Welcome to the October update, and of course the main theme this month
is "Hallowe'en". See below for lots of great ideas, and the website
for a talking guide to making a Jack o'lantern! http://genkienglish.net/jackolantern.htm
And thanks to everyone who joined in our seminars this month. We did presentations
for nearly 1500 teachers!!! You were all very genki!
Easier to find what you want!
The Genki English website is getting pretty big, and it can sometimes be
a bit tricky to find exactly what you want (thanks to everyone who has
written to tell me!). So I've put a new "Search Genki English"
box on the left hand side of the website. Don't know where a game is? Want
to find out how to teach a specific phrase? Simply type it into the search
box and see what comes up!
Apple bobbing =============
This is a cool game to play outside during lunchbreak. Simply fill a deep
barrel full of water and put some apples in. One kid at a time, with their
hands tied behind their back, comes and tries to pick up one of the apples
with their teeth! If they fail 3 times, a new kid has a go. Another variation
is to have an apple dangling from the ceiling by a string.
Costume
Karuta ================ I had this great idea whilst having a meeting
in Kagawa prefecture. First of all you prepare several sets of simple Hallowe'en
costumes. Examples could be a sheet for a ghost, a hat for a witch or a mask for
a wolf man, or whatever!! You split the kids into teams and each team has a full
set of costumes. The teacher shouts out a word, e.g. "ghost", and the front kid
from each group has to run to the costumes and put on the correct one! The
fastest kid gets 2 points, if the other kids got the correct costume they get 1
point!
Halloween
boxes =================
This is an old game and works well for some kids, but don't force anyone
to do it!! You first of all teach some unusual body parts, such as "fingernails,
liver, brain," etc. You then have several shoe boxes. Each one has
a small hole to fit a hand through, but you cannot see inside it!! Kids
who want to have a go come to the front, stick their hand in the box and
without looking inside they have to decide what "body part" is
inside! Suggested items could be pieces of plastic for "finger nails",
tofu for "brain", peeled grapes for "eyes", a plastic
glove filled with water and frozen for "hand", noodles for "intestines"
and the clincher is "liver" - a real liver!!! The kids love it
when the tough kids come to the front thinking "Yeah, no problem"
and then they pull their hand out of the last box covered in blood!! Dim
the lights and it adds to the atmosphere! Of course you have to be careful
with this game, in Japan it's easier to get away with this type of thing,
in other countries you may have to respect different customs!! And don't
force any kid to participate!!
Complete Tour Diary!
Yep, it's exactly one year since we started the Genki English Tour 2000
and this time last year I was travelling round Fukuoka in a typhoon on
a bicycle! Anyway, to celebrate we have just updated Will's Tour Diary.
So it is now complete right up until the final days in Kumamoto and including
all the "missing bits" from Hokkaido and Aomori!!! There are
also some groovy pictures on there (and they'll be more on there in the
next few weeks)! Find out if we were in your town! Find out if your Headteacher
was the one who said they didn't want any foreigners in their school!!
If you want to see what being genki is all about (or even if you're bored
and have nothing better to do), check out Will's tour diary! http://genkienglish.net/tourdiary.htm
TV and Taishi
OK, that's just about it. I have to dash off as this evening we have a
live appearance on EhimeAsahi TV, doing "Genki Cooking"! Which
should be quite fun! Try and catch it if you can! Then we're off on the
ferry to Osaka for our show in Taishi Town tomorrow!!! So we're still very
busy, but I'll still find time to answer all your emails and comments,
so keep them coming!!
