I had been teaching English to children for many years successfully until the day I met my wife. She had a 4-year-old child from a previous marriage that didn’t speak English so I really wanted to teach him. The problem was that when using traditional techniques, there was a limit to the amount of time he could focus. We were playing games but the game playing would always lead to imaginative play in which he would switch to Japanese. I saw that the language being taught in most curriculums was lacking in expressions that were most frequently used by children in their daily lives. The problem was that there were no techniques available to teach those expressions to non-native speakers. So I spent the next 3 years developing Emotional Positioning©, a technique that could help children to understand the meaning of a phrase they were learning and want to use it right away.
My dream is to get children so involved with an imaginary world that they forget they are speaking English and communicate naturally.I have created stories that make children think and want to solve the characters problems
and to do that they use the English that they know. I love when children try to use whatever language they have to communicate with me and I have kept that in mind with every activity in this curriculum.
”My dream is to also help solve real problems that teachers have in exciting and creative ways. At Nuthouse, we are striving to be the top producer of mixed-level class solutions.”
Often it is necessary for small schools to put all kindergarten children in the same classes for scheduling purposes. This creates challenges for the instructor to manage different levels and ages while still trying to keep all kids improving steadily and truly enjoying the classes. By using the Emotional Positioning techniques and ‘level roles’ in the classroom, experienced children can improve more than was possible before. Lower level children can also enjoy the same classes using the language they have while watching and learning from the experienced children in the same way that a child in an English immersion program would.
Nuthouse has encorporated popular teaching methods such as TPR, songs, chants, student centered flashcard games and communication oriented ‘quick and easy’ crafts into the curriculum so that all teachers can enjoy the flexibility this curriculum has to offer. There are many wonderful textbooks available for level based schools. Of course, Nuthouse products can be level oriented.
Scott Crowe, the founder of Nuthouse Education has been teaching children English for 17 years. His background in theatre led him to be fascinated with having young learners feeling and meaning what they say. This led him to create the Emotional Positioning™ methodology which helps the instructor to teach language in the context of a fun story. This method not only keeps children emotionally engaged but also helps them to understand the meaning of what they are saying and when they should use the language they know.
Scott has worked as a materials consultant for some of the largest English material makers in Japan such as Benesse, Shogakukan and Gakken.
He has been on NHK children’s TV shows and enjoyed that he could help make children all over Japan happy.
He is one of the founding members of ROR stand up comedy troupe and in his spare time (what little there is), he does stand up comedy and character voices for textbooks.
Scott illustrated, wrote the songs and wrote the stories as well as designed the curriculum for Nuthouse Education.
He is one of the owners of Sunshine Kids English school chain in Osaka. (If you love this type of teaching and are looking for work as an instructor, we’ll be happy to hear from you!)
