I’ve spent most of this week with teachers saying, “We know exactly which students we want, but we can’t take them because they don’t have the grades!”

As much as I’m sure we’d love to, we can’t simply ignore grades or exam results —unfortunately, the governments haven’t caught up with us yet!

This can lead to some teachers feeling incredibly stressed.

It can feel like one hand pulling you to “teach for the tests” and our conscious pulling in the opposite direction towards making lessons enjoyable and fun for all the kids.

That’s stressful! 🙂

But here’s the solution…

Instead of seeing “fun” and “exams” as two forces pulling you in opposite directions, let’s align them so they’re both helping you along in the same direction.

In fact, you have to do that because we know that if learning isn’t enjoyable, you only end up helping a small minority of kids who thrive in that environment, while the vast majority miss out on the skills we’re trying to teach.

Which isn’t helpful. We need both fun and academic success together.

I’ve been in the same situation…

When I created Genki English, I based all the lessons on what kids really wanted to say and what they found super fun to do.

But that wasn’t enough.

To get into schools on a large scale I also had to ensure that the academic institutions certified that the program really helped students learn the skills and achieve great exam results.

In fact it wasn’t until we got the research from the Harvard Graduate School of Education saying that Genki English “had a significant, positive, and robust impact on students’ learning outcomes” that I finally got over my imposter syndrome and starting thinking “Well, if the kids love it & Harvard says it works, who am I to argue with that?”

So, great exam results and fun aren’t mutually exclusive.

In fact, if you want to reach the most students possible, it’s the only way to do it.

And, of course, if you’re teaching beginners or kids, the best program for that is Genki English.

So let’s move forward, creating super enjoyable lessons that also help students ace those exams, ensuring they have the fun, skills & grades to keep all doors open for their future!

Good luck & be genki,

Richard

P.S. If you’re lucky enough to teach kids, get the English out of the way as soon as you can, before exams even appear on their radar (Genki English only takes 120 lessons!). I’ve seen many kids get fluent by 5 or 6, and my own daughter is fluent in four languages. So the younger you start with Genki English, the easier the results!