Skidamarink a Doo, We Love You!

“Skidamarink” is our favorite Valentine’s Day song, it’s a little bit silly and very sweet. The actual word “skidamarink” doesn’t ‘mean’ anything, but it’s sure fun to say!!

Besides singing it to tell people you love them at Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, or Father’s Day, Skidamarink can also be used to talk about times of day like morning, afternoon, evening and night time (symbolized by the moon).

When do you…?

Demonstrate the times of day gestures from Skidamarink, (download the gesture guide here) for morning, afternoon, evening and the moon. Use a cardboard clock to talk about the different times of day and what types of activities you do at those times. Ask kids about their daily and weekly activities. When do you eat breakfast? Go to school? Eat lunch? Have soccer practice? Go to English lesson? Eat dinner? Take a bath? Go to sleep?
Put the students in pairs and have a dialogue practicing with each other.

When do you….eat dinner?
I eat dinner in the evening.

When do you…eat breakfast?
I eat breakfast in the morning.

Afterwards, watch the video and sing Skidamarink together.

Let us know what you’ll be doing for Valentine’s Day this year!

The perfect rainy day song!

Many of our songs have more than one version. Often, we have a slowed down or simplified “Learn It” version so that young learners can get to know the words at an easy pace. After they have learned the lyrics and the gestures, they can move to the regular speed version.

“Rain, Rain, Go Away!” has both a “Learn It” and a more complicated “Play With It” version. It’s the perfect rainy day song. Use it to talk about weather, especially on days that kids are stuck inside because of wet weather.

The “Play With It” version is also great for discussing family members and outdoor activities. Father, mother, brother, sister, and baby all want to go out to play, but the rain is stopping them. Download and print the “Rain, Rain, Go Away” flashcards or watch the YouTube video. What are some of the different activities that the family wants to go do? What are some things that the kids would like to go outside and do?

Practice family members by having kids draw or color pictures of families and then hold them up as they sing each verse.
Thanks to Tracey’s English School in Wakayama, Japan for this video idea!

What are your favorite rainy day activities?

Learn the four seasons with Row Row Row Your Boat

When talking about the seasons, it can help to have side by side illustrations so that kids can follow along throughout the course of a year. What marks the changes of the seasons? How are the seasons where you live?

Row Row Row Your Boat

Have you seen our video for Row Row Row Your Boat? This is a classic children’s tune, often sung in a round as on this version. The illustrations by Alberto Cerriteño, are a great for discussing a variety of topics, including the weather and seasons.

To use this video as part of a weather related lesson, first discuss the four seasons and what types of weather we experience in each. Then watch the video and have students point out what they see to indicate the changes as the squirrel and rabbit float merrily down the stream. Point out things like birds singing, new leaves, sunny weather, trees with full foliage, leaves changing colors and falling and, of course, snow.

For older or adult students, you can talk about the corresponding changes in the couple as they go through the different stages of life together. But with younger learners, it’s a great opportunity to see a year’s worth of weather in just a couple of minutes.

The Months Chant will help you remember the months of the year!

What better way to kick off the New Year than with a brand new video? It’s a super simple chant to help kids learn the months of the year. Perfect for back to school after the holiday break or anytime that you want to practice or review the months.

The months can be a little tricky for young learners to remember. The Months Chant from Super Simple Songs 3 helps them practice the months and order with a call and response format set to an catchy beat.

When learning the months, it helps to associate each month with an activity, holiday or change in the weather. This video is based on some popular North American holidays and changes in the seasons. Here’s an explanation month-by-month:

January – winter and snowy weather are here!
February – celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14th with hearts.
March – even though it’s an Irish holiday, many people in the U.S. celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th. Clover leaves and the color green are traditional symbols of this holiday.
April – in North America, we have a saying, “April showers bring May flowers.” Spring is in the air and rain is common.
May – summer flowers mark the return of warm weather.
June – brings the end of the school year and lots of time for outdoor activities, like kite flying.
July – the United States celebrates Independence Day on the Fourth of July with picnics and fireworks.
August – the perfect time to go to the beach!
September – get ready for back-to-school with your ABC book.
October – Halloween is coming! October 31st is the big day.
November – the seasons change again as the leaves turn colors and fall from the trees.
December – the holiday season is here and music is everywhere!

What are some holidays or seasonal changes in your country? When you introduce the months, try identifying the monthly events with your young learners, and then create simple picture cards that include the month and an event, holiday, or seasonal change to go along with us. Feel free to share with us in the comments below.

For reading practice, give young learners 12 small pieces of paper with the months written on them, and have them put them in order as they listen to the song. To help, you can start by first giving them pieces of paper with numbers on them (January – 1, February – 2, etc.), and then later distribute pieces of paper without the numbers.

Now watch the video and chant along!

Red hat, white beard...

We created a special holiday version featuring our favorite jolly man in red, Santa. The familiar tune makes it easy for them to learn right away. Combine this with the excitement of Santa’s impending visit, and you’ve got a great song for the Christmas season.

What other songs can you make using B-I-N-G-O as the theme?

From all of us at Super Simple Learning, we wish you a Merry Christmas!

Check out this amazing video from Eva and her students in Slovakia.  Now this is what Christmas looks like!

Super Simple Songs – Christmas includes this version and a karaoke track so you can add your own actions to the song.

Gestures makes learning fun and easy!

One way to really enhance language development in the classroom or at home is through the use of music and gestures together. There are a number of studies that indicate that both music and gestures on their own greatly assist learning (see “Songs as an aid for language acquisition“, “Gesturing makes learning last“, and “Music and movement; instrumental in language development” for a starter). From our time in the classroom, we know that songs and gestures together absolutely assist learning. Songs allow students to feel the language, and gestures and movement help them make sense of it. Kids learn more quickly and retain the knowledge longer when they sing and move together.

Here are a few tips on using gestures and movement together with songs to foster language development.

1. Use songs that start with music and movement in mind, and just follow along! 

Many traditional children’s songs are not created with movement in mind. Of course, kids can benefit from dancing and moving to any song, but when using songs to help kids become more confident and competent with the language, it makes a world of difference to select songs that have the appropriate pacing, language complexity, and gesturability. You’ll often find that even some songs that are great for 6 year-olds will be discouraging for 4 year-olds because they are too fast to keep up with, or feature language that the younger learner doesn’t connect with.

When searching for songs, look for terms like “music and movement” or “interactive music”. We’re fortunate to live in a time where you can almost always listen to samples of some or all of the songs on CDs. Have a listen to some of the songs and imagine how you would move with them. If you have a hard time imagining what kind of gestures you would do the songs, your kids will very likely struggle with the songs, too. Listen for songs that, even after just one listen, allow you to easily imagine what kind of actions you would do to accompany it. With many great music and movement songs, all you need to do is put them on and follow along…no “teaching” necessary. Some of our favorite artists you might want to check out are Sue Schnitzer, Laurie Berkner, and Dr. Jean.

With our own Super Simple Songs CDs, we always try to imagine the gestures we’ll use as we write each line of each song, so that when you play a song, you can imagine pretty quickly how you can interact with it.

2. Let the children create the gestures

Using gestures helps students internalize the language. When children have a chance to create movement and gestures themselves, it makes that connection to the language even stronger. If the students are not yet familiar with a lot of the words in the song, try introducing the vocabulary with pictures, objects, or flashcards.

When using flashcards, introduce the card, say the word together, and then have the children create a gesture for that word. You might need to help, but do it together. Remember that if you are creating gestures for a song, you’ll need to make sure they are not too big or complicated because there may not be time to do them while you are singing. Keep the gestures simple and concise.

Next, review the flashcards by showing the card, naming it, and asking the kids to do the gesture. Then follow up by showing the cards and having the students name it and do the gesture. Last, do the gesture and have the students name it!

You’re all ready to sing!

3. Use online resources

Can’t think of a gesture to use with the song? Hop online. There are a lot of great resources available to help you. Start with YouTube. There just may be some classroom videos that are perfect for your situation. Just search for the song you are using.

Another great place to look for help is a sign language site. Even if you don’t use the actual signs, they will often help you think of gestures that will work with your song. We really like the site Signing Savvy.

If you are using Super Simple Songs, you can find gesture ideas for a lot of the songs on Super Simple Songs 1, 2, and 3 by visiting the song pages.

4. Gesture select words

One of the great benefits of using songs with gestures is that it helps learners understand where the words are in a sentence. We’ve all had the experience of singing a song but later realizing we had gotten the words all wrong because the words all ran together and we misheard them. When we sing with gestures, even if we only do a gesture for one word or phrase in a sentence, understanding that one word helps us piece together the rest of the sentence.

Remember that you don’t need to try to make gestures for everything. When doing gestures with songs with very young learners, too many gestures will confuse and frustrate the students. When using songs with older learners, there will usually be too much language in the song to gesture everything. Identify key words and create gestures for those. Keep it simple!

Here are gesture suggestions for “Goodbye, Snowman” from Super Simple Songs – Christmas. You can easily use these same gestures for “Hello, Reindeer” or the sing along version. Of course, feel free to make up your own!

“Hello, Reindeer” and “Goodbye, Snowman” Gesture Guide

Christmas

Rest your right elbow on top of your left hand. Make a “C” shape with your right hand.

Happy holidays

Indicate “happy” by smiling and pointing to your cheeks.

Reindeer

With your hands open wide, put your thumbs on your forehead to indicate antlers.

Santa

Pat your big, round tummy!

Snowman

Put your hands on your hips with your elbows our wide, making one circle. Bend your knees outward, making another circle with your legs.

Now watch the video and sing along!!

“Goodbye, Snowman” Lyrics

Goodbye, snowman.
(Wave goodbye. Snowman gesture.)
Goodbye, reindeer.
(Wave goodbye. Reindeer gesture.)
Goodbye, Santa.
(Wave goodbye. Santa gesture.)
Happy holidays.
(Happy holidays gesture)

We wish you a Merry Christmas. (Indicate we by moving your index finger in front of you from one shoulder to the other, making a semi-circle.)
We wish you a Merry Christmas. (Christmas gesture.)
We wish you a Merry Christmas.
Let’s sing it again. (Pretend to hold a microphone.)

Goodbye, snowman.
Goodbye, reindeer.
Goodbye, Santa.
Happy holidays.
Happy holidays!

Santa, are you on the rooftop?

Prepositions of place can be a little hard to conceptualize with just words. In, on, under, next to, in front of and behind can be confusing. Using props and demonstrating location through gestures and manipulatives can help young learners understand this concept. But kids really grasp the idea when they are looking for something…or someone.

“Santa, Where Are You?” from Super Simple Songs – Christmas is a great way to introduce or review simple prepositions of place with kids by looking for Santa.

As with any concept, repetition reinforces the learning of new vocabulary. Everyone learns in different ways, so it’s good to incorporate a variety of activities into your lessons. Some students are better with visuals. For them, flashcards are great. Other students remember more easily when they can touch and move things around. And for almost everyone, songs and gestures make a lesson fun and new language easy to remember.

“Santa, Where Are You?” lends itself to all of these methods. There are so many ways to use this song, we couldn’t fit them all into one lesson!

For a ready-to-go lesson plan, check out our Christmas Ideas Pages. You’ll also find free downloadable picture cards, activity sheets, and three versions of the “Santa, Where are You?” game to help practice prepositions.

Here are more ideas for ways to use this song.

Play Hide and Seek with Santa

Take out the Santa mini card or a small Santa figurine. Have the children close their eyes and count to ten while the you hide Santa in the room. Be sure to put him somewhere that will allow you to practice the target language by using a preposition. Put him under a book, on the television, or behind the pillow. Students can ask questions about his location. Give hints such as “Santa is under the plant,” or “Santa is in the box.”  Whoever finds Santa gets to hide him the next time.

Where is Santa? with magnets

Have the kids draw Santa on a small magnetic sheet. On a large sheet, draw a tree, sleigh and house. You can practice additional prepositions as well. Have the children put Santa in different places as they practice aloud. “Santa is on the rooftop,” “Santa is under the tree,” “Santa is next to the sleigh,” etc.
Thanks to Sujeong of MILK English in South Korea for this great idea! Watch their Santa, Where Are You? YouTube video to see the MILK kids in action.

Sing the song

Are you having a Christmas party with Santa this year? “Santa, Where Are You?” is the perfect way to welcome him into the room. Just before Santa is set to arrive at the party, sing the song. At the end of the song, Santa can make his big entrance! Sing the song in the classroom, in the car or at home for the few weeks prior to the party so the kids will be ready to welcome Santa upon his arrival. Don’t forget to practice the gestures as well.  Our friend Craig in Fukuoka, Japan made this excellent video showing the gestures you can teach with this song.

Watch the video and sing along

“Santa, Where Are You” is super simple to teach and learn. Enjoy, and let us know what you think!

Uh oh.

Hickory Dickory Dock is a popular English nursery rhyme about a mouse that goes up and down a clock. It’s simple. It’s fun. And it introduces some basic concepts like up and down, simple counting, and telling time. We love it!

But we also thought it was so simple that it provided an opportunity to introduce more language. “Why just a mouse?” we thought.  We also thought it would be interesting to play with the idea of “What happens when bigger and bigger animals climb up the clock?” Our version, “Hickory Dickory…Crash!” is a little bit silly, but a lot of fun.

We recommend this song for children 4 and over. Most kids at every age enjoy the song, but very young children haven’t yet made enough sense of the world to see the absurdity or humor of an elephant climbing a clock. Some children may be upset or scared when the elephant falls. As always, we encourage you to watch the video with your children or students and discuss it. Use that pause button! Ask, What animal do you think is next? What time is next? Can an elephant really climb up a clock? Why does the clock break? Have fun acting out the different scenes.

Try giving children something to make noise with like pots and wooden spoons, tambourines, bells, or triangles. Sing Hickory Dickory Dock (with our without the music), and whenever you sing, “The clock struck one/two/three/etc.” the children can make the clock noise by banging on their pots.  Challenge them with bigger and bigger numbers!

On the Super Simple Songs – Animals enhanced CD, you’ll find the song, an instrumental sing-along version (so you can introduce new animals and times if you like), and a bunch of printable worksheets for reviewing the animals and telling time. Enjoy the song, sing along, and let it lead you into time telling practice!

One of the reasons it was so exciting to participate in this series was the commitment to using songs as teaching tools. This series includes over 100 songs from the Starter Level to Level 6. Songs are a big part of every level.

Here’s one of the songs Troy and Devon made for the Everybody Up Starter Level, “How Many?“:

Want to hear a few more songs from the series? Check out the Everybody Up Global Sing-along, where you can download five free songs (including “How Many?”), lyrics sheets, a certificate of participation, and ten terrific tips for teaching with songs written by Devon.

If you are looking for songs from the Super Simple Learning team, start with the Everybody Up Starter Level book w/CD. It includes 25 simple songs by Troy and Devon covering topics like counting, classroom vocabulary, colors, manners, food, animals, action verbs, and more. It also includes a great new alphabet song and the Everybody Up theme song from Julie Gold. It’s a wonderful coursebook for young learners, and a really fun CD if all you are looking for is songs.

Check it out and let us know what you think!