OK, I've got far too much new stuff to go
on the homepage that I'm hoping to send out
2 newsletters this month!!
Another Free MP3!!
We start our shows with the Genki Rocket
Launch song, the idea being to get the kids
all genki and active. On CD volume 2 there
is a version that teaches numbers 10 to 100,
but this month there is the version from
the shows that goes from 10 to 1. It's fun,
it's lively and it's a great warm up for
a lesson! You can download it for free as
an MP3 file, or have a quick listen as a
Realaudio file! http://genkienglish.net/rocket.htm
Speaking of our shows we have ........
Genki English LIVE - Unbelievable Offer!!
You've probably heard about our famous shows
and seminars, as featured in loads of newspapers
last year. If for some reason you haven't,
check out this article from the AWA Life
magazine ( http://www.tk2.nmt.ne.jp/~topia/awalife/january01/genki_eigo.html
). Anyway, we've just worked out an unbelievable
special offer for schools, teachers' groups
and other non-profit organisations! If you
can provide our travel expenses and and we
can sell at least 10 sets of CDs at
the show, (one set is only 8400 yen as you
don't have to pay postage fees, plus of course
you'll still get the free worksheets!), then
we can do the show and a seminar for FREE!!
Yep, FREE of charge!! Get in touch as soon
as you can as our schedule is filling up
very quick!! Email: shown@genkienglish.net or http://genkienglish.net/show.html for more details!!
New feature: Lesson Plan - a fun 45 minutes!
On the site there are loads of ideas, but
how do you use them in a lesson? On this
new page I go through a typical lesson structure
showing:
Warm UP/Review (3/10 minutes) : Using games,
songs etc.
Intro of New Language (15/20 minutes): How
to get the kids to learn new stuff.
Practice of the material (15/20): The use
of games!
and Goodbye's: finishing the lesson on a
high so the kids think "Yeah, I can't
wait for the next lesson!
On the articles page ( http://genkienglish.net/articles.htm ) you'll find links to the English versions
my monthly column from "kids com"
magazine. They are designed to present an
ALTs viewpoint to Japanese teachers, but
you might also find some useful ideas in
there for yourself!
Reader's Ideas
Regular Genki English viewer Oliver Cox says
he is indebted to Genki English for
the success of his Shogakko teaching
(in his words, not mine!), and has put
together this series of excellent hints and
tips!!
1) Teaching numbers 1-12, not just 1-10, is good not just because
you can then jump easily to telling the time,
but also because you can also get the 5th
and 6th grade students to tell you how old
they are.
2) Playing thelines game ( http://genkienglish.net/Lines.htm ) :
this has come to be known as "Saigo-san,
dare wa saigo -san! " amongst
my lot.
As a forfeit, the last person must
do an
impersonation, with me, or alone, of
an animal
of my choice. Always seems to amuse
the rest
of them!
3)"What colour do you like?" Game Similar to your "Where are you from?" Game ( http://genkienglish.net/whereRU.htm ).
Knock up a template with eight blank circles
on it, having taught the requisite 1-4 nensei
eight or more colours. Give a sheet to each
student. Hold up your template, which has
all the circles coloured in different colours.
Tell the students to copy it. When done they
decide which is their favourite of the eight
colours and write their name next to it.
Then teach the brief dialogue with volunteers/your
alter ego:
A: Hello!
B: Hello!
A: "What colour do you like?"
B: "I like _____. What colour do you
like?"
A: "I like _____."
B: "Thank you, goodbye!"
A: "Thank you, goodbye!"
All must go around and perform this dialogue
with their peers, and can write down a name
next to a circle each time they encounter
someone who likes a colour for which they
haven't yet written a name. The aim is to
get a name next to all eight circles then
come to the front, practice the dialogue
with you, and get a prize/that's it.
With smaller classes, nominate who likes
what in order to avoid all of them liking
only blue and red. Do the game with them
and keep an eye out in case no-one likes
"white", for example, and you have
to step in and pretend that you do! Getting
the older children to use only Romaji (roman
letters)when writing names can be an interesting
challenge too.
4) Koala Game( http://genkienglish.net/koala.htm ) I
have several additions to extend it and make
it even more fun. Tell them the English for
gTOh (gANDh) gHAIh(YES) gIIEh(NO).
Then you can practice saying gkoala AND
dog PLEASEh or gcow AND ball PLEASEh.
Use YES and NO to refuse/accept someonefs
request for an item. When you say NO to someonefs
request for an item you are holding they
will all laugh like drains if you do it in
the fashion of a spoilt kid who doesnft
want to play (!). Say YES to the nicer, quieter
kids. Let them practice all of this on their
own/with each other. Can be reviewed at a
later date too.
5) Coin Toss Game ( http://genkienglish.net/janken.htm )Materials:
Coins from home. Play: Tell the kids
that
in your country children donft play
janken
as much as in Japan. The way they settle
arguments is to toss a coin. Pass said
coin
around the class for all to see. Meanwhile
at either end of the blackboard draw
a silly
representation of each face of the
coin (e.g.
an ugly looking Queen, a happy looking
lion,
some pretty flowers etc. etc.). Take
the
coin back and say that it is a present
for
someone in this class, but we must
play the
game to decide who that someone is.
Demonstrate
a gcoin tossh several times so they
understand
what youfre going to do. Have them
all stand-up
and move to the side of the room which
corresponds
to the face of the coin they think
will come
up. In other words, if they think it
will
be gheadsh then tell them to move
to the
side of the room on which heads is
drawn
on the b.board. Those who are correct
after
the first toss get to carry on to the
next
toss. Those who get it wrong have to
sit
down. Eventually only one student will
be
left. They get the coin and are pronounced
gLucky-san!h [Good for showing them
the
occasional benefit of striking out
and doing
their own thing...perhaps].
These are great! Thank you very much
Oliver.
And if anyone else has any good ideas/additions
etc. then please email me or put them
on
the discussion board!
Japanese Newsletter
If any of your friends or colleagues are
interested, there is also a Japanese version
of this newsletter. They can either sign
up on the homepage, or by sending me an email
to newsletterj@genkienglish.net
New for later in April!
Waiting for uploading later in April
are two new games, "Animal Hats",
and "Throw a Six", as well as some
new Phonics worksheets. I'm working on them
now, so keep checking back to find out when
they'll be on the site! The Phonics page
( http://genkienglish.net/phonics.htm )has become hugely successful and one project
I'm working on is a set of groovy "Phonics
Cubes", I'll upload these on the worksheets ( http://genkienglish.net/worksheets.htm )section of the site, so anyone who has
our CDs will be able to download them for
free!!
And Finally,
Well, that's it for this newsletter, there'll
be a new one out in a few weeks, so
keep checking out the site!!
