Do your students forget everything you’ve taught before the next lesson?   This is how you fix it!

I always want my students, be that kids or adults, to remember as much as possible of what we did today.

I want to keep the review time low and the retention rate high.

And one way we do this is by teaching in as many different ways as possible, so that we can hit as many different ways of learning as possible.

Lights!

Some people like seeing things, so we always need big bright, fun pictures.   Check out the flashcards for my lessons here.

Ninja Tip:  Look how many adults have Pokemon Go or Angry Birds on their phones – they work because we are evolutionary hard wired to love big, bright, cute pictures.  Positive, funny looking pictures get attention & breed learning :) 

Camera!

“Earmworms” or melodies that stick in you head can get anyone thinking about anything you want.    Just think how many ads on TV use music or jingles to brainwash you into thinking of their products or programs.    So if we want the English to stick there,  use a song specifically designed to get that English stuck in their heads.

Ninja Tip:  I did the music for Camper Shoes’ TV ad campaign last year,  so you can be sure all the psychological tricks of what makes things stick are also in the Genki English songs. 🙂  Plus make sure the music fits the class mood you want,  no point doing lullabies. Unless of course you want the kids falling asleep 🙂

Action!

And all humans beings learn best by physically moving.

Just think, when you drive a car and see a red light,  do you get out the book and start reading what to do next?

Nope, your body naturally puts your foot down on the brake pedal.  No thought required.

And it’s just the same in English.  If you have the students sitting down & not moving for the whole class you are setting yourself up for a disaster.

But add movement and gestures to every word you teach and you have a language teaching machine in your hands.

Ninja Tip:  If you’re just starting,  stick with simple gestures for each phrase like in the lesson plans.   Or if you want to be a Ninja Master,  then add in ASL  – American Sign Langauge– for every single word you teach!

Leave it out!

Or of course you could be one of the “oh, I’m a serious teacher, I won’t be doing any of that nonsense in my class” and have your kids forget everything again. 🙂

So keep in the pictures, music, movement plus fun, excitement and passion and you’ll be the best teacher, with the best kids,  in all the school!

Good luck!

Be genki,

Richard

P.S.  The sports lesson above is my favorite grammar lesson,  it lets you teach the past tense in 5 seconds.  Just teach the “I like” version first.  Then just add in the “I went” to get the past tense.  Really easy!

P.P.S.   If you have any questions or thoughts on this,  do share them in the comments!   The winner of last month’s comment competition was ….. Trevor! 🙂 Every month I pick one comment at random to win a 30 skype lesson/coaching session with me.  The more you comment, the more chance you have to win!