A question that came up in the Teacher Training Academy yesterday was:
“If you’ve not got much time, is it better to skip the first few themes of Genki English so we can be sure to get to the end?”
In karate if you skipped the white and yellow belts, and skipped straight to the black belt techniques, what would happen to you in a fight?
Not very pretty I would imagine 🙂
So it’s a good question and the answer is “no”, don’t skip anything and don’t worry too much if you don’t reach the higher levels by the end of your course, the beginning ones are the more important.
The curriculum is very purposely weighted so that the heavy lifting is done near the beginning of the curriculum, particular all the “way of thinking” confidence skills ( such as eye contact, trying again, changing physiology to increase energy, mood etc.) which are the main parts of the learning.
So if you only have limited time, then start from the beginning and don’t worry if you don’t make it all the way through.
Be genki,
Richard
P.S. This also applies to all level of students, don’t skip any of the beginning ones. If they “know” “What’s your name?” already then they’ll whizz through the song and game very quickly so it only takes 8 minutes or so and you move to the next theme, finally slowing down naturally when the friction appears. Just like a karate teacher taking you through the beginner patterns until you reach one that isn’t as fluent yet. However very often what you’ll find is that even if students “know” the phrases, they might not be able to use them, nor be able to do the self development parts of it, so that’s why we have to be sure and cover all the themes.
P.P.S. If you’re taking the analogy that your curriculum is building a bridge from point A to point B ( and remember parents will only pay for a bridge that goes across in a straight line!) then it’s better to get as far across as you can before finishing the course! 🙂
Earn More From Your Passion For Teaching English!
I go through all of the themes each year. Plus reviewing Every single lesson in the beginning of my class. This gives my students extra excitement and motivation. And when it comes to individual communication they perform a great lot of confidence. Imagine how satisfied I am with the results of this particular sequence the program suggests us. Thank you, Richard!