Hello,
Most teachers are on holiday at the moment, so I’ve been keeping all the really awesome blog posts for September. 😉 (Keep tuned in!)
It’s also because I’ve been having a bit of a hard time coming up with new songs for the more “textbooky” grammar topics.
There’s a reason that some English is tough to teach.
It’s often because authors think about the grammar point, but don’t think about the flow, the rhyme, the sound and rhythm that the phrases have. That’s why they sound unnatural to us.
It’s also the reason why the current Genki English lessons are so popular, because apart from the all the motivation and psychological aspects, I also spend *far* too much time on making sure everything slips off the tongue, has poetry and rhyme. All the words chosen just *feel* good together.
That’s why some songs, such as Superhero, can take years to write!
Of course, like some other publishers, I could just knock up a cheesy rhythm and put a cheap track up right now.
But I’m not really into that!
So just give me a bit more time.
The answers are all out there, we just have to chisel away will we find them!
Be genki,
Richard
P.S. I saw a great quote the other day, “The Earth without art is just “eh?”” I feel it’s the same with English teaching, do you agree?
Earn More From Your Passion For Teaching English!
Good on you, Richard! Genki English songs are like no other system I’ve used to teach kids. I love it, they love it, and it works. I’m looking forward to new songs that cover those tricky grammar points, but I’m glad you’ll take the time to get them right. So take as long as it takes.:)
AGREE! on all points.
and I think I’ll hang this quote out in my classroom.
Hi Richard,
You’re such an inspiration to me both as a teacher and a person and I’m sure I speak not just for myself, but for so many other teachers the world over.
For fear of repeating Cathy Cawood’s wonderful words in the comment above, I will just suffice by saying: ditto ditto ditto!
Hi Richard!
Totally agree with the previous posts!
Thanks for your hard work Richard…keep in mind that “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and neither was your great Genkie Curriculum…we know ow hard you work to offer us the very best! We thank you and so do our students! Enjoy the rest of the summer!
Nena
I absolutely couldn’t agree more.
Right now I’m conducting interviews about the appropriateness of school English in Japan for my MA dissertation research, and one of the really common things that people are telling me is “the examples used to learn grammar are so irrelevant and dead” … as one person so nicely put it “If we’re going to learn English anyway, and we have to learn grammar rules, why can’t we at least do it with practical, true to life examples that we can actually imagine using?”