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 Printable Lesson Plans Genki English CDs:  Volume 1  Volume 2  Volume 3  Volume 4  Volume 5  Volume 6   New CD Vol. 7   MP3 Songs |
Take any problem in the World and it's invariably caused ( or made worse)
by a lack of education. Too many kids hate school because it's too boring.
The aim of Genki Learning is to have all subjects in all countries taught
in a fun, engaging and effective way. There are already a few million kids
benefiting from this, and even a whole country where the government has
put it in all their schools. But there's still a long way to go!
While I'm on the road you'll hear about my travels & workshops, and
when I'm doing studio work I'll keep you up to date with ideas, updates
to the site and some of my favourite teaching resources. So if you want
to find out what's it's like behind the scenes or how & why I do what
I do or even if you're just nosey or a bit bored, have a read.
I'll update the diary as often as I can, so keep coming back. And of course
whilst I'm away, the office staff are always ready to send off your CD orders just as soon as you send them in!
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Previous Entries are here
The “How many…?” song I wrote to practice “How many?” (surprise, surprise!). But until now there hasn’t been a simple song for teaching just the numbers on their own. In Japan the “Seven Steps” song is quite popular, but not so much elsewhere.
So I’ve just put up a new demo song that takes the numbers part of the How many..? song but starts of really, really slow, then repeats, gradually getting faster and faster until it reaches the speed of the How many…? song.
You either hold up your fingers (like in the How old are you? song) or jump on each number. Then to make the repeats more fun, there’s a story as each time you forget to add in the number 12. (I’m sure some kids will believe you are really forgetting!)
Hopefully the speed is slow enough for most classes, but I’d love to hear your thoughts! The mp3 and discussion is here on the forum. I’m hoping it can be used by inexperienced teachers as their first numbers song so your input is very much appreciated.
The best thing about it is that once you’ve done this song once, if you try it again what once seemed really fast now seems very, very slow, which is a great confidence builder!
Two more card games for you today.
One is for personal pronouns and stationery. e.g. He has a pencil. Although you could also change it for possessive pronouns e.g. It’s her book.
To avoid grammar complications with things like “scissors” and “glue” I’ve just stuck to items that can be used with “a” or “an” e.g. pen, pencil, book, ruler & eraser. ( Apologies to the Brits for the American version of the last one!)
The other game is a simpler one with Winter Clothes & colours.
And for those of you curious about yesterday’s teaser, Custard Cream, Jammy Dodger and Oreo were all ecim dleif. (only read it backwards if you’ve read yesterday’s post!)
I was at a farm today. Not just any old farm, but one of the funky new ones with well trained guides: The Big Sheep & Little Cow Farm.
“Be quiet!” is a shout of many an adult unused to dealing with kids, but the farmers today were masters of kid control, using the time tested methods of suspense, intrigue and a just a dash of misdirection…
For example, part way through the tour the farmer said “I’m going to put the next animal out on the floor in front of you. Now be careful, make sure you all sit down and raise your feet just a little off the ground. Why? Because “Flash” just loves to climb up trouser legs!”. Of course everyone sits down and raises their legs.
Then there is a pause, just the right dramatic length, before Flash is brought out. And, of course, Flash …. is a tortoise! “It’ll take him a little while to get to you, so keep your legs in the air” joked the farmer, but he had the full attention of the kids, who were quite relieved and happy to see a tortoise!
Before that was the biscuit jar. We had the story of the homemade biscuits (food is always a good attention grabber), and in the jar there were Jammy Dodgers, Oreos and Custard Creams. The farmer passed the biscuit jar around the group. The first person peered inside, ready to choose a delicious treat, but jumped back in shock! Then a smile. But they didn’t take the biscuit. “Ooo, what’s happening here?” thought everyone else as they patiently waited their turn. And when the jar arrived, just imagine what was inside…..
Well I’m not going to tell you here, you’ll have to visit for yourself! : )
So how can you use a little suspense, an inkling of intrigue or a little fun misdirection to get the attention of your students today?
(You see, you’re just dying to know what’s in the biscuit jar - you’ll have to wait till tomorrow to find out!)
Yesterday I popped into the University of Newcastle for a chat about the upcoming Genki English trip to India.
It does seem like a very exciting, very different and very interesting project to be involved with. Not least of which is because of the just-on-the-right-side-of-crazy people who are running things!
I’m sure I’ll be writing more on this in the coming months as it is having a big effect on how I look at my volunteer based public school projects across Asia, and is also a great chance to learn new ways to help teachers in different situations.
If you’d like to learn more, have a look at the University’s page at http://www.ncl.ac.uk/egwest/ or some of the articles such as The Times, Newsweeks’ Do it yourself education, or the BBC’s Newsnight programme (real video player needed) . Could this be the future of education?
Keep tuned in for more updates!
As you know, confidence is something I’m very big on. Here’s the English version of my “Kodomo Eigo” article this month.
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“Good” is a good word. When you hear it you feel good. You think to yourself “that was good”. It’s not bad. It’s good. But it could be better…
For example the movie might be called “Spiderman”, but the comic book is called “The Amazing Spiderman”. Superman isn’t just a hero, he’s a super hero. The Incredibles aren’t just good, they are incredible. And last year the Silver Surfer didn’t just fight any four astronauts, he fought “The Fantastic Four”. And because your students have you as their teacher, I’m sure they’re not just good. I bet they are excellent. Or brilliant. So let them know. Instead of just writing “good!” on their homework, let them know that they, just like you, are really…
Normal English: Good! -> Genki English: Amazing! Super! Incredible and Fantastic!
In yesterday’s newsletter I introduced the new Genki English “One Left” Card Games. Just like the famous game Uno, they are based on the traditional Crazy Eights game and work great in mid to high level classes.
Here’s another one for you today, for teaching weather and countries. Simply teach the two lessons as usual then use the card game in the next class to show the kids how to link sentences together.
I wasn’t too sure which way to write the sentence on these cards e.g. “In Canada, it’s sunny” or “It’s sunny in Canada”, but went for the former as it seems to be more popular in textbooks. But if enough of you want it the other way I could do another version, just let me know!
I’ve also got a couple of other versions coming soon, and as usual any requests are much appreciated!
Enjoy!
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