Head, Shoulders, Knees, and all that

Halloween Parties

We had our Knock Knock English Halloween parties over the weekend.  What fun!  Tanja-sensei organized some great parties and the kids came dressed in some amazing costumes.  Here's a video of us singing Knock Knock, Trick or Treat? at one of our Tokyo parties.

How did your Halloween parties go?

Free Halloween Song

Ahhh....Halloween.  I really look forward to this time of year.  It's so great to see the students' faces light up when they see all the Halloween decorations and their friends dressed up as superheroes, princesses, and all kinds of wonderful costumes.

Every year around this time we sing the song Go Away, which the kids really enjoy.  We also enjoy singing Eensey Weensey Spider and Five Little Pumpkins.   

This year we wanted to make another simple song that teaches the basics of Trick or Treating and introduces the names of some popular Halloween costumes.  We also wanted the song to be fun, not scary, and full of movement.  The result is Knock Knock, Trick or Treat? and it's available now for FREE at the Super Simple Songs website.

Tell a friend!

While you're there, be sure to take a look at all the free worksheets and handouts Troy-sensei has created.

Have you picked out your Halloween costume for this year yet?

Be Genki

Troy and I had a chance to meet up with Richard Graham today in Yokohama.  Richard is the creator of Genki English (and Genki Korean, and Genki German, and Genki Japan, and Genki Maths, among other projects).  As you might expect from someone so prolific, Richard is a very genki guy ("genki" meaning "fun", "exciting", and "full of life" in Japanese), so it was really a pleasure to meet with him and share stories.

When I first started teaching English to very young learners, Richard's songs were among the few I could find that really fit the needs of young EFL learners.  Coming from the classroom himself, and testing his songs in classroom settings, it was clear he had an ear for how to make learning English fun and accessible.  A few of my Genki English favorites are What's Your Name? (which I also used with a class for Senior Citizens); Hello, How Are You?; and Rock Paper Scissors, but he has a ton more (7 Genki English CDs with #8 on the way soon).

These days, Richard's music takes him all over the world for presentations and teacher training.  And now that the government of Thailand is introducing Genki English into all of their elementary schools, he gets to spend several months of the year (primarily Japan's cold winter months) in Thailand.  Not bad, not bad at all. 

If you are looking for songs, worksheets, activity ideas, or a ton of other resources, check out GenkiEnglish.com.  And if you're looking to learn a little Japanese or have fun teaching your students how to count in Japanese, a great place to start would be with this video from Richard...you'll be counting to 20 in no time.