What’s new for Genki English in 2024/2025!
Even though we’ve been doing this for 25 years (!), we’ve had a LOT ...
Lesson 14: I’m sorry!
Lesson Plan
Run through all the questions from the previous lessons – remember to keep it fun by varying how you elicit the answers.
1. 
Play 2. Rock, Paper, Scissors ask 3. What’s your name? + My name is ….. & Nice to meet you, 4. How are you? + several of the answers
5. 
6. Left, right, forward & back. Plus the Left & Right song.
7. I am, you are, he is, she is, they are, we are, everybody is …. gesture a person and a “How are you?” emotion and the kids make the appropriate sentence.
8. Jump whilst singing the numbers 1 to 12. (This time without the music)
9. Ask “How old are you?” and the students ask each.
10. What’s the weather like? + a selection of answers and sing the What’s the weather like? song.
11. Run through Good morning, Good afternoon, Good evening, Good night without the music.
12. Ask & elicit a few “Do you like?” questions using some of the foods.
13. And the same for some of the animals ( no need to review every animal in every lesson, the grammar/question is the important part) and sing the Do you like animals? song.
In order to move towards an “all English classroom” we have to add in as much classroom language as we can into the curriculum.
And this song happens to be one of the easiest ways to do it.
Get the actions right – make sure the over genki boys don’t go too far! – and it’s a very nice lesson!
1) Bump into each other for “I’m sorry”
2) Tap the shoulder for “Excuse me!”
3) Face each other for “It’s OK!”
4) Face the front for “No problem!”
The beauty of this game is that at first it seems really easy, but soon turns out to be really chaotic and great for getting the students (adults & kids) used to important phrases to ask when they haven’t understood something i.e. “Excuse me?” and “I’m sorry?”
It’s a big review game of the themes learnt so far, plus you can come back when you’ve done more questions in the future.
1. Put the students into pairs. The best way to do this is to use the Mingle Game from the How old are you? lesson and the answer is “2.” One person becomes the “Master” the other the “Student”
2. The Masters line up on one wall of the class. The Students line up on the other. Then they all face outwards towards the wall.
3. In secret give all the Masters 5 different mini cards, selected from Do you like animals?, Do you like foods?, What’s the weather like?, numbers 1 to 12 (to be used with the question “How old are you?”) superhero and How are you?. They have to keep these cards well hidden!
4. When you say “Go!” the Students have to guess the cards that their Master has in their hand e.g. they can say “Do you like dogs?” “Do you like bananas?” or “How old are you?” (to see if they have a numbers card) or “How are you?” or “Can you …” plus the superhero terms.
5. If the Student gets a card that the Master has the Master shouts out “Yes!” and puts the card down.
6. The first pair to have all their cards put down wins the game!
Easy! Except for the twist….. the two lines of students are metres apart!! This results in lots of shouting and lots of “I’m sorry?” and “Excuse me?” type comments.
Brilliant chaos courtesy of Damian.
Bonus: Animal Cards Version
In this bonus version you give each pair one of the Genki English Animal Card Game cards and play like this…
“I’m sorry”
by Richard Graham
I’m sorry!
I’m sorry!
I’m sorry!
Excuse me!
I’m sorry!
I’m sorry!
I’m sorry!
Excuse me!
I’m sorry!
It’s OK.
It’s OK.
It’s OK.
No problem!
It’s OK.
It’s OK.
It’s OK
No problem!
I’m sorry!
I’m sorry!
I’m sorry!
Excuse me!
I’m sorry!
I’m sorry!
I’m sorry!
Excuse me!
I’m sorry!
Bonus VIP Printables
If you have the Teacher’s Set you can also download these extra printables
12 Responses to “Lesson 14: I’m sorry!”
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
i’m so happy with this method and all your tips and advises, you should see all these little Venezuelans singing, dancing and speaking English with all your fun lessons
Hi,
So happy with this method thanks for these great lesson children are enjoying a lot.
Marcia OLivera
I did this lesson last week and my students loved it. They had so fuch fun doing the actions and dancing to the music. They really liked the music.
Thank you,
Peter (Thailand)
This is probably my kids’ favorite song. Not a single group goes by without loving it! They love the song and the little dance that goes with it. They always ask for an encore – or two – or three…..or…..! How cool is that?
Teaching English to Pre-K student in China can be a challenge, but I use Genki techniques and love the vibe I get from my student friends.
Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I tried this lesson for the fist time this week. The kids really liked it. We played a game ‘Mr. Bump’. I spread the kids around the class room and put a blind fold on 2 of the children. I then told the blind folded children to walk around the room. When they bumped into another child, the blindfolded child said ‘I’m sorry. Excuse me’ the other child said ‘It’s OK. No problem’. At first I gave them a destination to try to reach, but it was more fun to just let them walk around.
I think next time I do this lesson I will try more children blindfolded. Maybe all of them.
Do you have any suggestions for using this lesson plan in an online classroom with a single student?
I use the same language that you detail in your lesson plans but I start with days of the week then weather, then how are you? What’s your name, etc. Genki disco warm up comes after all the greetings part for me. I guess it is up to the individual teacher in what order they commence the lesson.
Hi Alistair,
Yep, we used to have the full curriculum as “non-linear” so you can definitely pick and choose.
Having said that, especially the Adventure level contains so much of the mindset work that I would always do all of that level first before making any changes. Especially the disco warm up is the best way to start as it sets the image that this isn’t “sit down, shut up” style teaching, but is the “stand up and cheer” type 🙂 Which of course just cheering and standing up makes learning a lot easier. Plus of course extra things like bowing etc. which are very useful at the beginning!
Hi Heather,
This is probably the only lesson that is difficult to do with a single student online, mainly because all the bumping into each other is the most fun. So, what I’d suggestis either to bring in a parent or sibling for this lesson ( the parents love seeing what you do!) or if that’s not possible then a big teddy bear also works great! 🙂
Hello! Thank you for all the program you have set up.
In this session you want the kids to be able to ask: Can you….? Superhero items.
I was wondering what game you suggested to learn this grammar.
Thanks a lot!
Hi Teresa, they learn that in the Superhero Lesson 5 :
https://genkienglish.net/teaching/curriculum/level-1-adventure/lesson-5-superhero/