I should take a few days off on the beach more often. After the obon holidays I got a load of work done today, and I’m just about caught up on my emails ( but not quite all of them yet!)

They say an overnight success takes ten years to make, and it certainly applies here. I’ve been working with schools here for over 6 years, and it’s only just now that the people in charge are beginning to recognise just what Genki English is. The city has been designated by the government as a city…

It was a second time school again today and although we only had 3 hours I figured we’d try the “getting the teachers to teach” workshop. OK, so that was a mistake! First up half of the teachers were new so didn’t have all the Genki English basics, and the other half of the teachers…

There’s an interesting article in the Washington Post today entitled “Schools Try Elementary Approach To Teaching Foreign Languages” ( You’ll need to register to see the article, but it’s free and easy). One of the first paragraphs is: Educators say that the youngest brains have the greatest aptitude for absorbing language and that someone who…

“What’s your name?” and Mingle are almost Holy Grails as they are guaranteed to get people singing, moving and hence smiling and genki. The teacher also gets a bit of a rest to prepare the next part of the lesson. The other songs though require a bit of teacher supervision as the English is so…

Apparently, and I bet you didn’t know this, if you are on the JET Programme you can qualify for Apple’s Educational discount. You get 7% off iPods and MacBooks, and 10% off PowerMac and MacBook Pros. That’s especially great if you are a JET from the UK as the Japanese prices are already considerably cheaper….