Hello! Well, only two weeks since the last
newsletter and already the homepage is full
of updates! Next week we have a big seminar
in Osaka (May 20th, ACT III Hall Osaka, tel
03-3717-3359), and one on June 11th in Shikoku
- please come along!! So just after our workshop in
Tokyo at the NTT Seminar House, here's your
guide to what's new on Genki English!
Curriculum Update!
Having problems thinking of what to teach?
Or trying to make a year plan for your schools?
Well, on the site there is now the 2001 updated
version of Joel Bacha's curriculum that will
be used in Asakura Mura's Elementary
Schools. Have a look and see just what is
possible with only 2 lessons a month if you
use Genki English!!! I went to Joel's schools
last year and the kids were awesome!!
I've also redone my Genki English Curriculum,
corrected the links and brought all the relevant pages
into one easy to use menu. The language taught
is all based on real elementary school lessons
taught over the last four years - yes Japanese
kids can get this good!!
Joel has also been mega busy updating his
Joel's Ideas page - have a look to get some
cool ideas! And he'll also be presenting
the Elementary School Workshop at the
ALT Renewers Conference in Kobe this
year - pop along and see some Genki English
in action!!!
Apologies to the readers who are not in Japan,
but this new section is designed to show
people that using the Japanese katakana script
to teach English is wrong!!! Don't use it!
In the new Ministry of Education handbook
it also tells teachers not to use it!!! Using
this little animation you can show
the kids a useful little hint for correcting
their katakana pronunciation - even the teachers
will go "ahhhhh!"
I was asked the other day to produce
an anime
so that the kids could learn the names
of
the fruits before singing the Fruit
Market
song. So here it is! Play it to your
kids
and get them to shout at the screen
when
they see the pictures - it's great
practice!
Next week I've got a demo lesson and
the given topic is "Animals". Now
I haven't recorded the Genki English animals
song yet, so I was a bit stuck as I really
wanted to use a song. So Will suggested
using the karaoke version of the Fruits Market
song! The idea is that instead of saying
"What' this?" and holding up a
fruit card, you use the karaoke version (from
the CD), sing "What's this?" and
then hold up any card for the kids to sing e.g.
"What's this?", "It's a monkey!".
Great!! Have a try at using the song for
any piece of vocab! If you have a vary speed
CD player, start of slow and then gradually
build up the speed!!!
How's the weather?
I had a demonstration lesson this week that
involved the weather. The kids did really
well! But one question that I had was "Why
do you say 'What's the weather like?' instead
of 'How's the weather?". For example
in the NHK series Eigorian they say "How
is the weather?".
Well, in the UK, Australia and certain parts
of the US people naturally say "What's
the weather like?", however in some
parts of the US people say "How's the
weather?". I went for the former as
it sounds more natural to more people. If
you think "How's the weather?"
is better, simply teach that phrase. It's
good for the kids to know that different
people have different English. This is great
because it shows them that there is no "correct"
English, they should just try their best
and not matter if it's not "perfect"!
Teaching Culture with "How are
you?"
ALC Press have just published two more of
my articles on their website. The best one
has to be the description of my "How
are you?" lesson, where I use the various
answers to the question to teach cultural
points. Have a look and see
Right, I think that's it for now! Thanks
to everyone for all their great comments
about Genki English this month - they are
much appreciated (especially in front of
TV documentary makers!!)!! If you're in Ehime,
we're planning on doing shows throughout
the month of June - get in touch (tel 090
- 1328 - 6924) if you think your school could
withstand the "Genki English Typhoon"
(as one Head Teacher called us last
year!!)
