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Copyright (C) 1999/2023 by Richard Graham www.GenkiEnglish.com
Hello! Welcome to this month's Genki English.
I'm in Europe now, looking at how languages
are taught over here. It's amazing how different
countries approach the subject, and the results
they achieve! One thing I have found is that
using the Internet for teaching languages
is great, there are so many things that can
be done with video, interactively and
pages that talk. Just imagine what we'll
be able to do next year! OK, let's start
with this month's new game....
Target Grade: 2 to Adult
Target language: Numbers, colours,
animals,
any vocab!
Preparation: A piano or musical keyboard,
some small stickers, stopwatch
This is a great game for teaching cross-curricular
activities of music and language. Teach
the
kids the target English, for example
numbers
(remember, teaching 1 to 12 is better
than
1 to 10 as it means you can easily
jump to
telling the time!!). On the piano,
start
with middle C (ask a music teacher!),
and
place a small sticker on it. Label
this sticker
"1". Go to the next white
note,
D, and put a sticker with the number
"2"
on it. Keep going until you have 12
white
keys labelled 1 to 12. If you are teaching
colours or animals, simply label each
key
with a different colour or animal!
1. Split the kids into groups. Each group
splits into 2.
2. One half of one group goes to the back
of the class. The other half stand by the
paino at the front.
3. Start the stopwatch
4. The kids at the back read out a series
of numbers, in the target language (of
course!), from a list that you give them
(see below!).
5. The kids at the front play these numbers
on the piano. i.e. if they hear "3"
they hit the key with "3" written
on it.
6. The team members listen and if they can
say the title of the tune they get 10 points.
Stop the stopwatch!
7. Choose a new group and repeat from step
2.
In the class, you could even split
the activity in 2, the kids at the back read
the numbers out, the kids at the front write
them down on the board, then they have a
go at playing them. For animals, food, colours
etc. it's best to prepare some picture cards
in advance!
During the game, if anyone speaks their native
language, it's plus 5 seconds!
At the end of the game the team with the
quickest time gets an extra 10 bonus points.
The stopwatch is very important to add tension
to the game!
This game needs a bit of preparation, but
I think it could become a classic like the
Hammer Game or Star Wars Game! On the homepage
there's actually a version you can play on-line!
Remember there are also lots of "quick
and easy" games on Genki English, check
out The Drawing Game ( http://www.genkienglish.net/DrawingGame.htm ), the Group Game ( http://www.genkienglish.net/group.htm ) or ATW ( http://www.genkienglish.net/atw.htm ). The easiest way to get an idea is to
use the Random Game Button ( http://www.genkienglish.net/randomgame.swf
)
We've been looking at doing some phonics
things for quite some time now, but it always
seemed so academic and not too fun! But with
this new page I think I've managed to Genkify
it!! The idea of phonics is that rather than
simply learning to recite the alphabet, the
kids learn the different sounds English letters
have, and then use these to read words. The
problem is that if you use books, you can't
hear the sounds, and if you use cassettes
or CDs, you can't see the letters! So I took
some of the basic ideas and designed
a web page where you move over the letters
and can actually hear the different sounds
spoken! I've covered the vowels, consonants
and several "blends" and "combinations"
(where you put different sounds together!).
So if you're teaching reading, this is the
place to look!
http://genkienglish.net/phonics.htm
I actually got the phonics idea from working
on a Katakana/Hiragana page for the new Genki Japan
section. If you're learning Japanese, have
a look at the page where you can move the
mouse over the Japanese characters and hear
them spoken!
http://genkienglish.net/genkijapan/japanese.htm
There's also a section where we'll email
you a cool Japanese phrase every week - even
to your mobile phone. Plus there is a culture
section (featuring my playable o-koto!).
http://genkienglish.net/genkijapan/koto.htm
We're also looking to include a guide to
the various areas of Japan. So I've got a
bit of a favour to ask! If you live in Japan,
if you could write down some info that you
think may be useful to visitors to your area,
then please send it to me and I'll put it
on the site! The problem with most travel
guides is that they do Tokyo, Kyoto and leave
out the rest, so if you want fame for your
area, please write a few lines and send them
off to me! The page is also formatted for
i-mode or j-phone mobiles (simply type in GenkiJapan.net ), so when you're actually travelling around
you'll be able to check out restaurants,
places to stay etc. where you are!!
If you want an idea of want I'd like to do,
check out the excellent Mie prefecture web
page designed by Dave Kelsey!
http://members.nbci.com/_XMCM/mie_ken/guidebook.html
One main feature of Genki English is that
all the games and ideas have pages in English
and Japanese. The idea is that for people
who team teach, you can have versions of
the game printed out in each language. All
the English and Japanese I actually write
myself. But of course, many Genki English
viewers don't come from Japan! So now there
is a new feature on the page where you can
automatically translate the pages into French,
German, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Russian,
Portugeuse or Chinese! So you too can
see the page in your own language. It sometimes
throws up some strange and interesting sentences,
but on the whole it's quite good! So if you
teach in a country that has one of the languages
featured, have a go, it should make lesson
planning a lot easier! The target language actually
depends on the settings on your browser,
put a message on the message board if you
want any help!
I'm actually in Europe at the moment, PRing
Genki English and doing research into language
teaching over here. I'll be in France this
month, so get in touch if there's anything
I can do to help! I'll be back in Asia in
April! Which leads in to ..........
Unfortunately as I'm Europe I won't
be able
to attend the ALC Kobe English Exposition,
but Will Jasprizza will be there representing
Genki English!!! He'll be doing a killer
Genki English show for the kids, featuring
our games, songs and dances (!!). Then
he'll
be doing a presentation in Japanese
showing loads of great ideas for getting
the most out of teaching at elementary
schools.
Ask your teachers or students to come
along
and join in, it'll be an amazing atmosphere!
Check out the webpage at......
http://www.alc.co.jp/vle/indexeng.html
There'll also be a Genki English show in
Iwate prefecture, where Jamie "Hutch"
Hutchinson will be performing on March 12th!
From April we'll be back in Japan planning
Shows and Seminars all over the country.
We can't do them for free this time, but
they'll be just as spectacular, if you would
like us to attend somewhere near you, then
get in touch! Email: live@genkienglish.net
In the February issue of the Japanese magazine
"kids com" , they carried a four
page interview with us (complete with some
groovy photographs!!). The English version
of the interview is now on their website
(minus groovy photographs!!). So if you want
to know about what Genki English is, how
the tour and website started and the future
of Genki English, have a look!
http://www.alc.co.jp/peekaboo/kidscom/text/text_special.html
I was asked by Charles Kelly (a genius Web
designer!) of the internet TESOL journal
to do some easy level quizzes (for advanced
elementary kids, or junior high) the other
day, you can check them out online at:
http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz82mrg.htm
Choose
a Word (Richard Graham)
http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz83mrg.htm
Odd
One Out 2 (Richard Graham)
http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz84mrg.htm
Commonly
Heard Questions (Richard Graham)
They did have genkier titles, but they
got
changed ; )
If you have your own webpage, then please
feel free to link to Genki English, there
is now a section to help you do just that,
http://genkienglish.net/linktous.htm. And a big thank you to all the people who
have linked to us!!
I always keep adding to the page, and then
when I come to do the newsletter I realise
there's far too much stuff!!! Thanks for
everyone's comments and question this
month, they've certainly kept me on my toes!!!
As usual, if there's anything you'd like
to see on the site, or if you have any questions,
then get in touch!!
If you know of anyone who might be interested
in anything in this newsletter, then please
feel free to forward it onto them!
If you've ever wondered what being Genki
in class means, just check out this video
of the How are you? song. Now THIS is being
Genki!
http://genkienglish.net/howru.ram
We did a show in school in Ehime in December
and the teachers were so impressed that they
invited us to do a normal lesson for the
6th grade kids. The kids don't have regular
English lessons, but with 5 minutes to learn
the new vocab and 10 minutes practice with
a game they could do this!! This way
of teaching really works and really gets
results !
But some of you might be thinking "Yeah,
but look at the effort he's putting in!".
Well, yeah it's true. On the website I try
to present as many games, songs and ideas
as I can. But then it's up to you! If you
go into a class all sad and depressed, the
kids will go"Forget this!" and
do nothing. But if you go in there full of
energy, being genki, and trying
your best, the kids will go "Wow!".
They'll get motivated and excited and they'll
end up giving all the energy back to you
a hundred fold, and everyone will walk out
of the class feeling on top of the world!
Even if you're not feeling very energetic,
make yourself Genki! The kids will pick up
on it and you'll end up feeling amazingly
Genki for the rest of the day (and anyone
who saw my partying and then presentation
at the Kumamoto Conference will agree I think!!!).
The trick is "Think Genki, Be Genki!".
If you put in the energy and effort, everyone
can have kids as good as in this video!!!
Till next month,
Be genki,
Richard!
======================
Richard J. Graham
Primary School English Games, Songs
and Activities
Email: richard@genkienglish.net
http://www.genkienglish.com
Previous Newsletters:
February 2001 Newsletter
January 2001 Newsletter
December 2000 Newsletter!
November 2000 Newsletter
September/October 2000 Newsletter
August/September 2000 Newsletter
July/August 2000 Newsletter
June/July 2000 Newsletter
May/June 2000 Newsletter
April/May 2000 Newsletter
March/April 2000 Newsletter
February/March 2000 Newsletter
January/February 2000 Newsletter
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