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!
One of the great things about teaching with songs is that they can be listened to over and over again. Kids love the repetition of hearing a favorite tune and each time, it seems, they learn a little more.
Repetition provides a great opportunity to focus on different aspects of a song to teach new vocabulary. You can listen to a song week after week in your lessons and focus on a different theme. Change your flashcards, play new games or use different gestures. Kids love mixing it up.
10 Little Elves
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“10 Little Elves” is a perfect song for this. It can be used to work on a variety of vocabulary themes. Of course, it is great for practicing or reviewing counting and numbers. But you can also use it to talk about toys (along with “What Do You Want For Christmas?” from Super Simple Songs 1 and “Santa’s On His Way” from Super Simple Songs – Christmas). How do elves make different toys? What are they making? What toys do you want?
Next you can focus on action verbs. Action verbs are fun to teach because they are so…well, active. Students love demonstrating or gesturing out the different words.
This song brings in five brand new action verbs (plus sleeping) that young learners might not have encountered yet. And while they may be familiar with the action involved, maybe they don’t have the language to describe it, making this song a fun new challenge.
10 Little Elves Charades
Use the “10 Little Elves” picture cards (sewing, painting, sawing, hammering, wrapping and sleeping) to review the actions and the matching words. Then, give each student a small piece of paper on which one of the action words is written. The students should not show the paper to each other.
Tell the students they are elves and they must find other elves from their group. When you say “Go,” the elves move around the room silently, doing the action on their piece of paper. The elves make groups according to their actions and stand together.
Put the picture cards at the front of the room so students who have trouble reading can match their word to the word on the picture card. (They can also ask the teacher for help.)
Sing “10 Little Elves” one more time, this time with each group singing and performing its verse.
We know that this time of year isn’t just about giving and receiving presents, but the holidays do provide a great opportunity to talk about gifts and toys. Many children get quite excited at the idea of Santa coming for his annual visit and want to discuss the possibilities.
“What do you want for Christmas?” is a question that many children will be asked during the upcoming holiday season. So, we decided to make a very simple, active song to help kids talk about their Christmas wishes.
There are two versions of “What Do You Want For Christmas?”, the original on Super Simple Songs 1, which features train, rocket, robot and teddy bear, and “Santa’s On His Way” from Super Simple Songs – Christmas with ball, yo-yo, bike and jump rope. The Christmas CD also features a sing-along version so that you can sing about other toys as well.
In addition to talking about different types of toys, this song is a great way to introduce “I want…” You can easily extend the conversation with “I don’t want…”, “I have….” and “I don’t have….”
These are also nice, easy songs for young children to sing and act out at Christmas pageants and parent presentations.
Language Activity
Using realia, or real objects, in the classroom is a great way to keep students’ interest. Flashcards or picture cards also work well, but there’s nothing quite like being able to touch and pass around a physical object. This is the perfect opportunity to bring in actual toys for the kids to talk about.
When introducing new vocabulary or doing a review, we like to build excitement and interest by being very mysterious. Rather than just showing students the objects or flashcards, we slowly reveal them, perhaps putting them in an envelope, bag, or hiding them around the room.
Mystery Box
One of our favorite ways of introducing new items is with the Mystery Box. It’s easy to make a Mystery Box and it may quickly become one of your favorite teaching tools. Once students recognize the song and The Box, they will be very excited when they see it, there’s always something good inside!
You can make a Mystery Box out of any box. Just wrap it or decorate it with question marks, letters of the alphabet, seasonal pictures, or whatever you like. Just looking at the box itself can be a whole activity.
Play the “Mystery Box” song from Super Simple Songs 2 and point to the box. Ask students what they think is inside. You can give hints and have them guess. Look inside and act very surprised, intrigued, and excited to build the tension. Slowly pull out one item, in this case, a toy, and have students identify it.
Look it over together, demonstrate how to use it and make up a gesture for it. Pass it around so everyone can take a closer look. Then move on to the next item.
After you have taken all the items out of the Mystery Box, you can use the objects to play games or use with a song.
Here’s a video from MILK English in South Korea. You can see just how fun a Mystery Box can be!
Do you have more tips for using a Mystery Box in the classroom? Please share them below!
Do you need a fun activity this holiday season that the kids are sure to love? Make shaving foam Santas!
All you need are some cans of shaving foam, red food coloring and tables to work on.
Prepare the area by covering the tables in plastic covering (garbage sacks work well) or use place mats.
Be sure to go over some basic rules with the children before you start. Hands to yourself and don’t rub your eyes! After everyone agrees, you’ll be all ready to start the activity.
First, spray some shaving foam on the mat and make a big fluffy beard. Then, make the outline of his face and add some hair. You can use buttons to make his eyes, nose, and mouth, or just use shaving foam. Last, make his hat and put a fluffy white ball on top. Mix in one or two drops of red food coloring to make the hat red. It’s Santa!
After finishing, you can smooth out all of the shaving foam and practice writing letters. Show the students the S picture card, name the card, and then show them how to write the letter in the shaving cream with your finger. Let the students try. Continue with the rest of the letters from SANTA. After you have gone though all of the letters, try again…this time without showing the picture cards.
You can practice other letters of the alphabet, shapes or different holiday vocabulary like snowmen, stars, and Christmas trees.
When you are finished, get ready for clean up. Have some towels ready or get lined up to go to the sink. Shaving cream cleans up very easily, but be sure everyone washes their hands when the activity is finished.
Don’t forget to take pictures! Kids will love seeing their shaving foam Santa after he is all cleaned up.
Finish the lesson by singing “S-A-N-T-A” from Super Simple Songs – Christmas.
Added new shapes flashcards to the site today. They’re a little silly–my students have been having a lot of fun with them. I also updated the Shape Song #1 and Shape Song #2 pages with the cards, and some activity suggestions. Our holiday lessons mostly focus on “toys” vocabulary. But we also add shapes to the month’s topic because there are so many shapes that can be found in toys. ball-circle, kite-triangle, video game-rectangle, book-square, etc.
Hope everyone is having fun with their holiday classes, parties, etc.!
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