The official Super Simple Learning blog
Troy is a co-founder of Super Simple Learning. He arranges and produces all the music on the albums, illustrates the flashcards and other teaching materials, and designs the website. He is from Nova Scotia, Canada and has a Bachelor of Music degree from Mount Allison University. Troy came to Japan in 2000 and has spent the past 8 years teaching children, most recently with Knock Knock English.
Our first KEEP workshop at Anaheim University is full. Thanks to all who registered. We’re really looking forward to seeing everyone.
Some space may become available, so please feel free to register and we’ll put you on the waiting list. You can also subscribe to the KEEP newsletter. Then, you’ll be the first to know about upcoming workshops and hopefully won’t miss out on the next one!
The new school year has started in Japan and we’ve had some requests for a downloadable Japanese brochure/order form that schools can use to order.
So, here they are. If you’ve been looking for some new music for your classes, give these to your school and hopefully you’ll have some just in time the new school year! Click to download and print.
We’ve been hard at work for the past few weeks getting ready for a new project called KEEP.
KEEP is a collaboration between Super Simple Learning and Yuco Kikuchi created to help teachers and parents increase their competence and confidence in teaching English to young learners. In KEEP workshops, we share ideas for using songs, games, picture books, and other activities to make learning English engaging and confidence-boosting.
Our first series of workshops will be presented in Tokyo at Anaheim University’s Omotesando campus. The workshops are free but space is limited so sign up early! You can learn more about KEEP and register online at our new website.
Attendees should be prepared to learn a lot and participate!!!!
Kids love marbles. Put some in a bottle of water, add glitter and/or any other tiny shiny objects you can find and you’ll end up with a little magic in a bottle for a 4 year old.
A different color and a different number in each bottle turns it into a fun counting and color recognition activity. Place the bottles in slots in a box labeled with corresponding numbers at the bottom and it makes a great count and match activity kids can do on their own or with a teacher/parent.
Many classes, ESL or otherwise, have some set songs that are done in every class. Hello, Goodbye, etc.
Here are some suggestions for simple changes to make them fresh and fun again.
If you have been teaching children for a while, you’ve probably got most of these figured out already. If you are new to it all, have a look….
Sing it in a high voice.
Sing it in a low voice.
Sing it in a monster voice.
Clap/stomp/pat legs to the rhythm while you sing it.
Clap/stomp/pat legs to the rhythm of the song but don’t sing it.
Hellos and Goodbyes- Sing them like animals. Elephants say hello and goodbye with their long noses. Gorillas say it while pounding their chests.
Sing the song standing on one foot.
Hum the song.
Mouth the words. Don’t sing.
Hands behind the back and try singing it without the usual gestures.
Speed it up. Slow it down. Alternate speeding up and slowing down within the song.
Pinch your noses and sing it in a funny nasal voice.
Have any other suggestions? Please share!
(from Troy’s blog)
Tags: fun songs, kids songs, Teaching Tips
If you’re playing competitive games with young learners, always have a pair of these handy.
There’s no better way to make everyone laugh and forget about winning and losing!
Here are some super simple Valentine’s Activity Sheets. Click to follow the link to the Skidamarink page and download from there.
Tags: activity sheet, kids, valentine's, worksheets
Valentine’s day is approaching so we thought we’d highlight our favorite song to sing during this time of year….Skidamarink. Skidamarink was made popular by the Canadian children’s group, Sharon Louis and Bram in the 1980s. That and their Elephant Show theme song are definitely high on my list of songs I remember well from my childhood. Many people ask, “What does Skidamarink mean?” The answer is….nothing! It’s a nonsense word that just happens to be a lot of fun for kids to sing. The song itself was the grand finale song of the 1910 Broadway musical, “The Echo”.
Most versions of Skidamarink are quite fast and not very useful for ESL classrooms. We’ve slowed it down a bit but its still just as fun. The gestures are silly and keep kids interested in the song no matter what the speed.
Here is a video of the song from our YouTube channel, followed by the lyrics and some activity ideas.
Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone!
Language Focus: “I love you”, “morning”, “afternoon”, “evening”.
Classroom Benefits: Skidamarink is a very sweet song and great for teaching around Valentine’s Day. The gestures and silly lyrics are fun enough that they will keep the attention of older learners and captivate younger learners even if they can’t follow along completely.
It’s a great song for Parent/Child classes. Parent and child can face each other and sing! And it’s a nice choice around Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, and any day children may want to share a little love.
Lyrics and actions:
Skidamarink a dinka dink. (Put your right elbow in your left hand and wiggle your fingers.)
Skidamarink a doo. (Put your left elbow in your right hand and wiggle your fingers.)
I love you. (Point to yourself, hug yourself, and point to the other people in your group.)
Skidamarink a dinka dink. (Repeat actions.)
Skidamarink a doo.
I love you.
I love you in the morning. (Make a big circle over your head with your arms, like the sun. Bend over to one side.)
And in the afternoon. (Stand up straight with your arms above you.)
I love you in the evening. (Bend over to the other side.)
And underneath the moon. (Release your arms and make another big circle, like the moon, over your head.)
Skidamarink a dinka dink.
Skidamarink a doo.
I love you.
(Repeat)
Activity ideas:
This song continues on with just music so you can make up your own silly lyrics. For example, change it to, “Skidamarink a dink a dink, Skidamarink a dee, I love ME!! or “Skidamarink a dink a dink, Skidamarink a daa, I love Pizaaaaa!”
Skidamarink is a great performance song! If the setting permits, beforehand have the children cut out lots of tiny pink and red hearts. Put them into heart-shaped pockets hanging around their necks. Wear these during the performance. At the end of the song, the children sprinkle the hearts over their parents or in front of them. (Be sure to have a broom handy!)
If you enjoyed using Knock Knock Trick or Treat in your classrooms, be sure to try “What Do You Want for Christmas?” from Super Simple Songs One.
It’s very similar in that it has some space and music to act out the toy vocabulary–robot, rocket, teddy bear, and train–between verses. The kids have a blast with the song every year at our school and judging by the feedback we’re getting, kids everywhere are enjoying this song.
Speaking of Knock Knock Trick or Treat, (In case you missed it, it was a free Halloween song download) there were just over 30,000 downloads of the song this year. Thank you! That means that millions of children all over the world are now singing with Super Simple Songs, and music is finding its way into classrooms where there was no music before. Knowing this makes us very, very happy!
So thank you to everyone for spreading the word! If you check back again on Friday, there might just be a Christmas present or two to be found on SuperSimpleSongs.com.
See you then!
The Children’s Music Web Award Winners for 2008 have been finalized and we’re happy to announce that Super Simple Songs Three has received an award!
Here is a quote from the website that sums up we we are so proud of these awards:
Our Children’s Music Web Awards are decided in a multi-step judging process. First, family judges screen the candidates and make preliminary decisions. This year we had over 130 applications for 12 categories. In the second round, classrooms and day care centers worldwide pick their favorites.
Children’s voices predominate every step of the way.
Thus,it can truly be said that these are theKIDS’ FAVORITES!
A big thank you to the teachers and students who judged our songs!
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