Genki English is about getting kids talking English about stuff they love
as quickly as possible. It's not about boring textbooks or stifling grammar,
it's about enthusing the kids to get them super confident and dying to
speak to kids in other countries all over the world.
Projects - to really use the EnglishThe songs and games are a great way for the kids to get used to talking and listening, to
get excited about English and getting all the basics they need. They are
a key first part of the programme.
Then comes the real deal, actually using this English in a real life situation.
This is the reason we teach English, so they can actually use it to talk
to people. Thanks to the internet you can do this quicker than ever before,
usually after a year or so, but maybe after even only 5 or 6 lessons.
You want the kids to able to talk to kids of their own age about things
they enjoy. The tick is to start small, and gradually build up.
A simple idea is for the kids to photograph their school lunch. Then record
them describing it in English. Then email this off to a school in another
country and wait for the reply. It's simple English ( e.g. We have potatoes
and rice and meat. I like meat. I don't like potatoes etc.), it's something
they get excited about ( all kids love food!), and they are really using
the English to communicate with someone who can't speak their native language.
Just like kids talking in the playground, it's all sound and pictures,
so there is no reading or writing. It's all very exciting. Don't worry
about the techie aspects of it, ask an IT teacher, they are always willing
to help. You can find out more on the School Lunch Exchange page
Other ideas include:
Describe their pets
Again a favourite of the kids. There's more on the pet project page.
Get them to describe their favourite toy or video game
Always popular. There will be lots of words they don't know how to say
in English. This is good because you can teach them and as they want to
use it straight away, it'll stick in their heads. Remember: keep it simple.
Do a weather exchange
Everyday the kids take it in turns to send a photo of the weather today,
and record a short commentary ( e.g. It's snowy today). The exchange schools
does the same thing. Make sure you get a good system of choosing which
kid does it on which day as they often fight over whose turn it is! Now
in class instead of just saying "What's the weather like?", you
can say "What's the weather like in Vancouver?" or any other
place you exchange with.
Write a picture book.
This is a great project, the kids write a story for a picture book. They
send this to a school in another country and the children there draw the
pictures based on what your kids have written! You could even try a different
country per page. If you teach writing, the kids can write it themselves,
if not, they tell you what to write and you put it up on the board, then
send it off as an email later.
Write a song or poem
Your kids think of one line, the kids abroad think of the next.
Introduce your school or town to the world.
Digital photos plus an audio file is the easiest way, or you can even send video via the internet. One photo per place and one line of commentary is all that's needed.
Get them to describe their homework in English.
Things like maths are fairly universal the world over. Explaining in English
can often help the kids understand the math better.
Links to other subjects such as geography - volcanoes!
Kids in the UK study about Japan in school. Why not have your Japanese
students make reports about Japanese volcanoes or the huge amount of snow
up north!
Webcam to Oz - all day, all day everyday
Put a computer in the corner of the classroom. Use a webcam and skype (it's
free) to keep permanently connected to a school in a different country
but similar time zone ( e.g. Asia and Australia, Europe and Africa, North
& South Americas etc.). When your kids have breaks they can turn up
the sound and listen to the lessons the other class is having. If they
both have break together the kids can chat or play games. Once it's always
there the kids use it in amazing ways, all the time brushing up their language
skills. Try it, it's free!
These are just a few ideas, listen to what the kids talk about in the playground
and you can come up with hundreds more, I'm sure.
Some points
Class projects work better than individual ones
Doing the project together as a class is a lot easier to manage than trying
to keep up with lots of kids interacting with lots of other kids.
Keep the projects as a one off
Due to school holidays, days off etc, a one-off project is always easier
to handle than a continuing one. Aim to just do one exchange. If the kids
get into things you can always choose different schools for the same project
or even maybe come back to the same school for a future project.
Ask the kids!
Make sure the projects are ones the kids want to do, not what the teacher
wants to do. The idea is to get the kids excited, so find out what they
want to talk about.
Where to find partners?
Sites like epals.com are great for finding partner schools. The hit rate is usually around
10% i.e. after chatting with the teacher in the other country, you send
off things to 10 schools and usually one will reply. The British Council also help with projects for UK schools.
The techie stuff!
For the techie stuff, ask the IT teacher, they are always eager to help,
it's a chance to try out their new toys!
For recording audio, usually the easiest thing is to use a video camera.
Or the audio recorder on someone's phone. Audacity is a free program for editing audio files, but usually they are only short
( 10 seconds or so) so there's not much need to edit stuff.
The cool thing about these projects is that it's not just a class game
or town project, your kids are really making something that you will be
sending to kids in another country! Just think back to when you were at
school, how excited would you have been!
Then the really cool bit is when they get the replies back. These are not
just some textbook or some TV programme everyone can get their hands on,
this is something that kids in another country hundreds of miles away have
recorded and photographed just for you! The kids really get a kick out
of it. And it really feeds their desire to learn new English, to do more
songs and games, because they want to use it to do more projects with more kids in more
countries! Be careful though, they quickly become addicted and teachers
have found themselves being paid to escort kids half way across the globe
to visit their new found friends!
So get cracking with the songs and games and as soon as possible, get your kids talking!
Be genki,
Richard
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