more amazing
things out there to be done!
November 13th 2009 - Uno Style Chritmas Game from Zurich
November 12th 2009 - Got the flu? Get well soon! Flashcards & Mini
Cards
I hope the flu's not effecting your lessons too much - I know quite a few
classes have been suspended. But whilst it's around we might as well take
the chance to use it to teach some useful English.
And of course the most useful English is "Get well soon!" The song and animation are on CD10 and by request I've just made up A4 flashcards and mini cards of the "before
and after" characters from the song. Enjoy if you can!
VIP members can just click on the pictures above to download them, and if you're not
a VIP member yet, just get your Download Pack order in today and you'll be joining us straight away!
Plus all these new sheets are in the massive pdf Christmas books (the teachers'
one is over 100 pages of genki goodness now!), again VIP members just click
the picture below.
More flashcards etc. tomorrow, plus if you have any requests for things
immediately, please write them in the comments!
Be genki,
Richard
November 5th 2009 - Rock Band English!
Unless you've been living under a rock these past few years you must have
heard about the huge success of the "Rock Band" video games.
You basically hit coloured instruments in time to pre-recorded music. But
they are massive, massive hits with "kids" of all ages. The Beatles
even have their own version!
So the latest Genki English thing is of course the advanced Hip Hop songs. It's just the same but this time you listen to the song and hit the right
English button. Can you get full marks?
And from today there's also, by popular request, a download version of
the software. It's on at $18.99 which is the same price as the Playstation
Rock Band, but of course this time your students are learning English.
Plus you also get the mp3s of the songs and some very funky workbooks!
1. Give each kid one of the mini cards (e.g. here or here)
2. Everyone remembers their card, then hides it!
3. You ask the kids how long it will take to do the game, and then time
them!
4. "Ready, steady, go!"
5. Everyone runs round the classroom saying "Who can...." plus
what is on their card e.g. "Who can swim?"
6. The idea is to meet up with someone else who has the same card!
7. When you find your partner you sit down together.
8. See how long it takes for everyone to be sat down!
9. Give the cards to different people.
10. Repeat from step 3.
11. If anyone shows their card before they have found their partner, they
are out!
This is a great genki game as everyone is shouting out "Who can...?"
at the top of their voices and you really have to listen for your word,
which is a really important skill! It sort of ends up looking like the
New York stock exchange!
Try it and see, it's lots of fun!
November 2nd 2009 - Christmas Colours Cards
Now that Halloween is out of the way, it's time for some new Christmas
materials. First off we have some super cute Baby Monkey pictures to go
with the "What colour is Christmas song?"
I find the easiest way to do this is to start off with simply adding "And"
and "But" to the How are you? song. The kids find it amazing that they can come out with huge long pieces
of English like "I'm hungry and I'm tired but I'm happy and I'm OK!"
And that's after just one lesson! Very impressive.
To make it even easier I've just made a special version of the How are
you? song for you with lots of Ands and Buts: And... But Song
(VIP members can right click and select "save as" to download it)
You just do the normal How are you? class, then in a future lesson ask the kids to listen to this version
and see if there are any new words that they don't know. Let them try and
guess what they mean. If they figure it out themselves you'll never have
to review it ever again!
Just for the teacher's benefit, here are the lyrics:
I'm hungry and I'm tired.
I'm thirsty and I'm sad!
I'm cold and I'm scared.
I'm hot and I'm angry!
AND AND AND AND
I'm hungry but I'm happy
I'm thirsty but I'm fine
I'm hot but I'm great
I'm cold but I'm OK
BUT BUT BUT
What do you think? What are your favourite combinations of phrases to use
with "And" and "But"?
P.S. Make sure you've done Happy Halloween previously so that they know "I'm scared!"
P.P.S. If you're not a VIP member yet, get your Download Pack order in today and join us. This month has been another record breaker
so thank you very much!
October 24th 2009 - CD10 On sale! Dispatch on Monday 26th!
CD Vol. 10 is finally ready to go! We're getting the big boxes from the factory today
and we'll be sending them out first thing on Monday.
It's a huge opportunity to get some amazing songs for teaching real English
like colours or prepositions but with a holiday feel!
There won't be a member's discount this time (as you all got it for free last week!) but if you want it for half price, you can use your bulk order discount. It's also great if you want to pick up a copy of CD9 for yourself along with some Christmas presents for your students. They're
going to love it!
Here's a new body parts song for you, just in time (maybe!) for Halloween,
featuring the very popular Mr Skeleton.
Draw a big bowl on the board, print and cut out the A4 (or larger if you can) skeleton and add the body parts one at a time according to the song. "Body"
is included due to popular request and it's also a great way to reinforce
foot + foot = feet!
Skeleton Body Parts Song - (4.8 MB)
(VIP members right click and select "save as" to download)
Give me your hands (hand, hand)
Give me your feet (foot, foot)
Give me your legs (leg, leg)
Give me your arms (arm, arm)
Give me your body (body, body)
Give me your head (head, head)
As you can hear it's very long and actually ends up being more like a mini
play I think. Hopefully your kids will like it.
The recording is still a rough demo, but I figured I might as well get
it out to you this year.
October 20th 2009 - Trick or Treat Game for 6th graders!
Here's a game to play with "too cool to sing" 12 year olds (or
older), that gets them wanting to try more ....
After you've taught the words and gone through the song once...
1. Give each student an A4 picture card.
2. As the song plays if you hear your card you hold it up in the air.
3. Play the song again.
4. This time the teacher picks a "volunteer" who comes to the
front.
5. Everyone hides their cards!
6. As the song is playing the volunteer has to try and remember who has
which card and point to the correct person as their (hidden) card is said
in the song!
7. They hold up their card if pointed to correctly.
8. Keep trying again with different volunteers until someone gets all the
cards right!
It's a nice little twist, but at least gets them listening and talking
amongst themselves as they try to remember who has what. The adrenaline
pump from being at the front really makes a difference!
If you have small classes then this game works for any theme, but for large
classes then the Trick or Treat is a good choice as you have 24 picture cards (i.e. "Scarecrow"
and "Scarecrow Soup") and you can make other cards for "trick",
"or", "treat", "Yes", "please",
"no" & "thank you" to bring the total anything
up to 31 kids!
October 14th 2009 - Halloween Stickers & Bones!
Gaz has been at it again, this time with some very funky VIP Members exclusive Halloween Stickers to go with the Trick or Treat song and worksheets for the Pesky Hound game, which you can find part
way down the main Halloween page!
As usual these are VIP members (yep all members are now VIPs!) exclusives and if you want to join us
then simple order your Download Pack and you'll be joining us in no time. Welcome to the club!
October 19th 2009 - I want to be a .... vampire!
Kids in developed countries can sometimes be far too blase about the chances
and opportunities they have.
So let's get them using their imagination more!
1. First make sure you've done the Halloween Song and the Trick or Treat song.
2. Then do the What do you want to be? theme,
3. But then for the game use last week's "Trick or Treat Clocks Game"
4. This time they have to say "I want to be a ..." plus the Halloween
creature! (here and here)
What do you want to be? I want to be a vampire!!
A crazy answer as that will get them thinking even crazier things when
it comes to choosing what they really want to be. And that's what they'll
need to survive and not lose out to our uber motivated kids in developing
countries!
It certainly beats "I want to work in McDonalds!"
October 15th 2009 - Trick or Treat Clocks Game
Here's a great game I heard from Nigel at the ACET meeting on Monday which
goes great with vol. 10's Trick or Treat cards!
1. Put 12 picture cards in a circle.
2. Put a mark or object to assign the "12 o'clock" position.
3. Shout out either one of the cards OR shout out a time.
4. If you shouted a card e.g. "Pumpkin Pie" then the kids have
to shout "8 o'clock" as it's in that position.
5. If you shouted a time, e.g. "10 o'clock" the kids have to
shout out "Spider Spaghetti"
6. The fastest kid to answer correctly gets a point for their team!
7. Repeat from step 3.
The cool thing is that you keep moving the marker to adjust where the 12
o'clock is. e.g. if "Monster Mash" had the marker and you shouted
out "4 o'clock" the answer would be "Pirate Pancakes".
It's great to get older kids thinking!
Or even better you can do a mash up between CD6's "Happy Halloween" and CD9's "Winter Clothes"
1. Put half the of the cards as Halloween creatures.
2. Put the other half as items of clothing!
3. Assign one of the cards as the "12 o'clock" position.
4. Say a time.
5. This time the kids have to make a sentence using the two items e.g.
the ghost is wearing a hat!
Of course you can do this mixing up any of the themes to get the kids creating any sentences!
The reason? Just one really, the very funky CD selector menu like above
that lets you move between the CDs with a click of the mouse!
It's so useful that I'm thinking of changing my recommendation away from
the CD Set and to the Download Pack for everyone, not just those overseas.
What do you think? Any pros or cons to either one?
Free Vol. 10s
Last week, by popular request, I also upgraded the Download Pack to include all the audio mini lessons and karaoke tracks as mp3s. Which
now gives it a total of over 270 mp3s - which is about 7.5 hours according
to iTunes! The price went up accordingly, but at the moment I'm including
the new Vol. 10 (with the Halloween songs) for free, so it's still a fantastic bargain - mainly because that's all
you'll have to pay with no monthly charges like most teaching systems.
If you have the previous download pack and managed to grab last week's
CD10 beta test, write a comment below and I'll send you the updated menu to access all
the CDs with one page.
If you haven't bought it yet, now's the perfect time. It's a massive 1.1. Gb (yes, gigabyte!) download but worth every penny.
Protect your investment & easy to carry
P.S. For both old and new members, to safeguard your investment I'd certainly
recommend saving the pack on a 2GB memory stick and labeling it as "Genki
English". Then if your computer dies you've still got all your valuable
materials. Plus of course it makes it easier to carry around than a whole
bunch of CDs!
October 16th 2009 - More Halloween Imagination Worksheets + 124 page Halloween
eBook!
Fancy some super Halloween pdf books chock a block full of games and worksheets
for teachers or kids?
Flossy has just put a great post in the forum of how she makes amazing
printed bound books for her kids out of the Genki English member's materials. They really have to be seen to be believed!
* I'm scared!!
* Look there's a vampire!!
* Where are my bones?
* Ship ahoy! I see a pirate...
* Draw the scary monster
* How many candies in the candy jar?
* My favourite cookie
* Whose footprints are these?
+ a new "I'm a superhero! I can ..." and last year's "Spider's
Web" & "Draw a face on the jack o'lantern"
The new sheets are at the end of the Imagination Sheets ebook or the Halloween ebooks above! As usual the key with these sheets is to
say as little as possible to the kids. Then they come up with some crazy
stuff, just look at these that Flossy's kids did last year!
October 12th - iPhone makes Video Letters Unbelievably Easy- Even for Non-Techie
Teachers!
Part 2 of Genki English is getting your kids really talking to kids in
other countries. Projects or "video letters" are the way to go. It's way better than any textbook!
The internet makes it free to do (I used to spend a fortune on stamps sending
videos overseas!) but some teachers were having problems with the technical
side of things.
Well worry no more!
Just look at this, it's this simple to make a video and send it instantly
using an iPhone 3GS!
How cool is that?
Of course you can do any topic, from kids introducing their favourite toys,
their lunch, their school or anything really. Finding a partner school
is easy using epals.com or even on the Genki English forum.
This is the future of language education, Part one: songs and classroom games to get the kids able to say anything they want to say, then actually letting
them really communicate with Part 2: Video projects! Don't let your kids fall behind.
Plus isn't it such a cool excuse to have to buy a new iPhone??!!
October 9th 2009 - Wow! Halloween Masks
Gaz has just sent in his latest creation, some very funky Halloween masks
based on the Trick or Treat song. My initial reaction was "Wow, please send more!" and sure
enough he did!
Just look at these, what do you think?
Rosebud also did this cute little video of her kids last year doing the
Trick or Treat song with masks on!
If your country isn't on the list yet then please get in touch! This year I'm planning on adding Kazakhstan (in October) and Austria
(in November), but I'd love to be able to do workshops in all the 190 countries
where Genki English is used - so let's make your country the first on the
list for 2010!
If you've experienced a Genki English workshop, please write up a few words
in the comments to let everyone else know what they are missing!
October 7th 2009 - Breakfast Videos from Around the World
The videos of breakfasts around on the world on the What would you like for breakfast? page is proving really popular with the kids. But of course if your classroom
isn't online you can't use them in class. Until now...
Because I've just added in new links where VIP members can download the videos to use offline!
I've also added a new Japanese and a new Austria breakfast video for you
(thank you Flossy for the reminder!)
If you're in a country we've not covered yet then please video your breakfast,
put it on Youtube and send me a link so we can share it with students all
over the world. It's a great way to see how other people start the day!
Have you tried these videos yet?
October 6th 2009 - Some fabulous Halloween Pumpkins?
Here's a really interesting email I got the other day from Jeffrey down
in Oita. You see Jeffrey has a farm, "Rancho Lincko" and specialises
in growing .... Halloween pumpkins!
He has none available this year, but was wondering if any teachers would
be interested in them for next year. I thought it's a great alternative
to growing your own and I told Jeffrey you guys would be the people to ask! Would you be interested?
Or not really? Answers in the comments please!
Here is our fine line of Rancho Lincko Pumpkins for 2009. We have been
growing pumpkins at Rancho Lincko for seven years now. The original seeds
came from a pumpkin my wife ordered from Hokkaido in October 1998. In the
beginning none of our pumpkins were free-standing so we turned them upside
down to make Jack-o-Lanterns.
Since then we have been selecting for shape and size and now produce batches of good-sitting gourds. Our record for size is 30 kg and, as you see in the picture, each year we have a selection between 1 and 15 kg. A 5kg. pumpkin makes a fine, medium, Jack-o-Lantern. We have none for sale this year but would like to know, if we did, how many people would be interested in getting a pumpkin delivered to their door? If there is interest we will plant accordingly and take orders in the the summer of 2010.
Thanks,
Jeffrey Linck .
October 4th 2009 - Where are you going? Videos
One of the other video requests last week was for the "Where are you going?" theme. This is always my go to song if I ever get a class of 5th
or 6th graders who don't want to do anything, the funk and competition
of getting them to sing louder than each other works every single time
- even when other sure hit themes fail!
Here we have the song in action....
Usually I just split the class into two halves, but here they split them
into boys and girls. Each group thought of their own gestures for each
item. (Oh, and don't clap your hands in time with the music like the teachers
are doing here - that's a sure recipe to get everyone out of time as you
can't hear the music on a small system!)
Here we have a couple of recommendations for large classes. Either get all the kids to shout out the phrase, or get the kids to shout the phrase one at a time in the group. This keeps large classes from being bored in the demonstration. Then I would normally have them use the minicards to practice it in smaller groups.
In this theme we have things like "I'm going to school" and "I'm
going home" but "I'm going to THE park" etc. The kids always
pick this up naturally from the song, but here the teachers were mixing it up due to their junior high way
of thinking about English. Just be careful the teachers you work with don't
negatively influence the kids.
Anyway, if you haven't tried this theme, have a go. It only takes ten minutes and it works amazingly well for
the "too cool for school" kids. It's always my reserve secret
weapon!
Take any problem in the World and it's invariably caused (or made worse)
by a lack of education. Too many kids hate school because it's too boring.
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1. Select 9 students to become the soldiers. They stand in rows to protect you, the king or queen!
This is a cool game to play with CD9's "
There's a great discussion on the forum about 
And... But Song 
CD Vol. 10
Here's a new body parts song for you, just in time (maybe!) for Halloween,
featuring the very popular Mr Skeleton.
Kids in developed countries can sometimes be far too blase about the chances
and opportunities they have. 
If you look on the right hand side of the 
