This week in class we’ve been playing with the letter L. What words start with L you ask? Lions and lemons of course!
As teachers, one of the problems we’ve had with phonics programs that are not designed specifically for children learning English as a foreign language, is that sometimes the associated vocabulary is beyond their comprehension. Think, igloo! Or, yarn! So, one of the goals of Super Simple Phonics was to come up with vocabulary for each letter that children are already familiar with–vocabulary, that they could easily gesture and most importantly, have fun with!
Kids don’t need to know they’re in the beginning stages of learning how to read. As long as they’re having fun, everyone is on their way.
Here are some outakes from Devon’s classes this week.
Recently a teacher on our Facebook page commented on how she thinks Super Simple Songs would be good for her 8 year olds, and did we think that would be okay? OF COURSE!!
We use all kinds of songs with our kids up until that age–and even older.
Keep in mind, if you’ve never used a song in class, and you drop the Hokey Pokey on a class of 8 year olds, you won’t get a good reaction. Kids don’t react well to change. But if you ease them into it, you won’t regret it!
Start by playing songs in the background during quiet activities. Then move on to something not quite so song-like. Toss a ball around to the Alphabet Chant or the Months Chant. Next, move onto something that the kids are guaranteed to have a blast with, like The Pinocchio. Next thing you know, songs will be a regular part of your class.
Our focus with Super Simple Songs comes across at times as something that is best suited for kindergärtners and preschoolers. But as anyone who has tried out the CDs knows, they’re incredibly versatile and kids of all ages enjoy them.
I remember a children’s music methods course that I took in university. One of the first things we did for that class was head out to the local elementary school. It was such a different place from way back when I was in elementary school. We sang, we chanted…we made music. The kids there didn’t. There was no music on the playground and very little in the classrooms.
Don’t let that be your classroom! Expose your kids to all kinds of music. Anything will do….even some simple songs.
Halloween is almost here. We’ve put all of our Halloween materials together in one place for easy access and downloading. Check our new Halloween page for a free song download, free Halloween flash cards, worksheets, lesson plans, games and party ideas!
These cards allow you to play “Who Took the Cookie?” with as few as two people or as many as you have in your class. Also, when you play with these cards, nobody knows who has the cookie…even the student who has it! (When you play the regular version of “Who Took the Cookie?” younger students may have trouble keeping it a secret that they have the cookie.)
With two players, shuffle the cards and deal four cards, to each player. Each player, without looking at the cards, puts the four cards in a row in front of them. Chant the “Who Took the Cookie?” chant. When it’s someone’s turn to answer if they have the cookie or not, they turn one card over to check, and then answer.
Continue back and forth until one of the players turns over the cookie card. Children will want to play this game again and again, so it really gives them great practice! For variation, print two or three cards so that when one cookie card is turned over, the game continues!
For more than 2 people or a larger class, print several sets of the “Who Took the Cookie?” cards (and laminate them if possible). You can deal one card to each student, or several cards to each student. The more cards each student has, the longer the game will continue. For larger groups, print several “cookie” cards so that the game continues even after one of the cookies is found.
With very large classes, print several sets of the cards (black and white will work just fine), and have the students play in groups of five or six.
Many thanks to a good friend in Germany for this great idea!
We use Super Simple Songs in all of our classes and it’s a joy to see kids singing them, but we don’t often get to see the kids really get into the songs at home. The parents of our students often share stories of even the shyest kids in class really letting loose when they listen to the songs at home.
It’s something to remember when teaching young learners. The classroom can be quite intimidating. In addition to being in foreign environment, younger children are still learning to be comfortable playing with other kids. It’s very natural for young learners to be reserved in class, but VERY talkative and active at home. Young learners LOVE to imitate their teachers at home, so be aware that even the quiet kid who never says anything in class IS listening and most likely re-living your lessons over and over again at home.
Here’s a fun video of Dylan in Belgium enjoying Walking Walking at home uploaded by his Mom, Sarah. I love it when he plays the trumpet at the beginning!
One of our favorite channels on youTube is The Daily English Show. Sarah does an amazing job of producing high quality shows for adult English learners daily. We’re very happy she shared her thought on Super Simple Songs in the latest episode (#758).
After a long day of classes, I went home yesterday and began reading some of my favorite blogs. I was moved when I came across this post at the Autism Games blog about a bit of a tough day a Speech Pathologist had with a young autistic boy.
[excerpt]
When it was time for Ethan to go home, he was still visibly upset, though no longer crying. I started singing a goodbye song from Super Simple Songs Three (#19). I held his hand and sang as we walked down the hallway. Ethan loves music. For one of the few times that session, he looked right at me and said with sheer relief, You’re cake. His mom said that that was a good thing, but she didn’t need to tell me that. Little Ethan was telling me, You found something that made me feel better.
We’ve been so thrilled to get positive feedback about Super Simple Songs from parents and teachers of children with Autism. We created the songs on Super Simple Songs 1 for our young English students in Japan. We soon learned that parents of native-English speaking toddlers also enjoyed the CDs. That was a bonus.
Then we started to hear from teachers and parents that the simplicity of the lyrics, the pace of the music, and the ease with which the songs could be taught through gesture made them very attractive to autistic children. That was amazing to us. We’ve kept that in mind on our following CDs, and I really believe that our focus on keeping things super simple has made the songs better for ESL/EFL students, students with special needs, and very young native English speakers. Although each of those groups have unique characteristics, they are all emerging speakers who struggle to communicate. They can all take comfort in music when it is simple enough for them to follow along with. They all rely very much on physical cues to compensate for linguistic challenges.
So, we’ll continue to keep things super simple for young learners, and when we do a song that is a little more challenging, we’ll continue to include a slowed-down “Learn It” version of the song.
And I’ve added a new complement to my lexicon. If I ever tell you, “You’re cake,” it’s a good thing. It’s a very good thing.
You might have noticed something new on the front page at supersimplesongs.com. We’re now selling Super Simple Songs in Korea with the help of our friend, Sujeong Lee. Sujeong is an extremely talented and dedicated teacher and teacher-trainer, with a passion for language education through the arts. She is the founder and Director of the Arts in Education, International Center (A.I.E) and MILK English (Moving, Imagining, Laughing Kids).
We’ve been in contact and have shared ideas with Sujeong since soon after starting our youTube channel about a year and a half ago. And last November we got to spend some time with Sujeong when she visited Tokyo as a featured presenter at the International Association of Performing Language annual conference.
