songs, rhymes and chants

Songs, Rhymes & Chants

Rhyming

Why use songs?

They are memorable.They provide enjoyable repetition practice.They provide variety and change of pace.They reinforce rhythm and pronunciation.They promote class identity.They integrate with other class activities / topic work.They provide opportunities for movement and drama.They can take English out of the classroom.They develop listening skills.They provide integrated practice of all four skills.They build confidence and sense of success

When to use songs?

Use them as warmers / closers.Use them as stirrers / settlers.Use them to introduce language.Use them to practise language.Use them to revise / recycle language.Use them to tell a story.Use them to integrate with other activities on the same theme.

How to use songsThree main stages

1. 1. Listening and showing understanding.2. Support from the teacher through visual aids, actions, realia, focus

questions.3. 2. Joining in and learning the song.

Using actions, drama, pictures, prompt cards.4. 3. Responding to the song.

For example, completing a gap fill, adding verses, illustrating the song.

Things to consider when choosing songsLanguage level.Amount of new vocabulary.Relevance to syllabus.Relevance to topic.Ease and memorability of tune.Quality of recording.

1 @Lake School Email:[email protected]

Stories There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.

1) It is a story with lots of animals. Elicit the names of the animals from the children. 2) Elicit the noises the animals make – in English. 3) Give each pupil an animal role, when they hear their animal in the story they have to make that animal’s noise. Do a quick practice.4) Tell/read the story.This is a great story to use for a performance in English.

Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allen Ahlberg.

1) A pre-story activity is needed to introduce the characters. Some of your pupils will know them, other characters will be new. You could do a name and picture matching task or look at the nursery rhymes on You Tube.2) Read the story playing the eye spy game as the book demands, or follow it on You Tube. 3) As a follow-up you could make a rhyming pelmanism e.g. Stairs/Bears (this could be written or pictorial). A gap-fill would also work well as the strong rhyme makes predicting the gaps easy.(Big books are available).

Both available on You Tube

Chants The Button Factory rap

1) Set the mood for your rap. Get pupils to stand up in a group. Elicit what rappers wear on their heads, caps. How do they wear them? Everyone mimes turning their caps around. Move onto trousers and jewellery and hand gestures.2) Take the class through the rap line by line and build it up.

Hi! My name’s JoeAnd I work in a button factoryI’ve got a wifeThree kidsOne day my boss came up to meHe said ‘Joe’I said ‘Yo’He said ‘busy?’I said ‘no’‘Then push this button with your...right hand’‘Then push this button with your … left hand’ …right leg….left leg…bottom….nose!

I use The Button Factory. You can also see many different versions of it on You Tube. I think it came from the American Summer Camps.


Chants The Word Train

1) Elicit favourite foods to whiteboard. You need to get a range of word stress patterns so ask for flavours or ‘what do you eat that with…’ to get a variety.2) Get the class standing in a circle. Get the pupils moving on the spot like a train. Explain that they must join in and copy you.3) Choose the shortest word first then build up to more complicated patterns, repeating each word about 8 times or until everyone has joined in and said it a few times. Increase the ‘speed of your train’ as you move from word to word. Do not repeat word patterns. To replicate the whistle of the train finish on a one syllable word with a long vowel sound if possible. E.g. eggs, pizza, cucumber, spaghetti, fish and chips, strawberry ice-cream, cheese!4) In groups of 2-3 the children can make their own train chant. Elicit lexical sets that would work well for this activity and try to get a variety of topics across the groups e.g. clothes, animals, sports, countries.5) The groups try out their train chants on each other.

Body chant

Pull a funny face, move your nose all over the place.

First you smilelike a clown,then you turn the corners down.Show your teethopen widemove your jaws from side to side.

Pull a funny face, move your nose all over the place.

Raise your eyebrowsroll your eyesmake them grow to twice their size.Shut them tightwink and blinkkeep them open just a chink.

Pull a funny face, move your nose all over the place

Make your facelong and slim,give yourself a double chin.Twitch your nosefrown and poutsuck your cheeks in, puff them out.


Adapted from: The Gruffalo Song Book Julia Donaldson & Alex Scheffler Macmillan

Stop that noise

1) Divide the class into ‘boys’ and ‘girls’. 2) Teacher reads each line and the participants repeat as and when. Try to vary your intonation as much as possible but keep the rhythm strong.

I use Stop that noise, but you can use your favourite Jazz Chant as long as the language level is appropriate. All chants should be meaningful – no mindless chanting. Search for Carolyn Graham and Jazz Chants on You Tube or via www.diigo.com/user/catherineweller

Children’s Songs Children’s Songs

Duke of YorkOh, the grand old Duke of York, he had ten thousand men. He marched them up to the top of the hill, and he marched them down again. And when they were up, they were up; And when they were down, they were down; And when they were only half way up, they were neither up nor down. (see You Tube)

Food Song (To the tune of Merrily we roll along)Fish and chips and vinegar, vinegar, vinegar Fish and chips and vinegar, Pepper, pepper, salt!

Try changing the lyrics. Just change each word for a new word with the same number of syllables and stress pattern.

Fish (1 syllable)Chips (1 syllable)Vinegar (3 syllables, 1st stress)Pepper (2 syllables)Salt (1 syllable)

For example, Plums and pears and pineapple, pineapple, pineapplePlums and pears and pineapple,Melon, melon, grapes!


London’s BurningLondon’s Burning, London’s burningFetch the engine, fetch the engineFire Fire, Fire FirePour on water, pour on water

I Hear Thunder (to the tune of Frère Jacques)I hear thunder, I hear thunderHark don’t you? Hark don’t you?Pitter patter raindrops, pitter-patter raindropsI’m wet through, so are you.

I see blue sky, I see blue skyWay up high, way up highHurry up the sunshine, hurry up the sunshineWe’ll soon dry, we’ll soon dry

These two songs sound good when sung in a round. You can find them both on the internet.

Two Little Dickie BirdsTwo Little Dickie BirdsTwo Little Dickie Birds sitting on a wallOne called Peter, one called PaulFly away peter, fly away PaulCome back Peter, come back Paul

Make birds to use in this action song. See it on You Tube.

The Fast Food SongA Pizza Hut, a Pizza HutKentucky Fried Chicken & a Pizza HutA Pizza Hut, a Pizza HutKentucky Fried Chicken & a Pizza HutMacDonald’s, MacDonald’sKentucky Fried Chicken & a Pizza HutMacDonald’s, MacDonald’sKentucky Fried Chicken & a Pizza Hut

Try changing the lyrics, for example – The Salad Song

A cucumber, a cucumberA big bowl of lettuce and a cucumber Tomatoes, tomatoes


A big bowl of lettuce and a cucumber Pop Songs

Pop Song idea 11) Write the words on the board or on a handout that you have taken from your song. Use check questions to check understanding. Practice clapping the words paying attention to word stress.2) Play the song and pupils have to clap once every time they hear the words.3) At this stage you can give pupils the lyrics and they have to underline all the words on the board.4) Play the song again, this time the pupils have to clap the word using the right word stress as they hear them.4) The final time you play the song, get everyone stood up in a group and the pupils have to shout out the words as they hear them, in time to the music.

That’s Not My Name by The Ting Tings and Price Tag by Jessie J work well. Both available on You Tube.

Pop Song idea 2

1) Elicit/Pre-teach words from song. Distribute words among the pupils, about 2 each. Play song, pupils have to stand up and sit down each time they hear their word(s). 2) Half the class think of a word from the song and write it secretly on a piece of paper. Play the song again and as half the class stand up and sit down when they hear their word, the other half have to guess what secret words they have written down.3) The listeners guess the secret words and the writers reveal their pieces of paper to confirm. Change over.

Use Hello Goodbye by The Beatles. Listen on You Tube, there is a good remastered version on there.

Pop Song 3

Give each student a copy of the gapped and numbered worksheet. Tell them you are going to fill in the gaps working together as a class.Tell them that they must call out a word that they think might be in the passage. If it is in the passage you call out the position, the number in the text, and the pupils have to write it in the corresponding gap. If it isn’t in the passage simply say ‘no’. Encourage students to think about collocations, tense structures. Continue until the passage is completed and prompt when necessary. Finally students guess the famous band/artist.

There is an example below using a short biography of One


Direction.

Characters in Each Peach Pear Plum

9. Baby Bunting


Cry Baby BuntingDaddy's gone a-huntingGone to fetch a rabbit skinTo wrap the Baby Bunting in

Cry Baby BuntingThe Word Train

Cat Cat Cat Cat Cat Cat Cat Cat

Chicken Chicken Chicken Chicken Chicken Chicken Chicken Chicken

Giraffe Giraffe Giraffe Giraffe Giraffe Giraffe Giraffe Giraffe

Elephant Elephant Elephant Elephant Elephant Elephant Elephant

Elephant

Flamingo Flamingo Flamingo Flamingo Flamingo Flamingo Flamingo

Flamingo

Hippopotamus Hippopotamus Hippopotamus Hippopotamus

Hippopotamus Hippopotamus Hippopotamus Hippopotamus

Bee Bee Bee

Try this activity with food, colours, countries, sports. Linking two words with ‘and’ makes a nice rhythm e.g. socks and shoes, chicken and chips. You can also add colours or other adjectives to make patterns longer. Use a word containing a long vowel sound to represent the train’s horn.


From: Google Images

Stop That Noise

Shh Shh stop that noise (everyone)

Shh Shh stop that noise

Come on boys tell all the girls

Tell all the girls to stop that noise

Shh Shh stop that noise (boys only)


Come on girls please be quiet

Please be quiet girls



Come on girls tell all the boys

Tell all the boys to stop that noise

Shh Shh stop that noise (girls only)


Come on boys please be quiet


Please be quiet boys



Tell everyone to please be quiet. Please be quiet now!


Rain – A jazz chant.

It was raining, raining, raining hardIt was falling on my headIt was falling on the starsIt was falling on my shoesIt was falling on the sun

It was raining, raining, raining hard

I got soaking wet You got soaking wet?But I stayed outsideBut you stayed outside?It was falling on my headIt was falling on the stars

The rain was sweetsweet sweetThe rain was warmwarm warmThe rain was soft soft softIt reminded me of home home home

It was raining, raining, raining hardIt was falling, falling, falling on the stars It was raining, raining, raining hardIt was falling, falling, falling on the stars


Sweet rain It’s raining, raining Warm rain It’s raining, rainingSoft rain It’s raining, raining

Soft rain rain, rainSweet rain rain, rainWarm rain rain, rain, rain.

Adapted from Jazz chants by Carolyn Graham

Watch this!http://tinyurl.com/d7p9nxw


Price Tag by Jessie J.

He’s wearing lots of bling!

Cha-ching! The sound of an old-fashioned cash register.

Write these words on the board.

tired price first tonight dance

mysterious obsessed alright now

night second smile serious

eyes high time left right

tag yeah

money happiness unite


Ask check questions to check the meaning of these words.E.g. Can you find another word for?Can you find any words that are opposites?Can you find any words that go together? Why?Can you see any words that rhyme?

Ask students to find words that have the same stress pattern?

Practice clapping the words. Listen to the song and clap once each time you hear the

words in the box. Look at the lyrics, find the words in the box and underline

them. Listen again and clap the words again trying to do the full

stress pattern. Listen for the last time and shout out the underlined

words, trying to keep in time.


From: Google Images

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMxX-QOV9tI


Teacher’s notes

That’s what makes you beautiful by One Direction

Lead-in

Play guess the band/singerPupils ask yes/no questions to guess the band/artist. You could incorporate a Reveal the Picture activity.

Who knows the most about the band/artist. Groups write down anything they know about given band/artist.

Pupils write questions they would like to know about the band/artist. Teacher gives mini biography and pupils see how many of their questions are answered.

Biography of band/artist open cloze or gap fill.

One Direction is an English-Irish pop boy band based in London. Their names are Niall , Zayn , Liam , Harry and Louis . They finished third in the British T.V singing competition The X Factor in 2010. They’ve had three albums, Up All Night, Take Me Home and Midnight Memories,

(released in 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively). Their achievements include four Brit Awards and four MTV Video Music

Awards among many others. According to the Sunday Times Rich List, by April 2013 they had an estimated

personal combined wealth of £25 million ($41.2m) making them the second wealthiest musicians in the UK under 30 years of age.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Times_Rich_List

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV_Video_Music_Awards


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_Awards

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_One_Direction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Memories

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_Me_Home_(One_Direction_album)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_All_Night_(One_Direction_album)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_X_Factor_(UK)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Tomlinson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Styles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liam_Payne

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zayn_Malik

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niall_Horan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_band

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_music

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlaw

Teacher’s notes

That’s what makes you beautiful by One Direction

Pre-teach vocabulary

This song choice is purely for our students’ enjoyment. It has not been chosen for its rich

and relevant language – it’s just a very popular boy band song. Therefore, when pre-

teaching vocabulary we only need to teach enough language to allow our students to

understand the gist of the song, successfully complete a task and sing along with the boys.

They are singing about a very beautiful but modest girl, who doesn’t know quite how

gorgeous she is. That is why Harry and the boys all fancy her!

Choose the best word or words to talk about this girl.


Confident or shy/insecure?

Ugly or beautiful?

Smile or cry?

Look away or look in your

eyes?

I think she’s…

She looks…

Listen to the song and underline which word you hear.

You're insecure,

Don't know what for,

You're turning heads/eyes when you walk through the room/door,

Don't need make-up/to dress-up,

To cover up,

Being the way that you are is enough/tough,

Everyone else in the room/house can see it,

Everyone else but you

Baby you light up my world/life like nobody else,

The way that you flip your head/hair gets me overwhelmed,

But when you laugh/smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell/say,

You don't know oh-oh!

You don't know you're beautiful!

If only you saw what I can/can’t see

You'll understand why I want/need you so desperately

Right now I'm looking at you and I can/can't believe


You don't know you're beautiful

But that's what makes you beautiful!

So come/go on

You got it right/wrong

To prove I'm right I put it in a song

I don't know why

You're being shy

And turn away when I look into your ears/eyes


Everyone else in the room/house can see it

Everyone else but you

Baby you light up my world/life like nobody else

The way that you flip your head/hair gets me overwhelmed

But when you smile/laugh at the ground it ain't hard to tell


You don't know you're beautiful!

If only you saw what I can/can’t see

You'll understand why I need/want you so desperately

Right now I'm looking at you and I can/can't believe


You don't know you're beautiful

But that's what makes you beautiful

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na ……….

Baby you light up …..

Baby you light up …..

If only you saw…….

* Use audio only for focused listening activities. They can watch the video and sing along

after their tasks. There is often a sub-titled version available on You Tube.


Guess the band

1 2 3 4 5 6

???????? ________ ________ ________-________ ________ ________ 7 8 9

________ ________ ________ Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry

10 11 12 13 14

Styles________ Louis Tomlinson. ________ ________ ________ ________ 15 16 17 18 19 20

________ ________ ________ ________ ________ The X Factor ________

2010.

21 22 23 24 25

________ ________ ________ ________ ________, Up All Night, Take Me 26 27 28

Home and Midnight Memories, (________ ________ 2011, 2012 ________ 29 30 31 32 33

2013 ________). _______ ________ ________ ________ Brit Awards 34 35 36 37 38

________ ________ MTV Video Music Awards ________ ________ ________.

39 40 41 42 43

________ ________ ________Sunday Times Rich List, ________ ________ 44 45 46 47 48 49

2013 ________ ________ ________ estimated ________ ________ ________ 50 51 52 53 54 55

________ £25 million, ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ 56 57 58 59 60 61 62

________ ________ ________ UK ________ 30 ________ ________ ________.















Missing Words

according boy had of the

achievements British have others their

age by in personal them

albums combined include pop they

among competition is released third

an consisting Irish respectively three

and English made second to

April finished making singing wealth

band four many television wealthiest

musicians under years

according 39 boy 6 had 45 of 9, 9, 50

the 15, 41, 53, 58

achievements 31 British 16 have 22 others 38 their 30

age 62 by 42 in 57 personal 47 them 52

albums 25 combined 48 include 32 pop 5 they 11,21,44

among 36 competition 19 is 1 released 26 third 13

an 2, 46 consisting 8 Irish 4 respectively 29 three 24

and 10,28,34

English 3 made 23 second 54 to 40

April 43 finished 12 making 51 singing 18 wealth 49

band 7 four 33, 35

many 37 television 17 wealthiest 55

musicians 56 under 59 years 60


Original Text

One Direction is an English-Irish pop boy band consisting of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam

Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. They finished third in the British television singing

competition The X Factor in 2010.

They have made three albums, Up All Night, Take Me Home and Midnight Memories,

(released in 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively). Their achievements include four Brit

Awards and four MTV Video Music Awards among many others.

According to the Sunday Times Rich List, by April 2013 they had an estimated personal

combined wealth of £25 million making them the second wealthiest musicians in the UK

under 30 years of age.

















http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_band

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_music

Differentiation within a song - Sentence Grab

A sentence grab is a good activity that can be differentiated to suit the needs of your learners. All pupils listen to the same song but complete a slightly different task as they listen. A sentence grab basically involves cutting up the lyrics of a song into chunks and pupils have to grab the corresponding chunk as they hear it.

This activity allows the teacher to divide the lyrics (text) into any sized chunks they wish. Smaller chunks, one or two sentences, require keener listening and reading skills. Alternatively, the text could be divided into larger chunks allowing the listener more time to notice familiar words. To support pupils further, key vocabulary could be highlighted, e.g. known vocabulary or rhyming words. Another idea is to divide the text into A/B parts. This reduces by half the amount of text the pupils have to read as they're listening. Give alternate chunks to A/B groups, giving them a break in the song before the next part comes.

After the 'grab', pupils add up how many chunks they managed to pick up. The activity could be repeated or you could move on to ordering the text. The pupils can listen again and put down the chunks in their hands in the correct order. Alternatively, all the chunks could be put back on the table for the group to order collaboratively.

Choose something that your pupils may already be listening to. The latest Disney film often provides good tunes.


songs, rhymes and chants

Documents