“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….

Many ALTs have written saying how their board of education has asked them to do a workshop for the Japanese Elementary School teachers in their town. Many people have written asking for help so here’s a post I put on the forum a few weeks ago: I’ve also put up an article on the site…

OK, so the aim of today’s workshop was to get the teachers able to teach on their own. The plan was quite simple: 1) Put them in groups of three or four. 2) Give them a printed copy of the curriculum in Japanese and 45 minute lesson plan and let them choose a theme to…

Another two day workshop and as this school had had a one day workshop last year covering all the important basics, I just jumped into doing more advanced teaching methods and how to improve the efficiency of the lessons. This school has also bought student packs of all the CDs and the Kids English set….

OK, first things first, I’m going to be back in Okinawa twice next year! In June we’re planning a mini-tour, so if you would like a workshop at your elementary school or for your group of teachers, get in touch now and we’ll get you on the list. Next year my elementary school workshops will…