Teaching Tips

The holidays are an excellent time to have a parent performance. Students love preparing to show what they’ve learned and parents appreciate seeing how much their kids are enjoying their lessons. One of the easiest ways to do this is to have them sing songs. Parents will be impressed as students sing along and gesture with the music, all in English!

It doesn’t have to be elaborate or too complicated. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Parent Observation Day

One easy way for parents to see the progress their children are making is to invite them into the classroom to observe a lesson. You can even have parents participate by having them take part in the games, songs and other activities.
Don’t be worried or surprised if student’s change their behavior with their parents around. Sometimes they are nervous or self conscious. Let the parents know ahead of time that this is common. In addition to seeing some of what the students have learned, this is a good chance for parents to see how you structure your lessons.

Parent Demonstration Lesson

If students attend school during the daytime while parents are at work, you can hold a special session on a Saturday or a weekday evening. Invite parents and students to come for a short program. Thank everyone for coming and then do a few activities from a typical lesson. Sing a Hello Song followed by an active song or two. Follow this with a language activity or game that uses familiar vocabulary. If you stick with activities that students already know and enjoy, it will allow them to relax and show what they know with pride.

Pageant

Holiday pageants take a fair amount of preparation, but it gives students and parents something to look forward to and work towards for several weeks. Invite parents to the school, or another location if your school is too small, and have groups of students sing one or two songs each. You can ask parents to dress the students in a certain color of clothing, (all in primary colors, red shirts or in black and white, for example), or you can make costumes at the school, like a reindeer antler craft, or Santa hats for everyone. Visit our Christmas Party Ideas Page for some suggested songs for different age levels.

Here is a video from Mexico with students performing “Santa’s On His Way” from Super Simple Songs – Christmas using real toys. They even ride the bikes!

Don’t forget to sing “Goodbye, Snowman” together at the end. It’s the perfect way to end any holiday program or party!

Plays

Try making an original play to perform based on a song! Students are assigned to act out different parts of song. You can use props such as costumes, picture cards or make scenery. Practice in class so that everyone is ready for the big day. Val from Argentina always puts together great performances with her students. Here’s a great one using “Do You Like Brocolli Ice Cream?” from Super Simple Songs 3.

With a little creativity and planning, you can easily create a parent performance that is fun and memorable for everyone.

Are you doing a performance or program this year? Please share your videos with us, we love to see them!