Well the AfricaΒ remediesΒ certainly work as I now – sort of – have my voice back!

Which was pretty cool as I was following on from the US Embassy trainers today. Β  This whole project is a pilot and hopefully we can spread it out to other areas in Tanzania or hopefully further into East Africa so there are lots of different people involved, including today’s trainers from the State Department ( I think they want to try and take on the British Council!) Β  The State Department trainers did a really good lesson including “griney grollers” Β i.e.

The Griney Grollers grangled in the granchy gak.

1. What kind of grollers were they?
2. What did the grollers do?
3. Where did they do it?
4. In what kind of gak did they grangle?
5. Place one line under the subject and two lines under the verb.
6. In one sentence, explain why-the grollers were grangling in the granchy gak. Be prepared
to justify your answer with facts.
7. If you had to grangle in a granchy gak, what one item would you choose to have with
you and why?
Which really reinforced the point that it is possible to know all the grammar in the world, but still not understand a word of what you are reading!

Then it was my turn (with everyone watching again!)

Usually with visitors who I have to impress (!) I’d do some flashy Genki English stuff myself (Superhero is always a good call!)

But …. tomorrow we’ve decided to send the teachers into schools to try out Genki English on real life high school kids. Β  Scary, scary after such a short period of training! Β So a lot of today was spent on bringing the teachers up to the front to do stuff themselves and really putting them under pressure – just as you’d find in a real class. The African teachers are a hardy bunch though as I couldn’t get anyone to cry! And some of the teachers were really, really good.

The Superhero lesson followed on with some great presentations!

Before finishing off with the “I, you, he, she” game andΒ Can you speak English? to finish on a high note and get them all pumped up for tomorrow. I finished with a genki speech topped with …

200 years ago Europe was the strongest in the world. Last century it was America. Now it is Asia. So guys, Europe, America, Asia, who’s next ……

Africa!!!

Was the huge reply we got to finish off the day!

Next stop … actually trying this in a real class tomorrow, will they be able to do it after just a few days training?

Richard Graham

Hello, I'm Richard Graham. When I was a kid I found school to be sooooo boring... So I transformed my way of teaching. I listened to what the kids were really wanting to say and taught it in ways they really wanted to learn. The results were magical. Now I help teachers just like you teach amazing lessons and double your incomes!