Hello! How are you doing? Things are going very well here and after rocking
the Tokyo International Bookfair last month, I'm really excited this month
as we're going to be doing the Key Note Speech at the Ministry of Education
sponsored Kobe JET renewers conference! We'll also be doing a workshop
in Tokyo on making the best of JET and of course we'll be touring round
the country, probably somewhere near you! Check out the schedule: http://genkienglish.net/oxford.htm
And for all of you outside Japan, why not invite us to your country? I'm
sure we can work something out to make it as affordable as possible - seeing
a live Genki English teaching seminar will get you really energetic and
enthused about teaching English!
New Game "Steal the Bacon"
This game is from Joel Bacha's "Teachers and Kids" book. There
are loads more in the book itself, check out here for details! http://genkienglish.net/joelsbook.htm
Focus: Vocabulary, Numbers, ABCs
Level: 1-4
Preparation: One chalk board erasure (the bacon)
Play this game in the gym.
1. Make two teams.
2. Have each team line up along the wall on opposite sides of the gym.
3. Put the erasure (bacon) in the middle of the gym.
4. Depending on what your reviewing, assign a letter, number, or word to each student on each team.
5. If your reviewing letters, call out a letter (ex. gG!h)
6. The two Gs from each team run to the middle of the gym and try to be the first one to steal the bacon.
7. The student who steals the bacon first has to run back to his or team before being tagged by the other student.
8. If the student who steals the bacon gets back to his or her team safely, then he or she wins. If the other student tags him or her before getting there, then the other student wins.
If you are teaching in Japan there's a fair chance that your teachers don't
really know exactly what they are supposed to be doing in Elementary School
English classes. The Ministry of Education's guidelines are very clear
and concise (only one page!) but most teachers haven't read them! Why not
print out a copy for your teachers? It should clear up a lot of problems! http://genkienglish.net/guidelinesj.htm
(This page has actually been recommended on the British Council's website
and newsletter!)
"Kids English" - Genki English for kids aged 0-6!
All the energy and know-how of Genki English in a groovy new programme
for kids aged 0-6 to use at home!
I wrote most of the songs, games and
activities on GenkiEnglish.com for use in Elementary Schools in accordance with
the Japanese Ministry of Educations guidelines. They can also be used to great
effect for younger kids, but our new "Kids English" series has been designed
from the ground up to get kids aged 0-6 genki at home!!
Kids English was
a huge hit at the Tokyo International Bookfair and has even found its way onto
one of Japan's top TV dramas!
Check out the new English explanation page for more! http://genkienglish.net/kidsenglish.htm
Evaluation Sheets/ Classroom Posters
Two of the keys to the success of Elementary School language education,
according to the EU, are "parental involvement" and "continuation". It's to help
with these that I have uploaded these fun A4 pages containing all the language
used in each of the Genki English themes. They'll make a big difference to your
teaching! http://genkienglish.net/evaluationsheets.htm
1) Keep a copy in a "Teacher's File" for each class Very often when
teachers (or ALTs) change at the end of the year there is no record of what the
kids have studied. This often leads to duplication of material which then leads
to lack of motivation on the part of the kids! Keeping a folder with each of the
lessons studied makes it easy to see what the kids have done, what they need to
do and what they need to review!
2) After each lesson give a copy to each student One
problem often encountered is that students and their parents don't realise, or
can't remember, all the English they've learnt. So I recommend that each child
has an A4 folder (they're cheapest at the 100 yen store) and at the end of each
lesson you hand out the sheet for that theme to every kid. The kids can then
take these home to show their parents (who can then support the work at home)
and they can see themselves how much English they can actually say and how good
a teacher you are! Each sheet has space for a date and signature to make it more
personal for the kids which equals extra motivation!
3) Print out a larger (A3?) copy
to put on the classroom wall Keeping a record on the wall of the class
shows the kids how much progress they have made and you'll probably find that at
lunchtime and in their break time they'll test each other to see how many of the
words they remember!! This is very effective as the kids can constantly review
the English, even when you're not at the school! Then when you are there you can
spend more time teaching new stuff, and less time reviewing the previous lesson!
Over the year the wall will fill up and really give the kids a sense of
achievement. Then you can finish off the year with a certificate!
If you know of anyone who might be interested in this newsletter, then
please feel free to send it on!
Oh, and there's also a Japanese version, you can sign up for it from the
main Japanese menu!
"The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled."
- Plutarch
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