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October 2004
It's into October time and for many teachers that means just one thing
- Halloween Lessons!!
Halloween Lessons can be great for either just playing around in English,
or there is now a full new Genki English Halloween theme on the site. If
you are a CD owner you can download all the materials free of charge.
New Halloween A4 Picture Cards & Song
This is a really great, very catchy song, with some cool words that are
very popular at the moment ( thanks to a certain Master Potter). If you
already have the Genki English CDs, you can download the 8 A4 picture
cards, the MP3 version of the song and also a new "Mini Karuta"
set of cards. These "Mini Karuta" cards are all 8 cards on one
A4 sheet. If they prove popular I might introduce them into the other themes. http://genkienglish.net/halloweensong.htm
If you don't have the CDs yet, you can order them from anywhere in the
World and still get to download the new Halloween theme. http://genkienglish.net/creditcard.htm
There is still the classic Genki English Halloween page up ( http://genkienglish.net/halloween.htm ), with some of the most popular ideas for Hallowe'en games including:
Apple Bobbing:
Great at lunchtime, get a big barrel, fill it with water and apples and try and get them out using your teeth! Costume Karuta:
Have a pile of Halloween costumes. You say the word and the kids have to
get dressed like that character! Halloween Boxes:
Prepare several shoe boxes each containing some weird things e.g. eyeballs
( peeled grapes), intestines ( noodles), brains ( tofu) etc. The kids put
their hands in and have to guess what's in there!
Or other ideas are: Mummy Making Game:
Kids get in pairs, choose a body part and wrap it in toilet paper. Choose another part and wrap again! Give prizes for the best wrapping at each stage.( Similar to the "Doctor, Doctor Game" http://www.genkienglish.net/doctor.htm )
Face Painting:
Put the kids in groups and paint monsters on each others' faces. Great
colours practice.
For older students try: Spooky Ghost Stories:
Dim the lights. Go round the group, each person adding one line to a ghost
story as a torch is held under their chin! Halloween Alphabet Chases:
Try an Alphabet chase ( http://www.genkienglish.net/abc.htm ) with Halloween as the theme.
For those of you teaching in Japan, not being able to communicate with
the school's teachers can be a real hassle! So to help you out I've put
up this page that has all the most common classroom and lesson planning
terms. It's written in English and Japanese ( so Japanese teachers can
use it), and the Japanese is also written out in Roman letters to make
it easier to read. Topics covered are things like Greetings, Warming Up,
Praising the kids, Playing Games, Useful words and Lesson Planning. http://genkienglish.net/classroomenglish.htm
Trying to explain the difference between England and the UK can be tricky
at the best of times. So to help out I've written this nice little animation
that shows how the flags of Scotland, England and St Patrick form together
to make the Union Flag. It should have all your fellow teachers going "ahhhh!!". http://genkienglish.net/whereRUsong.htm
Take the stress out of their day
If you team teach in Japan it can be very useful to figure out the sorts
of problems and worries that your Japanese teachers may have, very often
they are not what you expect. Over the last few weeks I've collated all
the most popular questions that Japanese teachers ask me in workshops and
put them up on the site along with some solutions. Most teachers are really
lost so showing them this page may just take some stress out of their day!
And for ALTs who'd like to know a little more, here are the most popular
points:
1. What to do about pronunciation
2. What English to teach
3. Games & Songs
4. What to do about 5th & 6th graders
5. How to get good at English themselves
All of which are covered in the article. With all the worry you'll save
your teachers they'll probably end up buying you a round of beers!
Autumn Tour Dates
I'm going to be on the road for the next few weeks, so if you can, please
pop along and see Genki English in action! Most of the events are completely
free of charge!
Tokyo Maruzen Maru-no-uchi October 5th:
Osaka Nellies Bookstore October 17th
Nagoya Nellies Bookstore October 31st
I'll also be in Hamamatsu this week and then in Tokushima from the 18th
to the 23rd and Oita on the 27th, so if you'd like me to visit your school
or get a group of teachers together for a workshop, if I'm in the area
it might not cost anything in travel expenses!
Have a look at the site and please get in touch! http://genkienglish.net/oxford.htm
And Finally,
Right that was a long newsletter, hope you enjoy the new stuff!! Take care
with everything you do and I'll see you next month!
Be genki,
Richard
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Richard J. Graham
Primary School English Games, Songs and Activities
Email: newsletter@genkienglish.net
http://www.genkienglish.com
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