“Kids drop out of school mostly because school is boring and not particularly relevant.”
- Nicholas Negroponte- a Greek American architect
Recall your school days; apart from beautiful memories with friends, a remembrance of boring and jarring classes will pop up too. A gloomy atmosphere with a teacher narrating verbose lectures would definitely be a shared memory for all of us. Why was it like that, though? Because of the teacher, complex topics, or something else? A lethargic teaching style is surely a major reason for those lousy sessions. Consequently, uninspiring classes of such nature were, and surprisingly, still are a significant reason for poor grades.
“In boring classes, we always improve our drawing skills.” – Anonymous
But what makes a class dull and vague? A poll deduced that 47% of students found their classes blasé, claiming that such sessions only stimulated students’ daydreams. It is a disastrous situation when young students are not learning properly, essentially jeopardizing their future. So, what’s the solution to this problem? A new, inspiring, and fun teaching style that commands students’ attention and stimulates cognition. This transition, however, requires competent and creative educators ready to put in incessant efforts. Charles Goodger is one such individual who brought forth innovative ideas to the teaching fraternity.
So, what exactly has Charles Goodger done? Being a veteran musician, Mr. Goodger blends music and education to provide exciting learning experiences to students. Does this make sense? YES, music helps amplify cognitive skills and hence offers ample room for learning. Interesting right? Using this scientific phenomenon, Goodger founded FunSongs Education Limited, an organization that teaches through action songs.
FunSongs Education Ltd is a Windsor-based organization that provides teachers, parents, and young English learners with original action songs. Goodger opted for musical learning because it propels kids’ emotional and expressive intelligence. Besides organizing these fun classes, Goodger writes language-learning action songs, puppet scripts, and teaching materials for his organization. He has written licensed original language songs, chants, and raps for Aschehoug (Norway) and Young Digital Planet (Poland).
Devoted to innovative teaching methods, Goodger organizes several conferences and workshops to promulgate his ideas worldwide. He has held workshops at International English Learning Teaching (ELT) conferences in China, India, Lithuania, Russia, Latvia, Israel, Poland, France, Germany, Italy, Estonia, Spain, Cyprus, England, and Scotland. He organizes teacher training and arranges development courses for primary English teachers in several countries.
Goodger recently organized a fun workshop named “Nonni Nipoti Lab” in Centro Pime in Milan on May 2023. He targeted grandparents and grandchildren for his workshop. Goodger started the seminar with the song “What’s Your Favorite Animal,” followed by “Thrive,” and many more, focusing on bringing expressive gestures, so kids and their grandparents would be more sensitive and communicative towards each other.
Goodger boasts an impressive educational background and has been an influential member of multiple academic committees. Notably, he served as a Committee Member of the prestigious International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) from 2009 to 2016 and was invited again in 2017. His speaking engagements have been highly enviable and include serving as a plenary speaker for renowned conferences like the Free Online Conference (2016), Young Learners Conference, Virtual Webcon Round Table (2014), Fall Blog Festival (2014), and Colloquium Preliminary Program.
Goodger is an exceptional songwriter and musician and has created numerous melodies. On Halloween, I Love Christmas, A Song for Winter, Our Autumn Song, and I Love Summer are a few of his creations. Besides that, Goodger is a versatile author who has written action-based songs and academic publications, some of which are Trade & Business International, Trade in Action, World Friends and US OK 1, and The Amazing Story of Dick Whittington and his Cat. Goodger has performed in movies as well. He interpreted the role of the caretaker David in the 2020 independent horror film Clara by Francesco Longo and appeared in a cameo role as an English-speaking tourist in the third episode of the first season of Summertime (2019), produced by Cattleya, Rome, for Netflix.
Goodger, a multitalented musician, composer, film actor, and author, was shortlisted for an ELTons Award for innovation and excellence in ELT in 2011 by the British Council and Cambridge English for his par excellence contribution to the educational field. The Bombay-based Accord Cine Fest organization awarded him a Certificate of Achievement as Best Actor in the Independent Film Clara in 2021. He was also nominated as the Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film by the Fantastic Film Festival in San Diego, CA, USA.
Conclusively whenever the world needs a revolution in any field, we are bound to produce top-notch talent. Charles Goodger rejuvenates the teaching style with his FunSongs Education Limited company and works relentlessly with experts and an experienced team to provide unique content in the form of teaching material. Goodger is multilingual, has expertise in six languages, and is a skilled guitar and piano player. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Education and a language expert at the University of Bologna.
