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My name is Willie Ladson, an ex-international professional basketball player, and I would like to introduce my program. It´s called Basket and English. After about a couple of months into my retirement, I was listening to the president of Spain speak about starting new programs to help improve the level of English in schools. I was shocked when he said that Spain, where I currently live with my family, is one of the worst English speaking countries in Europe. Most kids know how to write English but don´t know how to hold a basic conversation. And if they do, their pronunciation is very bad. Every summer, since 1994, I´ve been teaching and coaching in basketball camps all over N.Y.C. So I was looking to do something that would keep me involved in it while living in Spain. I came up with the idea of teaching kids English using basketball drills and games. “The best way to learn a language is to think fast in that language. In basketball the person who thinks the fastest has the advantage” http://vimeo.com/2049331. That is the foundation of my program. Teaching children English while instructing them on the basketball court and in a classroom setting. They'll be learning the fundamentals of both at the same time while being competitive. Kids are always motivated if they know that they´ll win a prize if they excel. That is what I use in my program. I keep the classes competitive. Splitting the kids up into teams and having them compete against each other. The winning team receives prizes that the Knicks, Nets, and Basketball City N.Y., have donated to the program. In order to win, you have to think fast in English. There’s no time for translating in your head. If you do you risk losing. The kids love it.
Last year was my
first full year of doing the program and it was a great success. The
mayor of the city, and the board of education, has been supporting
the program since day one. At the end of the last school year, I
got the schools from all the cities that I run the program, together for an
inter-city tournament.(http://www.youtube.com/user/BasketandEnglish#p/u/2/uhCeQsum_WE
) We had
live music with a Dj, food, tons of games, parents verses kids games,
trophies, medals, T-shirts, a single elimination basketball tournament with a
whole lot of press coverage. There were
a lot of kids that couldn´t make it because it was on the weekend and many went
to the beach, but all together I had about 300 kids in and out that day. In one
of the cities that I teach in, I have a kid that is the mayor´s son and he and
his dad participated and had a ball. This will be a yearly thing. This year I included at some sites an
hour of basketball with another hour inside a classroom conversing in English.
Parents love the idea of their kids getting an opportunity to sit down and talk
to native English speaking lecturers as well as learning the fundamentals of
basketball. Some have called me or pulled me to the side to say thank you for
trying to make a difference. Hearing that just makes me and my staff work
harder at our common goal. We try to make the classes fun. A lot of enthusiasm,
motivation and discipline. The slogan of the program speaks for its self.
“You
can do it” The Program is growing at a good
pace. I want to branch off, eventually, into more towns and cities in Galicia
and eventually to Madrid and Barcelona. That means I have to hire more staff
members. My program is unique because the kids will be learning English and
basketball from an American Ex-professional basketball player. I want all my
staff members to have the same or similar qualities as well. So now you know about my program, let
me tell you a little about me. I am an ex-international professional basketball
player since 1994 (www.ganchitoladson.com).
I just retired from playing May of 2008 after playing pro in 12 different
countries. I´m originally from South
Carolina, but grew up most my life in the Bronx N.Y. I´ve also been hired as
the third assistant coach of a professional basketball team here in Orense. If you want to read more about my bio, you
can find info here:
http://www.ganchitoladson.com/diary.html I´m also on
Facebook with tons
of pictures of my program.
Willie E. Ladson CEO of Basket and English
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