Off to Africa! (+ Best of 2011)

Hi Everyone,

So tomorrow I’m heading off to Africa to start the first workshops of the year in Tanzania.  That should be pretty exciting!

I’ll try and get as much video and pictures taken as I can but obviously internet connections won’t be too hot so my email replies will be a lot slower than usual.  I will try and schedule a couple of blog posts before I go and of course all the orders etc. will go through automatically as usual.

And to keep you amused till I get back, here’s a look back at the best of 2011…

January

We started off with No Prep School Subjects Game,  New Phonics Talking Pages and How would you revolutionise education?

Mido had some great games with Erase! Erase!, Where’s the Shark? & Spider Man VampiresHead & Shoulders Flashcards with Baby Monkey! plus  New “relaxing” Greetings Song. And as I was in New Zealand we had Beach Phonics.

February

Mido was a star with Kiss SaraBalance it!, Add ‘em – numbers or months game, How many? Magic Matchbox Game,  Castle Attack! And I was doing workshops in Okinawa with 5 Minute Phonics Plan,  What’s your favourite …? in videoGoddess of English,  Robots, Cakes & Cops & Robbers: Getting kids’ attention in class,  Alternative “What time is it?” Gestures,

March

March was of course the Japan Earthquake and the Irresponsible Foreign Media , Nuclear Explanation For Kids and you were amazing with your comments Could you send a message to Japan for me?, Messages to Japan from Vietnam –  Thank you

Mido again was in overdrive with Circle or Chair, Cha Cha PizzaBroom CatchI want to be a gorilla!

We also had TED: I can is contagious…. plus Vocal Warm Up for Teachers,  12 Characteristics of an Effective Teacher,  Are your kids this good yet?

April

The most commented post of the year was New “Scratch n Sniff” Flashcards and  Where to start with Genki English? Easy as 1,2,3,

Then  Lesson of the Week: Vegetables!,  More Imagination Stories,  Sneak PeekHappy Bunnies Game,  What shall I do today? GameLesson of the Week: Easter Egg HuntSarah Kay: If I should have a daughter….,  Freeze!,  Which Genki English set is best for me?Good Match – Fruits & Colour,  Feel what it’s like to start with ABC….Does she have to …. Yes she can. ,  Lesson of the Week: Rock, Paper, Scissors

And lots of people asked Where do I find all the Genki English worksheets?

May

We started with The opposite of “shy” … & how to cure it, CD11 came out with If you’re thinking of getting just 1 Genki English volume … this is it!New Game: Danger Island!New Mini Cards! + New Download Menu, Alex had unengaged, unenthusiastic, uninterested and hyperactive” Got a class like that? Here’s how Alex fixed it. Shiver Me Timbers! + New Workshops The Phonics CD Sold Out – Forever! Can I be in your club? Game Circle My Clothes, and finally World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Achievements

June

We had Let’s raise Kids to be EntrepreneursNew Game: Hop Like a Frog,  What are you doing? from FranceBeautiful Color “Islands Games” (+ Get more students!)Make your TV into a digital whiteboard (for $40!),

And the launch of the new USB homework system: I’m really excited about this! Oh, and the Pirates of the Caribbean Shapes Game!

July

I was secretly working away on Vol. 12, so on the blog we just had:

Magic Jumping Beans & Kangaroo Mingle,  Award winning in India!If this was heaven ….Gestures for Days & School Subjects,  Ooo… look what I’ve got!,  Combat Shyness with These Simple Tips – Video ,  Cool Down your Classroom with this Chilly Tip,  Double Play & Triple Play for when you just don’t have time,

And the New board game

August

For me was spent editing up and recording Halloween and Christmas songs!  And for you guys we had:

September

Back to school with  Green Beard is hiding behind the toaster: Spider Dominoes, Sentence Making Dice + Photo Real Cards!,

I also asked lots of questions such as  Help please! Which past tense verbs do you teach first?

Games wise we had New Game: Haunted Spot the Difference,  More Super Cute Mini Cards,  New Game: I want to be a ghost!, New Game: Dice Attack!

And How much is a smile worth?,  Genki English & College Kids,  Top 3 ways to reward *great* teachers,  Teaching Retired People English,  Bill Gates & Seth Godin on Why School is Broken.

Plus My No. 1 Totally Bestest Ever Game! and Kids only want to play games! + They’re really shy

October

October was Halloween frenzy with a new CD12 and lots of cool stuff to go with it:

November

A lot of November was spent on the new Workbooks, plus  Secret to Picture Books: Rubato!Squares Game: Christmas Version!,  Quick Tip & Days of the Week Game,  Got no time? Here’s how to get lots of it!Exploding Santa Game!Apple’s Steve Jobs on How to Improve Education,  Flags Game: Eigo Note Where do you want to go? Lesson,  Help Please: Which new animal for family lesson?Tree Climber!,

And  How to make your kids truly, really happy

December

Then last month we had 2012 Genki Calendars!,  Quick Christmas Travel TipStillness in Class,  Get your kids to love language: Poetry in your lunch box Some quick games Snowman Fukuwarai,  Tree Fukuwarai,  Mega Christmas Board Game – “Who is in the attic?” ,

And the  The Story of the Brave Princess – well worth a read!

Thank you to everyone who made last year such a huge success – yes, that means you!

As you can see I did spend far too much time behind a computer last year.  So this year, 2012, I really want to get out more, meet more of you in different countries and do more workshops for teachers (and maybe a few shows for kids?)

The teaching workshops are really where I get all my energy and inspiration from so do check out Elizabeth’s  Easy way to get a Genki English workshop in your town page.

And I look forward to seeing you all when I get back from Africa in two weeks time!

Be genki

Richard

Richard Graham

Hello, I'm Richard Graham. When I was a kid I found school to be sooooo boring... So I transformed my way of teaching. I listened to what the kids were really wanting to say and taught it in ways they really wanted to learn. The results were magical. Now I help teachers just like you teach amazing lessons and double your incomes!

2 Responses to “Off to Africa! (+ Best of 2011)”

  1. Julia

    Hi Richard!

    It was nice to get the look back at 2011 GenkiEnglish blog posts.
    It showed how much had happened and how many new things I learnt thanks to you last year. And it’s cool that I can go through the events again to reflect and analyse some stuff, and find some useful information.

    Thank you for you’re helping me become a better teacher and a human!

    I wish you a WONDERFUL time in Africa!

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