|
|
|
|||
 Printable Lesson Plans Genki English CDs:  Volume 1  Volume 2  Volume 3  Volume 4  Volume 5  Volume 6   New CD Vol. 7   MP3 Songs |
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!
Subscribe in an RSS reader -
Previous Entries are here
You often hear about why Japanese people are so slim. And I’ve only just realised why..
I used to always get really frustrated at banquets in Japan as you have trays and trays of really nice food, but it was all “good stuff” like sushi and sashimi and gorgeous vegetables etc. etc. When I’m really hungry I’m always waiting for the “fill you up” things like rice or noodles. The thing is that they always come at the end of the meal - a very long time to wait! Some people have told me the reason is that you can’t mix similar food products. As you start a banquet with beer, you can’t enjoy the rice until the beer is gone. This always sounded a bit fishy to me, what happened before beer became popular?
The other reason given is that if you eat rice or noodles you’ll be too full to eat all the other foods. So they come at the end, just to fill up any space you have left. Now that makes a lot more sense. It’s basically the current low-carb idea, fill up on the good stuff then keep the carbs to the end. Hence why everyone’s so slim… but it still doesn’t help when you’re really hungry!
Just spent the morning working through my email mountain ( it’s amazing how 2 days without net access builds up!). One of the emails was about the mp3 files of the Workbook Quizzes for CDs 1 & 3. They’re all now fixed and you can find them, along with the printable workbooks, near the end of the CD Owners Club page.
Listening through the files for the first time in a long time, they actually sounded really useful! I pulled the plug on the workbooks project as the teachers in the test schools had the attitude of “Wow! No need to do any talking or communication activities, the kids can spend all lesson doing worksheets!”. But things have maybe matured, and fast net access means it’s easier to get access to the quiz mp3s. Maybe it’s time to resurrect the workbooks? What do you think?
Whenever I do workshops every person in the room is involved. The reason is that however much you read about a game or song, or even watch videos, it’s not until you try it as a student that you actually see why it works. For example when I first started on the JET programme everyone was talking about games in all the workshops. And I was thinking “Why does everyone keep going on about games all the time?”. Then in one group they actually had us play some of them. The first one they did was Criss Cross. At the beginning I was just wanting it do be over, thinking “What are we doing playing kids’ games. We’re supposed to be teachers!”. But then part way through I noticed other people sitting down. Then near the end I was suddenly struck by the fact that if I didn’t put in an effort to win, I could be the last one standing. Now that was scary! That’s when the heart rate increases and suddenly you’re desperate to answer the questions and win the game.
If it wasn’t for that experience I probably would never have realised just how and why games work. The thing is it takes a leap of faith to actually try the thing in the first place.
Seth Godin talks about “how to be a great audience” i.e. the more you participate in a conference (or class) the more you get out of it. But today I wasn’t at a conference I just popped along to see a Taiko drum show. And as soon as the guy mentioned they were looking for “volunteers” I was filled with dread as I knew they’d pick the only face that was different to all the rest. I just really wasn’t in the mood to get up on stage in front of all those people. Contrary to what you might think, I much prefer to stay in the background. But of course everyone got on the bandwagon of trying to persuade, and physically drag, me to play the drums. And if I hadn’t played Taiko before then it would have been a fantastic “once in a lifetime” experience. As it was I guess I got a free workout for the day ( hitting those drums is hard work!).
Anyway, the point is that there are probably lots of games, songs and ideas that you’ve read or heard about but you’ve thought, “Nah, I don’t think that will work”. But just try it and see. Even better, try it as a student! Once you participate and get hit by the adrenaline, emotion and need to win it completely changes how you see just about all the games and songs!
Popped back to Genki HQ in Ehime today. We’ve just ordered another lot of the Kids English video set. The thing is that each set comes in two huge boxes. They had to hire a four tonne truck just to bring them all down from Tokyo!
They’re now all safely tucked away in the Genki English warehouse ready to be sent out. We’ve also had quite a few people asking to buy the video set from overseas. Unfortunately as they are VHS videos (and lots of them) they won’t work on machines outside Japan. A few people have asked if we can make a DVD version. Although I wrote the course, it’s published by a big publishing company, the same one that handles the Napoleon Hill materials in Japan, and the director of the videos worked on one of the Maki Goto’s ( from Morning Musume fame) videos, so unfortunately we don’t have the rights to make a DVD version. Sorry about that!
The normal CD 6 Pack we do send out to just about every country!
One of the reasons I wrote the Genki English songs was that although there are many songs that you can use for listening in class, there are very few that you can get your kids to actually sing in one lesson.
But that’s not to say you can’t use the Genki English songs for listening. As they are so easy they make great activities for beginners or slightly more advanced learners alike. For example:
Have the A4 picture cards at the back of the class, the kids have to race to the front as they hear each word and put them in order on the board.
Give each kid, or group, the minicards. Get them to cut them up then re-arrange them in order whilst listening to the song.
Give each kid one A4 card. They have to line up in the order of the song.
Simply get the kids to do the actions and gestures without singing.
The trick is not to over do the “just listening” activities. If all you are doing is listening, the genkiness will wear off after the first listen. But if the kids are actually doing something you can get a few more listens with all the energy intact.
Personally I prefer the big energy boost the CDs give after you’ve sung the song a cappella a few times, the surprise effect is like a triple cappuccino. Plus in most countries the kids are usually quite good at listening, but need much more work on speaking out.
But if you have the time and want to slow things down a touch, try some of the listening ideas above. Just about all the songs work like this, but the big granddaddy of them all is CD5’s Ordering Food song, especially if you play the marathon A-Z version!
( Thanks to everyone for reminding me of this in the forum)
There’s a nice thread over on the CD Owners forum where a few people have written up their Top 10 Genki English songs. The best parts are the conversations about extra ideas to use the songs in class.
The Genki Songs all have specific ways of teaching that makes them work. Usually I’d recommend looking at the videos on the teaching guide CDROM ( you should have it in your Superpack or CD 6 Pack). That’s the best crash course, but it’s great to hear everyone else’s ideas.
What’s your Top 10? We’d love to hear!
Subscribe to this blog
BUY CDs
