Hello! I hope you're OK, and your kids are
enjoying their Genki lessons! In Japan we've
just started the new school year, and the
site has been really busy with teachers
getting ideas for the new term! So there
have been loads of new things up on
the website almost every week!
As seen on TV...
As I'm now back in Japan, we're ready to
go with another set of Genki Shows (
)in June and July! But it's really difficult
to actually tell what we do without seeing
it! So I've uploaded one of the TV news bulletins
from last year. If you have the "Realvideo"
software on your computer, then you can have
a look and see what we mean by a Genki English
Show!!! And if you want us to come to your
school or area, get in touch and we'll see
when we can fit you in!!
P.S. forgot to mention, the video is
in Japanese
- but you can get the gist of it from
the
songs and actions!!
Big Genki Seminars!
In May we'll be presenting a teaching seminar
in Tokyo on May 13th, and Osaka on May 20th.
The meetings are organised by one of the
top teachers in Japan, Ritsuko Nakata.
The workshops are open to anyone. Members
of Nakata Sensei's AETC have to pay yen 500,
but visitors are required to pay 2500
yen. They are taking membership applications
now for 2001-2002 year starting this April
to next March for individuals and organizations.
The annual fee for membership is yen 7000
for individuals and yen 15000 for organizations.
Three people from an organization can
participate for the yen 500 fee.
Genki English will not be receiving a fee,
but will be selling our CDs (
), so please come along and get some great
ideas! We'll be in the area from Tokyo to
Osaka during the week of the 14th, so if
you want us to come along to your area, get
in touch!
STOP PRESS: We'll also be holding a special
seminar in Matsuyama, Shikoku, on June 11th.
If you know any teachers who may be interested,
ask them to get in touch!
Need help planning your curriculum?
We can help! We are now starting a new service
where we can build you a customised English
or "International Understanding"
curriculum for your school, including lesson
plans, schedules, resources and complete
training for the teachers! In certain cases
we can even come to the school and
do demonstration lessons. Plus of course
there will be full back up and follow up
training where necessary. If you need more
details, email us or give me a ring on 090
1328 6924.
Hotmail contact
Lots of people contact us every month. But
I noticed that many of our viewers use hotmail
and hence couldn't use the email buttons
on every page. So I've created a new page
where you can simply type your message into
the webpage, without having to use any email
at all!
)from earlier in the month. You basically
get to see how I introduce vocab during my
classes. It's also really great for the kids
to learn directly from the webpage!
A few things to look out for when teaching
vocab are:
1) Do some words, go back and keep repeating
and reviewing!
2) Don't teach too many new words (8 answers
plus 1 question is good for a 40 minute lesson)
3) Use lots of "Yeah, goods, brilliants
etc.", confidence is the key!
4) Use funny ways of saying the phrase.
E.g.
raise or lower the pitch of your voice.
This
allows the kids to say the phrase more
times
without it getting boring!
5) You say and then the kids say straight
away!
6) Make it genki! Jump around, shout
out
the words, use funny pictures to make
it
interesting and fun - hence easier
to learn!!
)a while back! Now it seems lots of you
want more phonics resources! Remember
that phonics is dead easy, and it's simply
a way of showing kids the relationship between
letters and their sounds.
I've been working on a way of getting kids
used to phonics without actually teaching
much (if any at all) writing. And what I've
come up with is a series of "Odd one
out" worksheets. Basically there are
several pictures on each page and one of
them starts with a different letter to the
others. You say the words to the kids and
they pick out the odd-one-out! On the page
you can download sheets for H, K and
L (the latter one is very amusing in Japan!).
Please email me with any feedback you may
have and if people like them I might be able
to produce some more!
The reason I started this page was because
there were no resources available to me when
I started teaching in Primary School. Now
Genki English is probably the most useful
site out there, but we do concentrate on
kids' English. So if you want some resources
for other age groups, why not try Ian Hewitt's
In March I took a group of kids to Cairns,
Australia on the first Genki English Aussie
Adventure Tour. For 10 days the students
did everything from hold koalas, feed kangaroos,
stay with a homestay family for 3 days, attend
an Australian school, snorkel/scuba-dive
at the Great Barrier Reef, throw boomerangs
and spears, ride horses, have BBQs, swim
in outback rivers, do Aboriginal painting
and of course, go shopping! We sang Genki
English songs in the car and I had them use
English everywhere we went. I told the kids
to be confident and smile and not to worry
about making mistakes when speaking English.
They threw themselves into the world of Aussie
English with gusto everywhere we went and
when it came time to go back to Japan no
one wanted to leave!
-Will Jasprizza
Game Idea: Apple3 !
This is a cool game idea sent in by
reader
Sarah Cox,
1. Sit the kids in a circle (groups of 15
are best, any more and you should make 2
circles)
2. Give each kid a different object or a
picture card that they know in English.
3. Teacher stands in the middle, but they
want to sit down!
4. The person in the middle says one of the
words 3 times e.g. Apple, Apple, Apple. If
they do this, they change places with the
person holding the apple and repeat
from 4.
5. But, to defend your seat, you say
your word one time before the person
in the
middle has said it 3 times. E.g. person
in
the middle says "Apple, Apple"
and then the apple person says "apple",
they have defended their seat
and the
middle person must challenge a different
person!
Make sure the kids know all the words, and
that the words don't sound too much alike!
Also, make sure that the kids know that the
aim of the game is to be sat down (and not
be centre of attention in the middle!!!).
If any other readers have some cool ideas,
please email me or put them on the discussion
board! This is a really cool game, thanks
Sarah!
Speaking of which..... when I was back in
Europe I found that my English had gotten
so bad by living in Japan! So it's always
good to hear some real English from back
home, why not try listening to England's
Radio 1 on the internet?
My favourite is Mark and Lard from 1 PM
(9PM in Japan), if your students can understand
all what they say you're teacher of the year!!!
And listen to who does the breakfast show
(on in the early afternoon in Asia)!
And Finally
I did mean to send out 2 newsletters month,
but it turned into one long one again!!!
Mr Monkey's cooking corner was also mentioned
in a "Doraemon's guide to the internet"
book recently (Doraemon is a famous
blue cartoon character in Japan). For
the next few months we're going to be working
flat out of CD3, and some special video projects!
But along with the shows and seminars, they'll
still be plenty of new stuff on the homepage,
so keep checking back as often as you can,
you don't want to miss anything!!
STOP PRESS: Did you see the Japanese NHK
TV news last night? They were doing a report
about the new Japanese education curriculum
and featured a classroom who were using my
"What's your name?" song (
