About Genki English

What is this site?

This site is a collection of games, songs and ideas for use by teachers of languages to children.

GenkiEnglish.com gives you the techniques and confidence to teach any language and get your kids finishing a lesson with a big smile saying “Yeah, that was fun! I want to do more!”.

Have a look at the “How to teach Genki English: Songs, Games, Projects” page.

Cool! But what does “Genki” mean?

“Genki” is a really cool Japanese word that means “fun”, “lively”, “energetic”, “full of life”. There isn’t really a word for it in English, but if you try these ideas in your classroom, you’ll know what it means!

Have I seen this website on TV?

Maybe!! GenkiEnglish.com has been featured on TV and in newspapers around the World. “Taking Primary Schools by Storm” was what the Japanese Yomiuri Newspaper said. We have also been the subject of an NHK documentary which was broadcast in countries including India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Canada, the UK, the USA and the UAE..
Genki English materials have been featured in many major Japanese TV series, including “Wataru Seken wa oni bakari” and the new Fuji TV Drama with “The Last Samurai” star Koyuki.

For 2 years GenkiEnglish.com had a column in a National Newspaper (The “Asahi Shougakusei” Newspaper) and I often have articles in leading publications.

So what’s on the website?

The website is pretty huge, so please allow yourself quite a bit of time to look around! For the amount of time you’ll save lesson planning, it’s well worth while!

Here are some of the major sections from the website:

Elementary School Curriculum/Lesson Plans
30 themed lesson ideas complete with printable picture cards, online teaching guide video, recommended game and original song. These plans are specifically designed for teaching in Elementary school where time is short and you need to keep large classes of kids happy, genki and motivated!

Classroom Games
Fully illustrated games to get the kids speaking in class. Some originals, some classics, the only criteria for them being here? That they work! If you happen to be teaching in Japan, most of the games have Japanese versions as well, simply print out both for easy team teaching!

Original songs
These songs get the kids remembering the English you’re teaching! Save time reviewing in the next lesson; simply play the song! They all have gestures and actions to make them really fun. We give away as many as we can for free on the website, or you can order the full set of 30 songs on CDs! There are also free picture cards and worksheets for each of the songs.

Talking Pages
Designed mainly for non-native speakers, these are a series of games, animations and features that talk! There is even a section on phonics. Again, we give away as many as we can on the website, and there are more on the CDROM section of the Genki English CDs.

Articles
GenkiEnglish.com have articles published in some of the leading publications, and you can find many more here. From what to teach in your first lesson, to planning a curriculum

Genki English Live!
It’s not just the website! We do teacher training seminars and Kids Shows for all over the World! If you want to see the real Genkiness in action, invite us to your town!

Plus lots, lots more!
Have a look at the main menu and wonder around. You’ll find the latest ideas and hot news at the top of the page!

Wow, there is so much here for free!! How is GenkiEnglish.com funded?

GenkiEnglish.com is an incorporated company funded by sales of our CDs and Teacher Training videos. The idea being that the website then gives buyers of the CDs amazing extra value, and it also allows teachers in the developing world to get access to top quality teaching resources for very little cost.

Who is Genki English?

GenkiEnglish.com was founded and is currently run by myself, Richard Graham. For live presentations and PR work in Japan, I have the help of Will Jasprizza. Joel Bacha is the author of our “Teachers & Kids” book and Abe Youko handles the processing and shipping of our CD orders.

Where did it all start?

I started this page in July of 1999, as a resource for all the successful ideas that I’d used in my classes. GenkiEnglish.com has now turned into my full time profession as an Education Consultant, involving teacher training presentations sponsored by some of the largest names in the industry including Oxford University Press and the Japanese Ministry of Education.

The website is now used by nearly 2000 teachers every day in over 70 countries.

What’s the future for GenkiEnglish.com?

At the moment GenkiEnglish.com is helping thousands of teachers around the globe to teach all sorts of languages in a fun and Genki way. However in the future this will expand into not only languages, but fun and exciting teaching techniques for maths, science and all subjects. The final aim project will be Health education, with a Genki way to teach children in both the developed and developing worlds.

Where do I go from here?

If you’d like to learn a little more about “behind the scenes” GenkiEnglish.com, have a look at my online diary. If you want to get teaching, try my “Planning a fun 45 minute lesson” page. Or have a look at the new stuff on the main menu. If you get stuck or have any problems, please get in touch! Once you’ve finished, please tell us what you thought of the site, and help make it better, by filling in our Online Survey

So there you go! Enjoy, and above all…..

“Be Genki!”

Richard