A Personal Update
It’s been a while
It’s been a while since I wrote about anything other than the Fluency Course, which now has its own website so please go there for updates 🙂
I’m doing okay. Certainly can’t complain. The Age of Covid has been pretty stressful but we weathered the storm better than many.
My wife’s school managed to get the same number of new students as the number of students that left/graduated. In addition, 50 of our elementary school students started junior high school and stayed at the school. As our JHS fees are much higher, this was a net increase in revenue for the school.
But the kindy and elementary school first year classes are looking (understandably) bare.
I wasn’t expecting to still be in this situation over a year into the pandemic, but we are so we just need to deal with it and hope that business will be better if things get a bit more resolved.
In the meantime we are spending a lot of time and money on upgrading the school, through lesson planning and materials development (mainly making Google slides for every single class), investing in classrooms and equipment (two large TVs in each classroom, upgraded internet and new routers in every room for the school, more readers for our ER program), and writing new materials (I’m finally getting started on the fluency phonics course I have been planning for over a decade).
On a personal level I have some new health issues (had surgery last month and am learning to walk properly again and trying to get back into fighting shape) and I’ll be transitioning to self-employment from next April! It’s a bit scary but I’m looking forward to it.
iTDI Making ELT Videos Course
I’m taking an iTDI course for the first time, with the enthusiastic Vicky Hollet, about making ELT videos.
We had the first session last night (22:00 Japan time) and I think it’s going to be a good fit for me. I have special permission to share the first session.
Check it out here and you can still join the course for the next three sessions if you like it. Possibly the best thing about the course is having access to Vicky, her collaborator Jay, and the other course participants, There’s a private community for asking questions, asking for feedback, etc.
If all goes well I should be making more videos going forward.
The Academy Program
English Program for Junior and Senior High School Students
For the last two years we have been developing the Cambridge Academy, an academic English program for junior and senior high school students in a private English school setting.
The program consists of two strands: input and output.
Input classes are based on extensive reading and listening. Students spend most of their time reading/listening to graded materials at their level. Students also learn vocabulary, do shadowing, or write short reactions to books (at higher levels).
Output classes are focused on oral and written production. Students work in pairs to develop their speaking fluency, and do intensive reading and listening exercises to encounter and practice language. Vocabulary and grammar is chosen to complement public junior high school textbooks.
We are now exploring ways to license and share the Academy program with other schools. Academy partner schools will receive training, teaching and administration manuals, and materials, and have the option to purchase starter packs of readers (labelled and organized into packs so they can be used straight out of the box).
Many English schools struggle with retaining and recruiting junior and senior high school students. The Academy program provides practical, academically focused classes that are easy to run, enjoyable for teachers and students, and easy to explain to parents.
If you are interested in learning more or would like to be considered as a test partner please get in touch via email or a comment below.
Now
Derek Sivers had a(nother) great idea recently: a /now page. You can see his here and mine by clicking on the menu on the right.
We’re back
You may have noticed the site’s been down for about three weeks. Apparently some plugin didn’t like another plugin, resulting in a fatal error.
I got in touch with my hosting company today and they fixed it in about two minutes. Sorry for the delay, which was entirely my fault (it’s been a busy couple of months)!