Head, Shoulders, Knees, and all that

Cake

Sometimes I blog here.  Sometimes I blog there.  Please have a look over  there sometimes!

K.I.S.S. - Keep It Super Simple

Tanja, Troy, and I will be giving a workshop, facilitated by Yuco Kikuchi, on Thursday, June 26 here in Tokyo about using simple songs to energize, motivate, and manage young learner classrooms. 

If you happen to be in Tokyo, come join us!  You can find details here or here (in Japanese).

If you aren't in Tokyo, or you are but you can't make it to the venue, you are still in luck.  You can sign up to participate in the workshop online!  Space is limited.  You can learn the details by following the above links.   See you there?!?!

Clean Up Song

I came across a post this week (via Zooglobble) about the benefits of using music as a tool to make transitions and routines easier for young children.  Getting dressed, taking a bath, cleaning up, brushing your teeth, nap time, story time, etc.  Moving from one activity to another can at times be very frustrating for parents, children, and teachers alike.  Music and simple songs help young children make the transition to these activities much smoother.  Songs can grab a child's attention, create positive impressions of the new activity, and reduce the stress a young child may feel in stopping an activity that they have settled into comfortably.

The post features an enlightening interview with a music therapist (highly recommended listening).  At one point the interviewer notes, "If you sing the words you might say to a child, they are more likely to respond."  That's something that I learned early on when teaching young learners.  In teaching young second language learners in particular, the music plays a double role of helping to teach new language AND signaling transitions to children who may not otherwise understand the directions of the the teacher due to a limited vocabulary. 

Here are some examples of the Clean Up song from Super Simple Songs in action! (note that it works with puppies, too!)

2,000,000

Kind of a milestone on our hands...the Super Simple Songs channel at youTube has passed the 2,000,000 views mark!  Hip Hip....

It all started with this video for The Bath Song back in September of 2006. 

Ten in the Bed (*with six)

I clearly haven't been a very prolific blogger lately.  But I'm going to be dipping my toes back into the blogging pool a little and I'll ease my way in by posting some videos over the coming weeks. 

Today's video was created as a response to a video made by Val, an amazingly creative person and wonderful teacher.  She made a great video for Ten in the Bed from Super Simple Songs featuring her students at Daddy Ross Preschool, and we responded with a video of one of our classes at Knock Knock English.  This activity works great with large classes or small.   Enjoy!

Kids riddle or bar trick...you decide!

Well...I haven't been writing blog posts lately, but I've been reading them!  And the best blog out there is Tanja's E.W. Spider.  Great posts, everyday (with Japanese translations,too!)  Recipes, activities for kids, and insights from a really great teacher. I got a big kick out of this post. 

Speaking of E.W. Spider...

Easter Songs for Kids

I just got an e-mail from a teacher looking for good Easter songs for young learners.  Any favorites?

Children's Valentine's Day Song

Valentine's Day is just around the corner!  For a second, just forget about all the chocolates and diamonds and greeting cards being advertised to you and appreciate a holiday that focuses on telling people close to you that you love them.  It's beautiful.

For me, the perfect children's song for Valentine's Day is Skidamarink (also known as Skinamarink.)  Here's our Super Simple version.

If you have a little rocker in your family, try this version! Happy Valentine's Day!

Blog roundup

I've not been poking around the blogosphere that much lately,  but I got some time this morning and wanted to share.

First of all, from my colleagues . . . Tanja writes an amazing blog and here's a great post about turning hate into love, and another with great suggestions for teaching ABCs to young learners.  Troy shares  a great tip for tidying up around the house and a wonderfully simple take-off on musical chairs that will help you and your kids review colors and any other vocabulary you like.

And a belated thank you to a couple of great teachers for mentioning Super Simple Songs on their blogs.  Patrick Jackson is the force behind the wonderful Potato Pals series and we got a chance to see him in November at the ETJ Expo in Tokyo.   We also a chance to talk with Setsuko Toyama, co-author of the English Time series and a fantastic teacher trainer.  I've seen Setsuko present many times over the years and I always leave with ideas for making my classes better.  She had a few nice things to say about Super Simple Songs as well.  Thank you!

Patrick and Setsuko will both be taking part in the Oxford University Press "Teaching Children Confidently and Effectively" tour in cities throughout Japan.  I'll be attending the event Saturday in Yokohama.  I highly recommend their presentations. 

Backwards Day

Good-bye!

For the past 4  years, we have had an annual Backwards Week at Knock Knock English.  During Backwards Week, we wear our clothes backwards, we greet the students at the door with a hearty, "Good-bye!  See you!", we walk backwards, we start class with a good-bye song and reverse the usual order of activities (story time first!), we sing the ABC song backwards, and we say "Hello!" when the students leave.

Aside from being a lot of silly fun for the students (and it is a LOT of fun), it adds some variety to classes and helps the students to really think about what we say and do at school on a regular basis.  For example, we usually start our classes with a Hello song.  The students understand what they are singing for the most part, but after being in class for a long time, there is a danger of students just "going through the motions"...singing or communicating with the teacher and fellow students, but not really thinking about what they are singing or saying.

On Backwards Day, children pay close attention to everything!  Once they grasp the concept that today we are doing things backwards, they begin to look very closely for differences.  When we sing See You Later to start class, the children get a huge kick out of the absurdity of every lyric in the song.  "It's time to go? We just got here!!!"

Backwards Day is also a lot of fun to do at home.  Say, "Good night!" in the morning and "Good Morning!" at bedtime.  Read a story in bed in the morning.  Eat dinner foods for breakfast and breakfast foods for dinner.  Have dessert first.  And for more school ideas for Backwards Day, have a look at Education World.   

Be ready to discuss things with your kids...Backwards Day will bring a lot of questions about why we do things the way we do. We all go about our days with a lot of preconceptions about how things are supposed to be.  We tend not to step back and take a look at how we are doing things until something goes wrong.  Mixing things up with something like Backwards Day is a good way for teachers, parents, and kids alike to reevaluate the way we do things in a positive, fun way.  Give it a try! 

Hello!