Best for the world - a new song about our future!

Charles Goodger at Late Conference, Riga, 23 August

FunSongs is proud to announce the latest addition to its catalogue of language-learning action songs: Best for the World.
Suitable for older children the song focuses on the themes of sustainable and unsustainable natural resources, overpopulation, technology and ecology.
Provocative and thought-provoking, Best for the World asks a key question using the first and second person singular and the first person plural of the verb:

Are you doing your best for the world?
Are we doing our best for the world?
Am I doing my best for the world?

From the perspective of vocabulary it can be used to teach and reinforce the names of staple crops and other nouns related to the song's themes. The song also features a direct reference to The Millennium Song in its final seconds.

At the Late Conference where he gave the plenary keynote speech, Charles was invited to talk at other upcoming teacher events in the Baltics in Riga and Vilnius.

Teacher Development Workshops in Riga

Charles Goodger at  FunSongs workshop in Riga

During the  first two weeks of June 75 Latvian teachers of English participated in a series of teacher development workshops at the Kunieru Teacher Training Centre in Riga, Latvia.

Charles Goodger was invited by the Local Education Authority to run a series of sessions:

• Communicative Teaching
• Music and mime, rhythm and rhyme - The FunSongs Approach
• CLIL: writing and teaching an action song module 

The encounters provided an interesting insight into how English is taught in Latvian primary schools and gave teachers the opportunity to try out some new approaches based on FunSongs action songs. "It was a great experience - I met some really interesting people," says Charles. "The level of enthusiasm was high and despite one or two exceptions language competence was good, better than the average among Italian teachers of English." 

Charles hopes to repeat this cycle of workshops in other Latvian and Baltic cities soon.

Further photos can be viewed on Facebook.

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Latvian interest in FunSongs action songs

Jeff Canada in action song teaching mode,
FunSongs English Weeks, Zola Predosa

Last Monday 2 June Charles Goodger started a series of teacher development workshops for 75 Latvian Primary School English teachers in Riga. Organized by the Riga Sports and Educational Institute participants were divided into three groups of 25 teachers; each group will spend a total of 9 hours with Charles.

"It's a really worthwhile experience," he says. "These close-up encounters are helping me get a much more focused feel for how English is taught in this country, the system, the level and expectancies of the teachers and so on. Many of them started teaching English when Latvia was still part of the Soviet Union and almost half are Russian speakers. On a more personal level I am happy with the enthusiasm shown for the action songs and the interest from teachers in how a FunSongs learning-language action song can work as the basis of a CLIL-based teaching module."

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First FunSongs Show in Latvia!

On Saturday 24th May, Vija Bluzmen, Emelie Loeb and Valentina D'Errico presented the FunSongs "Water-Udens" Show to a group of children and parents at the International School of Riga. The event took place in the school's gymnasium. We minimized the effects of bad acoustics with the use of radio-microphones. All in all the event was a success considering many of kids were tired after a day of outside activities. The girls did a great job under difficult circumstances. I was also very grateful to Vizma Bluzmen of the National Puppet Theatre for translating the script into Latvian and acting Latty.

Visit to a Latvian school

Thanks to the Riga Education Authority on Friday 9th May I was invited to visit the Ziemelvalstu Gimnazija school just outside Riga. It was a most interesting encounter. I had the pleasure of meeting three Latvian English teachers. They were very welcoming and I observed   two English lessons. The standard of teaching was good with a strong level of interaction between teacher and child. I look forward to meeting the teachers again at the FunSongs workshops in Riga next month.

Best for the World



I have finally found time to work on a new language-learning action song entitled Best for the World. The song has a strong melody line and mentions several of the world's staple crops such as wheat and rice. As well as a language tool, the song has a cross-curricular dimension. It highlights the difficulties of a growing population, fuel and diminishing natural resources.
I intend to get it recorded, choreographed and available on the site for classroom use soon.

Getting ready for our presentation show

On Thursday 22 May Valentina D'Errico and Emelie Loeb arrive from Italy to present a FunSongs Show at the International School of Riga. FunSongs is glad to be able to count on the help of Vija Bluzmen, the artistic director of the National Latvian Puppet Theatre. Vija will provide the voice of the new Latvian-speaking puppet Latty, Britty's baltic sidekick!

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International moves

Detail of FunSongs Show promo flyer for Spain

Now that Andrew Tyree is settled in Madrid he is again working to promote FunSongs in the Spanish capital. One way of spreading interest is to stage a presentation show and invite people who could book it in the future. With this aim in mind, last Friday I got on the phone from Riga and called up Jonathan Pitt who teaches at Madrid's British Council School. The three of us first met in May 2007 when Andrew and I first went over to Madrid in May 2007. Jonathan Pitt remembered FunSongs well and expressed interest in the scheme; my hope is he will be able to organize an event at the school for Andrew. Watch this space for developments - and do contact Andrew if you are in Spain. His details are on the FunSongs Spain website.



The International School of Riga, Latvia

Samuel Goodger now almost 8 has attended this school since moving to Riga from Italy in January. He likes it and is learning. The ISR uses the IB Primary Years programme increasingly used throughout the world. This emphasizes life-long learning, education of the whole person and a global, 21st century approach.
Through contacts with the school I have organized a special FunSongs presentation show schedules for Parents' Say on 24th May. FunSongs has already purchased Emelie and Valentina's ticketsand they will be coming over to Riga to do the show - act out the puppets and showcase some action songs - probably Water is Everything and 65 Million Years Ago.
The aim, as well as offering the school an entertaining and educational free event, is of course, to kick-start FunSongs in Riga and Latvia. Vija Bluzma, artistic director of the National Latvian Puppet Theatre will attend and has agreed to lend us a puppet theatre for the show. It is my hope that other educational luminaries from Latvia's somewhat dysfunctional (so I've heard) state school system will come too!

FunSongs workshops for Riga teachers

Teacher training session with Charles Goodger

Since coming back to Riga from a trip to Bologna to meet with CAIL, there have been several developments in my plan to promote FunSongs in the Baltic.
First last Friday I agreed with Signe Neimane and Guntaris Helmanis of Riga Education Council to hold a series of teacher training session for Latvian primary school teachers of English . These sessions will conists of three 9-hour modules for 75 teachers and will take place at the teacher training centre in Kaniero iela in June. There I can familiarize teachers with the FunSongs Approach which they will be able to start using in class from the start of the new 2007-2008 school year.

Last week I had a meeting with some teachers at the International School of Riga (attended by my seven-year-old son Sammy). They have decided to start using FunSongs packages in their classes in the next few weeks starting with "The Ladybird Song" package.
On Tuesday I will finally meet Iveta Vītola the Longman agent to discuss the Latvian education system and possible areas of collaboration.
I'm also looking forward to meeting Silvija Andernovics current president of Late Latvia's professional association of English teachers. She has just retruned from an interational Tesol conference in New York.

Contacts and sponsorship in Riga

You can't get anywhere without contacts and one task I've set myself is to meet and talk to the right people here to get a better idea of how things work school-wise. One person I haven't actually met yet but hope to soon is Iveta Vītola, the Longman-Pearson agent. I did met her assistant Liga at the Baltic Book Fair on February 29th together with Tatiana Ginzburg who represents another big English language publisher Express Publishing. In competition for what looks like quite a complex market both women seemed interested in FunSongs but were quick to point out they only sell or promote their own houses' publications.

I tried to get them interesed in a sponsorship deal - their publishers buy a packet of FunSongs shows as a prize or for textbook adoptions but for the time being nothing. On the phone yesterday Iveta asked me for proof FunSongs has worked this way in the past with Longman in Italy and so I'm going to ask Elisa Casarini, the Longman rep in Bologna who has helped us with our sponsored shows over the last few months, to contact her - and we'll take it from there!

Yesterday I met up again with Igors Gruars from Riga City Council at an event organized by the Italian Embassy. I hope he will introduce me to the right people at the Education Department.

I'm also waiting to find out exactly what kind of administrative tasks need to be completed for FunSongs to be able to supply the Gramata un Raps bookshop chain with its CD.

Learning English in Latvia

Latvia is a small country of large contrasts

While Charles Goodger struggles to learn Latvian, a fascinating language with direct connections to ancient sanskrit, he is also keenly interested in how Latvian children learn English - and how the school system here is organized. Part of his time here in Riga is spent researching and from time to time reports of his findings will be posted on the FunSongs Blog.

He hopes people who appreciate FunSongs and have an interest in English-language learning, in teaching and culture in general, may find some of the reports interesting.

FunSongs Latvia launch

Riga, Latvia's ancient capital and cultural centre

Following growing interest in the FunSongs Approach from schools and teachers in a number of EU countries and his wife's appointment to Latvia University as an Italian language teacher, Charles Goodger relocated to Riga at the start of February. He hopes to work on and promote his language-learning action songs and shows in Latvia and the surrounding states. You can contact him on +371 25995781 or by email.

A Landmark Year for FunSongs!

Charles Goodger presents a FunSongs Choir at a
national Telethon event in Bologna 15th December.

FunSongs English Weeks

2007 turned out to be an important year in the development of FunSongs. As well as successful shows including an unforgettable Naples tour in May, the seven weeks of FunSongs English weeks summer camps in June in Rome, Valle d'Aosta, Bologna and Zola Predosa with over 500 young learners will be remembered as a triumphant learning experience for us all.

FunSongs Madrid Launch

In January Andrew Tyree from Los Angeles took over from Australian David Crisante as the main FunSongs actor working together with Emelie Loeb. David went to London to do a course in journalism. He is now working for ABC TV in Sydney. After completing his stint as a FunSongs actor and FunSongs English Weeks Team Leader (Dino Pack), Andrew moved to Madrid. He is there now working to promote FunSongs shows in the Spanish capital.

FunSongs Labs

FunSongs Labs started in October 2008 in the wake of the interest generated by the FunSongs English Weeks summer camps in Zola Predosa and Bologna. Specially trained FunSongs teachers hold 10-lesson cycles of FunSongs lessons to small groups (never more than 6) of young learners in their homes. In December the following mother-tongue teachers held FunSongs Labs in Bologna and Zola Predosa: Ashleigh Arnott, Krissy Fischer, Edward Calcott, Costa Latsos, Natasha Hannoun, Valentina D'Errico, Beata Lenkiewicz and Emelie Loeb.

C.A.I.L.

As Charles Goodger gets ready to leave Italy to concentrate on writing new action songs and promote FunSongs shows and events in North-Eastern Europe, Emelie Loeb and Valentina D'Errico, together with Michele Chieffo will soon be running C.A.I.L. - the new Cultural Association for Interactive Learning. CAIL will be responsible for promoting and managing FunSongs events and courses in Italy.
Look out for the CAIL website scheduled to go live by the end of January 2008.

FunSongs Christmas Shows!

On Thursday 22nd November FunSongs inaugurated the first Christmas shows of the season at Scuola Primaria Padre Marella in Bologna. Teachers at the school decided to book the show a month before Christmas in order to allow themselves enough time in class to work on the "I Love Christmas" worksheets available on the FunSongs website.

FunSongs training workshop in Reggio Emilia

The same day Charles Goodger, Emelie Loeb and Valentina D'Errico conducted a teacher training workshop for 60 teachers in Reggio Emilia. Organized by Prof.ssa Carla Bazzini of the Local Teacher Authority, the event gave teachers their first experience of the FunSongs approach.

FunSongs European Union Show in Milan

FunSongs teachers and performers Emelie Loeb
and Krissy Fischer

On Saturday 17th November we performed a FunSongs European Union show at Istituto Cardarelli Massuau in Milan for primary school and middle school students. As well as the children, many parents came too, invited by Prof. Mauro Verde. This was Krissy's first show.

FunSongs at Feltrinelli International in Florence

Shop window of Feltrinelli, Via Cavour , Florence

The FunSongs CD "Action Songs for Learning English" ISBN 0954396316 is the glue that has held our relationship with prestigious Italian bookstore chain Feltrinelli together since 2004.

On Saturday 27th October Emelie and Charles took a train down to Florence from Bologna to present the "FunSongs Approach". Given the modest but steady sales the CD generates for them, Feltrenelli are happy with the product which they sell in their branches in Milan, Padua, Bologna, Rome, Naples and of course Florence.

Halloween and Autumn Shows

Emelie and Costa teaching "On Halloween" in Budrione (MO)

The hundreds of children who have participated in our shows these last few weeks have been celebrating Halloween and the season of Autumn through song, dance, movement and of course, English. It is always a pleasure to return to schools that know us and appreciate our method and material. The video clip shows Emelie and Costa, (our new FunSongs actor from Sydney who is also an opera singer) leading the children in a collective performance of On Halloween.

FunSongs Labs

Andrew Tyree helping kids to be creative in English

FunSongs Labs is a new project we are developing after the success of our FunSongs English Weeks summer camps. Families form small groups of 4 to 5 children and once a week for ten weeks FunSongs provides a trained English teacher. He or she holds the lessons at home. The scheme is currently limited to Bologna and the surrounding area. For further details, please contact the FunSongs Italy office to ask for an application form.

New developments as the School Year starts

Robin Hood's Band by Charles Goodger
Collective performance during a FunSongs Show

As always the month of October is a busy time for FunSongs. As well as organizing the many bookings for FunSongs Shows, the Italy office in Zola Predosa is also coordinating a new project entitled "FunSongs Labs". These are English lessons for small groups of children based on the FunSongs Approach.

September 2007 - multilingual FunSongs!

Charles Goodger and Andrew Tyree present the
FunSongs method to kids in a Madrid school

After a season working for FunSongs Italy, Californian actor and teacher Andrew Tyree (tel. 0034 665 11 53 86) is now based in Madrid. He is working to interest schools and teachers in the validity and effectiveness of the FunSongs Approach. Andrew and his staff in Madrid are now available to bring the magic and joy of FunSongs language-learning action songs to Spain.

A seguito dell'ultimo anno scolastico lavorando per la FunSongs Italy, l'attore e insegnante californiano Andrew Tyree (tel. 0034 665 11 53 86) ora vive a Madrid. Si sta impegnando per interessare le scuole e gli insegnanti della capitale nella validità e efficacia dell'Approccio FunSongs. Andrew e la sua équipe sono pronti a presentare la magia e la gioia delle canzoni animate didattiche FunSongs ai bambini spagnoli.

Después de trabajar para FunSongs Italy, ahora el actor y profesor californiano Andrew Tyree (tel. 0034 665 11 53 86) vive en Madrid. El objetivo de Andrew, que habla perfectamente el castellano, es de interesar las escuelas y los profesores de la ciudad en la validez y la eficacia del Enfoque FunSongs. Andrew y su personal en Madrid están disponibles a traer la magia y la alegría de las canciones de FunSongs a los alumnos españoles.

FEWs June 2007 - unforgettable events

Kids performing an action song at FunSongs
English weeks Show in Zola Predosa

This June FunSongs organized six weeks of FEWs - FunSongs English Weeks - in four different locations. In Rome, Chatillon (Valle d'Aosta), Zola Predosa and Bologna.

Thanks to its staff of mother-tongue teachers and team leaders, the events were much appreciated. The format of each FunSongs English Week is based on a series of themes. Participating students are placed in teams, each of which works collectively to develop a particular theme.

This summer there were three teams: The Dino Pack and their special classroom "The Saurus Cave". The Dip Pack's project was the Age of Dinosaurs; the Water Drops in their classroom "Behind the Waterfall" - climate change, ecology and water conservation and the Space Monsters in their classroom "Starship Command" - astronomy and the solar system.

At the end of each FEW, the children exhibted their arts and crafts and performed their action. Som videos of these performances can be viewed on the FunSongs channel at http://www.youtube.com/.

Given the success and interest in these innovative events, FunSongs is planning to offer FunSongs English Weeks to schools during the school year. Teachers interested in hosting a FunSongs English Weeks are invited to contact the FunSongs Office.

FunSongs English Weeks 2007!

Kids enjoying a FunSongs Monster show at
IC Berlinguer, Secondigliano, Naples

These last two months have beeen, to say the least, busy for FunSongs. The Naples Tour in May came after several intense days of meetings and presentations in Madrid where actor and teacher Andrew Tyree will be managing FunSongs Espana from September 2007. There was much interest in the FunSongs Approach both from the British Council School and several state schools participating in the "bilinguismo" project.

Charles Goodger and his team have been getting ready for FunSongs English Weeks, opportunities for young learners to immerse themselves in the English language through our particular blend of music, rhyme, rhythm and mime. This year FunSongs will be coordinating FEWs in Rome, Chatillon near Aosta, Zola Predosa and Bologna.

FunSongs launches in Spain

Actor and teacher Andrew Tyree from Los Angeles
after a FunSongs Quiz Show in Ferrara

FunSongs is getting ready to launch its first franchise. Although FunSongs CDs and books have been sold around the world since the organization's foundation in 1998, FunSongs Shows and Quiz Shows have been limited to Italy where Charles Goodger, author of the songs and shows lives. However next month Charles Goodger and Andrew Tyree who has been performing FunSongs Shows with great success since January 2007 will be flying to Madrid to conduct market research in the Spanish capital. Andrew speaks fluent Spanish and is looking forward to the challenge. He hopes to start promoting and performing shows in Madrid from the start of the next school year.

FunSongs English Weeks 2007

Children playing during last summer's
FunSongs English Weeks in Zola Predosa (BO)

From Monday 11th June through Friday 22nd June FunSongs will be coordinating four FunSongs English Weeks - summer camps for primary school children in which participants learn English using the FunSongs approach. There will be a FEW in Rome, one in Chatillon near Aosta, another in Bologna and finally one again in Zola Predosa. FunSongs hopes to be able to host several hundred children and will be hiring over twenty part-time English teachers. For further details look at www.italian.funsongs.co.uk/english weeks or contact FunSongs direct.