Thought you might like to see a little bit of Singapore, here’s a video I made for the Location Free Lifestyle site.
The best thing about Singapore however is all the new motivation & business books I’ve found, plus their attitude to education. I spent a silly amount of money on books, and one of the best millionaire authors is a guy called Adam Khoo. This guy is very, very good. And what’s his latest passion? Teaching English and maths!
But this ain’t no ordinary English teaching
Instead of normal English lessons, Adam has taken his experience in becoming a millionaire and his method is totally focussed on motivation training and NLP for kids. This is just the sort of thing I think is so important. In less driven countries we have to hide the “I can do it!” and “Try again” philosophies inside English lessons, but in Singapore, where education is so highly prized, learning how to succeed in all areas of life is something that parents put a lot of importance on. After all if you “have to teach the test” then you might as well teach the kids all the skills to succeed in everything, not just the boring grammar or test questions!
If you’re looking at teaching more motivation in your classes I’d highly recommend Adam’s book “I am gifted, so are you!” Every class should be like this!
And if you are looking at increasing your school’s business, getting more students or maybe starting out with your own school I’d also really recommend Adam’s “Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires” book. I’m sat here with it on my desk now and it is a really, really good read. Easily in the same league as Napoleon Hill or Seth Godin but with a very nice Singaporean twist to it.
The sales page is a bit too “salesy” for my liking but I couldn’t find the book on Amazon so I guess that’s the best place to buy it, plus it’s available as on ebook here which means you can download it wherever you are. It’s a brilliant read, very motivating and I’d recommend it to everyone, whether you want to become a millionaire or not!
A genki song every day?
Being here I’m wondering if I’ve become too soft over the last few weeks. I’ve been working hard everyday, but of course it’s not “working hard” it’s “working smart” that gets things done. I have so many Genki English projects that I really want to get out to you guys.
I always though the problem was finding the extra time in the day, but Adam’s book says “Sharing goals with other people is one of the best ways to get things done.”
So I was toying with the goal of writing one new Genki song every single day, just to get all the things out there that I want to make.
What do you think, should I set that goal? Or keep at the current pace? If I did decide to do it then it would be up to you guys to keep me to my word!
As usual a very interesting topic. Singapore looks great and the normal 30 degrees. We have many souvenirs of the famous Merlion from my husband’s stay there last year. I agree with all of the information you gave about the cost of hotels and food. It is great place to buy electrical goods though. We have a computer tower, in english too, from Singapore its tiny and was really cheap! We also have a great camera, again really good value.
A song a day!! Does that keep the doctor away?? I would imagine one a week would be possible for testing purposes. Seriously Richard I do not know how you do everything that you do already!!
PS I must say it sounds so strange for you not to say Richard from GenkiEnglish.com!!
It’s my birthday next week and my boyfriend keeps asking me what present I want, so I guess those books would be a good idea as they can help me improve my teaching style and school. Thanks for sharing.
@Flossy: Yeah I got a really cool webcam that was a bit of a bargain!
@Monica: Happy Birthday! The “Self-Made Millionaire” one will certainly be a great present, I’m finding it better and better the more I read!
P.S. I’ve got a new book policy. For years I’ve hardly bought any books. I’ve realised that is stupid as there is so much more to learn. So I’ve now started buying as many as I can (they’re cheap!) then passing them on to people as I travel. So if you catch me on tour, ask me what I’ve got for you! (How’s the book I gave you last year Cesar?)
Some positive upbeat reading sounds good. Plus if there’s any ideas for making more money that certainly would help. My teacher’s salary doesn’t go far here…
I’m with Flossy I think a song a week is better so we can give you feedback!
I can’t figure out how you do it all either.
@Carol: There’s something coming up next week that I think might help!
@Once a week vs. once a day: Once a week certainly seems possible “Friday is song day!”. But I was thinking is that just being lazy? I’ve got at least 20+ new Phonics & Funk songs, other phonics songs, CD11 songs, Genki Maths …
I think one song a week for testing purposes is realistic, but that doesn’t mean to say that you have to write only one a week – if your creative juices are flowing them let them flow, man!
Genki maths is proving popular in this household.
Adam Khoo’s ‘secrets of a… βeBook is really really great. I certainly rate it up among the MUST reads! I’d like to read his other books actually – shame they seem woefully unavailable on Amazon. Maybe Iβll give Kinokunia a call, maybe they have it? I could never live the location free lifestyle if only for the amount of books my wife and I own …
As for the song a day goal, I donβt think it’s unrealistic – but I donβt think a song a week is lazy either! And CD11 songs? Does that mean CD10 is already in the pipeline? I’m really looking forward to the new phonics and GE math too – as always, if there’s anything I/ we can do to help! =D
@Julian-K: Had you heard of Adam Khoo before? I’d never heard of him till this week and I’m wondering who else I’m missing out on!
If you click through on the links in the post there should be links to download ebook versions of all his other books. I’ve just finished a book by Adam Wong who talks about how he made his fortune from taking Khoo’s books and making ebook online versions of them!
CD10 will (hopefully) be all the Xmas + Halloween songs from last year.
Richard,
thanks for the reading tips. I hope to get the books soon.
For the goal:
I imagine that YOU can do it very well. But honestly I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep feed backing. And with only one lesson a week per class, I also couldn’t try them all.
When you came up with all the new songs end of last year at some point it got so much, that I needed to stop, otherwise I would confuse my students as well. Because ,of course I want to try out everything, but at one point I had prepared a weeks lesson, when a new really great song popped up , so I put it quickly somewhere in between, but it didn’t really fit.
So I would also think that it would be great to have a new song on one certain day. That way, lessons are easy to plan, and it is easier to give you feed back.
Also, I think, teachers who know GE for at least a year, will be more able to use many new songs. They might be through the curriculum already. But people who are “new”, might be overwhelmed and too many of the older songs that should be worked with, might not be used.
Well, sounds like I want to stop you from working, but of course that’s not the case. I’m really looking forward to CD 9,10 and11.
How ever you decide, I’ll try my best to follow and work with and on it .
I had – i mentioned on my personal blog about wanting to learn a little about business a while back, and a friend of mine passed on their copy! The thing that really stuck in my mind was the “winner vs victim mindset” that he talks about early on. It’s such an obvious peice of advice when you think about it, but wow, not one that occurs to allot of people (incudeing myself several years ago)!
I have to be honest though, i read it and thought highly of it, but didnβt check to see what else he’d written! I probably should have on reflection. I’m not sure there’s anything i could recomend, certainly on the business/ inspirational front though! From a location free life-style point of view, have you ever read any of Josie Dewβs books? Iβd say they were entertaining, although maybe not life changing!
Hello, Richard!
This is the first time to send you a comment!
Hello, everybody! I’ve been reading the blog for couple of months and I’ve decided this is the time to comment!
I met Richard and Genki English for the first time this January!! At the Nellie’s English Festival here in Japan.
I bought the whole set on the spot and have been using Genki English little by little. It’s been really great and I can’t wait to introduce all the songs to my kids but as Margit said, song a day!!!? Whoa!!! I would flip!!! I mean, I’m flipping already!! I’ve got to catch up with everybody!!
Everybody’s saying this but how can you do it, Richard!