0-9minutes
Who is Timothy and how did he come to Japan?
A funny story about the first visit in Japan.
9~14minutes
How did Timothy start to become an English teacher>>>and a school owner
15 minutes
Timothy's idea about teaching
17minutes~
Which ages do we enjoy most and why, and...
19 minutes~25minutes
about 2, 3 year olds
organizing classes and 'quality of life' and class sizes
25minutes ~
penmanship, writing and why/how Timothy started making own materials
30minutes~
The becoming of Ready, Set, Eigo Card game
50 minutes, 
the word I didn't remember:
circumlocution 

...this is  one thing Frederic Daudu in Cambodia is talking about in this week's MAC Radio.

Which of these topics we talked about was most interesting for you?
​
*Who is Frederic and why, how did he move to Cambodia.
*Experience and especially failures when trying to open a language school (several times)
*A project that finally really succeeded
*How to make short videos and quizzes to teach phonics, for kids.>>
*Why and How did Frederic start TikTok.
*Covid situation in Cambodia, and Frederic's personal experience with Covid.

📻MAC RADIO 7

This was the question Phillip,  Owner from "Kiwi English" in Matsuyama, asked me a couple of months ago.

While I was answering we figured a zoom call would do better than texting, and so we decided last week to talk about this and share our thoughts directly with you.

We are talking about so many things, from teaching Phonics to writing journals;  video projects and more.

Plug in and listen, and if you like it put up a thumb.  Thanks so much Phillip.  I love great questions and juggling ideas.

And I know already what you and I should chat about next time.😉

​Click the Play button above．

Don't miss today's talk, because it has so much practical, valuable content, especially if you are teaching younger kids.

Lindsay is sharing her experience of moving from self employment to being a Child care English Teacher in a japanese company.
We are chatting about a few ups and downs but the topic today is GAMES!  And the pros and cons of some of them, and how to make pros out of cons😉

I am personally having a hard time these days with games for very young kids (4), and Lindsay had a few great game ideas for that age, she has been sharing here.  It has no name but let me call it 'The Magnetgame'.
I ended up playing it in all of my classes up to grade 3 last week, in several variations. Funnily every time WITHOUT a magnet, so probably the name is not really the best.
Lindsay called it 'THe ice cream game', but again, I played it without ice cream, so maybe that name is also not the best.
Listen and give us some thoughts of what would be a cool name. 
Here you go.

And please, let me know if you would like to be part of a show.
I will be in touch with you anyway!😉And it would be so much more fun, if you would raise your hand before that.

This week I came across two activities that saved me hours of prep time, made my classes lots of fun, and gave the kids a huge amount of practice.

Recently I am not a lot on Social Media.   So it doesn't happen without coincidence that I see something and it is "JUST WHAT I NEED".  

This week was a week like that.

Both I came across on "Maple Leaf Learning Club", so let me introduce:

The first one is a card game, you can order on Amazon, and it is called:

READY SET EIGO CARD GAME
Instead of me explaining it, here is the video of how to play it, by the inventor Timothy Hill, himself playing it with his students.

The images are so beautiful and 'clear', the kids loved them, and didn't want to stop playing.  I would say, there are many other things you can do with these cards, and you can get even more speaking practice into it.

What I did for example is:

Each kid kept the cards they discarded.  In the end when the game was finished, each player made the sentences with their cards again, for example.

'This bus is blue' 
'A frog can jump.'
etc

The second activity is not a game, but a super hilarious tool for teacher to practice Phonics.
I really really wanted something like this for ages.  And I think every teacher who is teaching phonics is craving for something like this.  
It is such a simple idea, and we have all made some tools like these ourselves to get the kids practice, but I find it so much hassle and stuff to carry around in that old style way.

So, here is the app    This here is a Google Play link, but you get it for iOS devices as well on the app store.

Big shout out to 'The Maple Leaf Learning Club'.  So cool ideas here.  And of course I also highly recommend the other card games, like 'Ho Ho Ho'  'Faster than', 'Spooky Speedy'.
​Check it out!


And here is the video explanation for the app, but this is only for 3 letter words, while the app I am talking about has consonant blends AND AND AND :
Magic e  !!!!!!!

A few months ago I have been sharing some templates of Jamboards.

Thanks  a lot for trying them.  It seems like especially the Demon Slayer one was a big hit with teachers and students, at least here in Japan.

Today I got the question, why do I use Jamboard to create worksheets, instead of Pages (I am a MAC user).

In Jamboard I can create a worksheet in under 3 minutes.
It stays in my Google library as long as I want, and I CAN, if I WANT, use it interactively.
but I CAN also create a pdf file and print it as a worksheet.

It is super easy, and this way I can tailor the worksheets so that they suit my classes, my kids, level and interest wise.

I hate doing the same lesson twice.  I think it is unnatural, so, even if I am teaching the same structures in two same aged and leveled classes, the flow and often the material I use is pretty different.  
Why would I use Micky Mouse in a class that is into Minions, for example.

So, instead of adjusting my classes to the worksheets I have, I adjust the worksheets to the classes.  Easy!


Here a few examples of some simple stuff I made 5 minutes before class.  I am not exaggerating with the time here, so you will of course notice that they are absolutely MINIMALISTIC!  Bare with me there.  If you are more into beauty and design, of course you can spend more time and make them more beautiful, but I am happy to keep it simple and have the kids add inspiration and color!!!
​

If you are using Jamboard already, it would be great if you could share ONE idea how!

If you aren't and would like to know how to use it, LIKE this post or leave a comment.

Have a great day!
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