October 2008

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Color Hands!

A few people have asked about the white hands on the felt board in the background of some of our videos. They’re hands with color names written on them.  I use them a lot when we’re doing things that involve choosing colors.  For example, if a student is choosing a colored sticker for their attendance passport, I ask them to go the the velcro board and find that color and bring it back to me.

They’ve since been remade and are a lot more colorful now.  You can download them from Super Simple Songs for free.  Put some velcro or magnets on the back and put them somewhere in your room.  They make a great colorful decoration too!

-Troy


Hiroshima

Devon will be presenting at the ETJ (English Teacher’s Japan) Expo and Book fair in Hiroshima tomorrow.

There are a ton of useful workshops and presentations for English teachers from kindergarten to adults. Devon will be talking about choosing, adapting, and introducing songs for your classes. The workshop starts from 9:30 am. So, come along if you can….and be prepared to sing and dance!

Super Simple Learning will be around all day in the bookfair area so if you miss the presentation, Devon will be there to answer any questions you might have.  Hope you can make it!

-Troy

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the traveller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveller in the dark,—
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Betcha didn’t know all the words to that song did you?  Neither did I!

Today the Super Simple Songs ABC Song Video hit 2,000,000 views on YouTube!  The ABC song’s melody is, of course, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.  And, according to Wikipedia, that song was originally an English nursery rhyme called, “The Star”, published in 1806 and sung to the tune of a French melody, “Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman” which dates back to 1761!

Many people think Mozart wrote the melody but, in fact, it was a set of variations on the already existent melody.  It’s definitely a melody that’s stood the test of time and ranks right up there with Frere Jacques for melodies that can be (and have been) used for just about anything.

Talking about stars got me thinking about a song I fell in love with last year.  It’s from a beautiful collection of music from Kids Factory France.  It has nothing to do with the ABC song or magical magnetic letters, and its actually called, “I See the Sun”.  But, there *are* stars in there, and its an absolutely magical song.  Be sure to check out their MySpace page.

-Troy

(This video can’t be embedded, so click on the image below to go to the YouTube Page)

The Pinocchio

The Pinocchio is one of our favorite songs to do with kids of all ages.  Simple.  Fun.  Reviews vocabulary for parts of the body.  And one of the best things about it?  When the song is finished, children have gotten all their wiggles out and are ready to sit down and focus on another activity.

Here’s a video from Eric and his students at E English House in Shiga, Japan doing The Pinocchio.  Thanks for sharing!

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