Today was the Tokyo version of the Kobe JET Programme renewers conference I did last month, which both together had about 1,000 participants. As usual it was a different vibe in Tokyo to Kobe ( bigger city, so people are more dispersed I guess), and things were overall very good. I did, however, mess up…

One of the great things about Genki English is all the amazing ideas people send in to share with everyone. Sometimes they take a bit of work to make public ( especially things with copyrights of images etc.), but they are always really good ideas. Today I finally managed to get Atley Jonas’ Days of…

Phonics ( basically teaching “ah, buh, cuh” instead of “Ay, Bee, See”) is becoming a worldwide pandemic at the moment. The UK & Australia have recently decided to bring it back on a national level, and in the States courses such as “Hooked on Phonics” are hugely popular. The idea being that if the kids…

I just watched the American Idol final on Fox tonight ( Japan is a week late). There were special guests everywhere and brilliant songs, what a fantastic piece of TV. Great entertainment is all about moving people, changing emotions to inspire, to relax, to take people on a trip where you acquire knowledge without you…

One of the other workshops I attended last week in Kobe was on storytelling in the classroom. Funnily enough when I looked at the name of the presenter, it was Hamish Buchan from the British Council. The British Council, in various countries, have been really great over the last year or so ( have a…

I’m back in Ehime this weekend, for the first time since November. When I used to be a JET I could never understand why ALTs from the big cities complained about living in the countryside. What’s not to like about being surrounded by greenery, clean air and lots of fresh food? But after being in…