I was in Costco today and noticed that the new Michel Thomas courses are out for Mandarin Chinese, Arabic and Russian. Very exciting! Now I haven’t tried these courses yet, as they are brand new, but if they are even half has good as the original German, French, Italian and Spanish courses then they could well turn out to be the best CDs available for these languages. As regular readers will know, I love the original courses!

As Michel sadly passed away, these courses are each narrated by one of his students along with a native speaker and two beginner students. Here’s what Amazon says about the courses, and from my own experience I can certainly say they are very true.

No books. No writing. No drills. And nothing to memorize– ever! With his patented method, Michel Thomas has taught languages to top celebrities and–through his bestselling audio programs–more than a million everyday learners around the world. At the end of this ten-CD beginner’s program, you will have acquired:

  • A full working vocabulary
  • Essential comprehension skills
  • Complete language confidence

Don’t try to memorize specific words or expressions. It is a basic principle of the Michel Thomas method that the responsibility for the student’s learning lies with the teacher. With Michel Thomas as your teacher, your learning will be based on understanding–and what you understand, you do not forget!

I’m sure you can find a few similarities with Genki English there! : )

I did hear a rumour that there might be a Thai version coming out, in which case I would have bought it today, but I might have to try the new Mandarin one, it should be great. If you have reviewed the new ones yourself, please let me know how you got on.

If you haven’t heard of Michel or his method yet, here’s a YouTube clip (in 4 parts) from a BBC Documentary where he took a class of failing 16 year olds and taught them French in a very short time. It takes a bit of time to get going, but it’s well worth watching.



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We’re always told to base lessons on what the kids are interested in, but if you don’t know the class it’s pretty difficult to know what they’ll want to do. Plus although there are loads of ideas out there, it can sometimes seem a little “samey” when you’re just looking at lists and lists of words or questions.

So to bring back a little inspiration here’s a Random Theme button! Simply give it a press and it will throw up lots of interesting random ideas, as well as introducing you to themes and ideas that you may have never considered doing before. If you don’t like the choice, just hit the back button and try again.

PS There’s also a new look to the site. It’s purely cosmetic, but what do you think?



にほんブログ村 英語ブログ 子供英語教室へ ← Please click once a day if you like the blog!

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Comment Competition: Every month I'll select a random comment to win a Genki English CD of your choice. Comment a lot and you have more chance of winning.

It’s newsletter day again today. This month’s game is What’s Left? which is great for the end of the lesson or to check how much English the kids have mastered. You can use it for any theme, but seeing as it’s the December edition of the newsletter I went with What would you like for Christmas? as the example.

Other news is that the narrated versions of the Drinks and Brothers & Sisters picture books are now online, for your students to listen to at home. There’s also a US version of the drinks book with an American ending.

Plus the newsletter has a few other things that regular readers of the blog will already be up to date on, including the Christmas CD Special Offer.

Speaking of which, did you know that you can also get this blog delivered via email every day? Just pop your email address in the box at the top of this message. It’s great to send to your phone. (If it accepts emails of course!)

I also put up a message on the forum about some new worksheets projects I’m looking at, any feedback you could give would be most appreciated!

Enjoy!



にほんブログ村 英語ブログ 子供英語教室へ ← Please click once a day if you like the blog!

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Comment Competition: Every month I'll select a random comment to win a Genki English CD of your choice. Comment a lot and you have more chance of winning.

Roger has sent in two new Word Searches for you. One is “Breakfast” (to go with CD7’s What would you like for breakfast? theme) and the other is “Rooms of the House” ( to go with CD7’s Where is Baby Monkey? theme). You can find both of them along with Roger’s very nice collection of crosswords, word searches and dominoes here. They also work great as a Junior High School exercise.



にほんブログ村 英語ブログ 子供英語教室へ ← Please click once a day if you like the blog!

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Comment Competition: Every month I'll select a random comment to win a Genki English CD of your choice. Comment a lot and you have more chance of winning.

presents The Genki English CDs make great Christmas presents, but even with the Student Pack discount, 1,980 yen (around 12 Euros) could be a little expensive if you bought them for all your students.

So we’re introducing a Christmas Special offer for CD Owners Club members. If you order a total of 100 Genki English CDs or more for your students, instead of 4,200 yen or even 1,980 yen, each CD will now only be 1,000 yen. That’s around 7 Euros or $9 i.e. over 3,000 yen off!

Even if you can’t afford to buy them all yourself then I’m sure parents would be rushing to help you fill up the order and get them at this price.

We’re running the offer until Christmas Day, but of course you’ll need to order earlier to get Christmas delivery. Postage and Packing is free in Japan, and we’ll only charge $9.99 for orders outside Japan. Just like the normal CD Sets we can send them anywhere in the world. (But with such a large package you might want to double check your local customs office to make sure there will be no duty to pay.)

Full details are here along with printable order forms you can hand out to parents. (CD Owners Club access isn’t included with these discount CDs)

And for regular Student Pack customers, it’s a great chance to get stocked up on all the most popular discs!

Order Now in Japan or Anywhere in the World

Or email me if you have any questions. Merry Christmas!



にほんブログ村 英語ブログ 子供英語教室へ ← Please click once a day if you like the blog!

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Comment Competition: Every month I'll select a random comment to win a Genki English CD of your choice. Comment a lot and you have more chance of winning.

The numbers 1 to 12 are pretty much covered with How many?, How old are you? and What time is it? songs.

But a big request has been for a song to learn the numbers 13 to 20. So here it is! At the moment it’s free for anyone to listen to online (the idea being your students can watch it it online at home) and CD Owners Club members can download it to use in your classrooms. I’m amazed at all the kind words you’ve been giving me both offline and in forums, blogs and discussion boards. It’s hearing how well the materials work in your classes that makes me want to make even more materials for you, hence putting this song in the CD Owners Club as a “thank you” present to you all.

Anyway, the song did seem a little short during the testing, so for future review lessons there is also a version that goes right up to 32. That’s the one that is online. Give a try and see what you think!



にほんブログ村 英語ブログ 子供英語教室へ ← Please click once a day if you like the blog!

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Comment Competition: Every month I'll select a random comment to win a Genki English CD of your choice. Comment a lot and you have more chance of winning.