One of the ( many ) slogans I have at Genki English is “Not tested on animals. Tested on kids”. Basically as soon as I put an idea up on the site thousands of teachers use it and I get a lot of feedback on what works and what doesn’t.

I’ve been thinking though that it’d be cool to try and get more feedback on things before they actually go on the site. Most of the stuff I test out before hand with lots of kids, but when other teachers get hold of the materials they often have even better ideas on how to use them, and in some cases, such as the new CD 1 remix, the materials actually work better in a slightly different version.

I was thinking that the new forum could be a great way to try out demo versions of some of the new projects, so we can try out a few experimental type things without the risk of them going on the main site just yet. You can give your input on how you’d like them to be before they get on the site and of course you get to try out new materials before anybody else. As an avid computer user I don’t usually like “beta” or test phase products, but it can be really fulfilling to see a new feature make it into a finished project.

So if you’d like to join in, I’ve put one such project on the “wishlist” section of the forum. Let me know what you think!