It’s been quite an amazing year with 3 full on tours, with two of them in Europe and a ton of new stuff on the website!
Here’s what we did (how many of them do you remember??) ….
January – Attention Spans
January we had Teacher Lucky's Genki Restaurant and the New Game: Shine on me. Lots of people took me up on The One Simple Biggest Thing to Improve Your Lessons and we also had an Even Easier Way to Do Video Projects.
One of the most popular teaching myths is that you “have to change activities every 5 minutes” which we busted in Very Little Kids and Very Short Attention Spans. And for the upcoming Winter Olympics we had New Game: Double Winter Sports Leapfrog!
February – Angel Wings!
We started out the month with some fantastic feedback from a Genki English reader who showed How my Grandson learnt to read in 3 weeks and I followed that with How to teach the alphabet to first grade.
Games wise we had more Winter Sports + a Few Games Ideas, Olympic Medal Game! , I came here by …. & the Advanced Game: Look at my snowman! plus New Game: 12 and Bust!
I gave a glimpse into how “infinite patience” helps with Don't ask me, do it.
I added another really cool discipline trick with Angel Wings and Betty sent in her Genki English "Lapbooks" – Great Idea for Homework!
March – New Menus!
A few curriculum ideas with Ninja Tips to Curriculum Writing & Lesson Planning for Elementary, High School, Adults & Babies and the Printable Elementary School Curriculum. Gestures help you learn faster – said the BBC! and
Lots of FAQs this month with Where do I get all my energy?, Best games for really small groups?, Is it good to repeat games? and A couple of interviews with me. There was a new New 1st 2nd 3rd Minicards + Video plus I added some more Picture Books and the Easter + Picture Book! and More discipline tips with Genki English Book Club: Life Ki-Do (empowering discipline tips!)
And by far the most popular post of the year was the brand new software menu! Help Please: New Software Menu, What do you think?
April – True Story
Unlike previous years I started this year without an April Fools, yes this was true: Demo Lesson Ideas learnt from my First Helicopter Pilot Lesson
We had New Song To Try: The Town Musicians of Bremen and new games with That's a rabbit!, Higher / Lower Numbers Game, How many questions?, Bumper Easter Ideas, I forgot my … Stationery Game
After the fantastic workshop in Fukuoka we had Are You Making Diamonds? (or Coal?), What's for (healthy) lunch?, Is it OK for parents to watch the class?, Start Your Own school Tip 16: Should I hire a teacher for my school? and the New Passports & Immigration Game!
The best post of the month were the fantastic Genki English Rules Posters!
May – Italy, Slovakia & Ukraine!
The first big tour of the year was amazing. Just the first day or two In Italy! was a whole other world, then the workshop with Amaaaazzzing Teachers – Here's what we did, I also taught some Italy Demo Lessons, Vienna to Slovakia & Why all English is a terrible idea! , 5 Top Ninja Tricks for overly excited, uncontrollable kids
Then on to a Fairy Tale Workshop in Slovakia – and… refusal to do the Superhero?
For the new games we had Yes and…. Game , Mingle Colours, May I borrow your mmmmm…, Quick Tip to Organise Your Minicards, Amazing Cooking Projects!
A few FAQs with How to ace the KET, PET, YLE, Cambridge & Other Exams with Genki English! & How much teacher talk time should there be in class?
Then The Streets of Kiev & What excuse do you have?
June – in Video!
I flew to the UK and uploaded the Kiev Pre-Conference – in Video! New Game: Candy Rain! & Mr Monkey's Cooking Corner
Questions with When (and how) to introduce writing in English class?, Is it a good idea to learn every word in the dictionary? , The Difference Between Average Teachers & Great Teachers! and Ken's Quick Tip To Stop Kids Cheating at Genki English Computer Games and the Where is Baby Cat? Prepositions & Furniture Song
July – 3 city Japan Tour!
I had three great workshops in Tokyo, Nagoya & Osaka.
Then as we were heading into the holidays we had Harvard University Research on Genki English Citations – Getting your School to choose Genki English and Top 3 Summer Lesson Ideas.
Summertime often means bugs, so there was the Creepy Crawlies Dance Remix + Picture Book, the New Animals Picture Book and a Quick Tip To Speed Up the USB Homework!
FAQs were How important is it to have perfect pronunciation? How do I use worksheets in English class? and Ken had the best guarantee to give his parents: Better than the local Junior High School Teachers…
Hugo also came up with his first Genki Origami Fortune Teller Game and we had The Fishing Game(s)!
August
I think most of you were on holidays, but I was back in NZ – in the winter this time!
We had More Origami Games, How to advertise your school and get more students? and My Top Tip For First Lesson Nerves!
I asked Are you an ALT? How can I help? and put up my Two "What's your favourite …?" Games
A few good articles were What can the American and British education systems learn from classrooms in the developing world? & How to avoid professional burnout?
September – Workbooks!
Crazy back to school time with another record breaking September, thank you everyone!
We had Testing your kids – on the wall 
Should I teach just words or sentences? & Mido was Back with the New Game: Ghostbusters!
Popular questions were How many lessons to teach in each grade? (With examples) Don't be too hard on the kids
I did a great workshop in Kawasaki with some fantastic Filipino Teachers Coffet Workshop Review and I put up another video of my Genki Phonics Workshop in Video – the quickest way to learn to read
And Huge did the amazing New Workbook Covers – Adventure to Experts!
New games were Hop to the Dog! Ninja Turtles Colours Game, North & South: Even more fun! + Game
And we had articles on Apple Watches & Why You're not a Teacher, Any friends new to teaching? Free ESL Teaching Emails! (+ Facebook & Twitter) and Teaching Adults: MBA? Princeton? Genki English? It's all the same! TED Talk
October – Spain!!
After I was totally worn out because of all the travel I was over in Spain for the great workshop there Look at Spain! How do they teach English in Spain? & Spain Workshop – Thank you & Write Up Soon!
On the blog we had Don't forget the Superhero!, Edinburgh University: Singing Significantly Improves Language Learning , New Phonics Story for You: A Light Fight at Night! , Halloween Candies, Party Ninja Tip & Halloween Origami Games, Start Your Own school Tip: How to find out what parents *really* want? and New Game: Guess what's next!
Quite a bit!
November – Global Literacy Xprize
The biggest news this year was Can you help me win the Literacy XPrize? (And change the World)
We also had Happy Thanksgiving, New Game: "Th" practice 1st, 2nd, 3rd Advent Calendar Game!, Ninja Tip: Shy kids to one of the greatest performers in the world!, Christmas Workbook Cover & New Year Calendars,
I didn’t get a new album done this year but we did have the The 3 Bears (Goldilocks Part 2)
And another popular question was Translation of Terror and the Misunderstanding of Doom. Plus Just 4 minutes of fun exercise improves learning and behaviour in the classroom My Best Game This Year: I have …. to …. + New Discipline Technique! & No fun without learning!
December – What does Santa do?
I was getting back into the Christmas spirit with Christmas Spot the Difference, How many Baby Dinosaurs Till Christmas?, What Does Santa Do? Picture Book & Menu Update, How to get your kids addicted to English – Christmas Avatars!, New Lesson, Song & Animation: What does Santa do? 3rd Person "S", It's not too late …. for a Christmas play!
And a few non-Christmassy things with The kids won't answer me in English, Get your school in the papers!, Shapes & Colours & Hamster Games! and How to write your own Genki English songs before wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!
And today I’m feeling quite exhausted writing this overlooking lake Taupo:
So that was 2014!
So a very busy year and a huge thank you to everyone who came to a workshop, sent in an email or wrote on the blog – thank you!!
Europe was amazing and I’ll hopefully be back there this year.
And the sharp eyed amongst you will have seen that this was the first year in 14 years that I haven’t released a new Genki English album!
Part of it is because the curriculum is practically already finished, there is really all you in there to get awesome at English, and everything else will just be icing on the cake.
But also it’s a time thing, doing so many tours in so many cities, plus spending 3 to 4 hours a day answering everyone’s emails just didn’t allow me time to get another album done.
So what do you think I should focus on (or drop!) in 2015, the live workshops, answering everyone’s email or finishing vol. 14 ???
Where ever you are and whatever you are up to I hope you have a wonderfully Genki New Year!
Be genki,
Richard
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