Teaching the Songs of My Childhood
As a musician, I have made it a priority to seek out songs that are good for teaching English to grade schoolers, not only because I like music, but because I know it to be an excellent teaching tool. From source to source there are a lot of repeats, as well as a few new ones to make continued searching worth my while.One song that I was surprised to see pop up again and again was Ten Little Indians, I guess because it’s considered politically incorrect these days, but also just because I’d simply forgotten all about it. You remember how it goes,
One little, two little, three little Indians,
Four little, five little, six little Indians,
Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians,
Ten little Indian boys.
Anyway, I’ve used it two days in the classroom. The first day’s students have song sheets while the second day’s students have been copying the songs in their notebooks by hand as we get to them. The second day’s students were quick to bring an interesting grammatical point to my attention by saying, “Isn’t there supposed to be an ‘s’ on ‘Indian’ in the last line?” Good point! I went on and tell them how in English adjectives don’t agree with the subject, and that while “Indians” is the subject in every other line, “Boys” is the subject of the last line, which means that “Indian” does not have an “s”. What a handy song: numbers and grammar all in one!
posted by Kate @ 11:09 AM
8 Comments:
Linguistically, I don't know how widespread in other languages the English rule of "modifiers don't agree" is. But I know that this rule is hard for me to get the hang of in other languages, like Latin.
Good for your students for picking up on that.
And good for you for knowing enough about grammar to answer their question. In my case, I'm afraid that question might have been followed by a prolonged "duhhh."
BESS
Yeah, I've been surprised that I usually know the answers to their questions. (It's quite a relief, actually!) But when I don't know something I simply tell them I'll find out for the next time. Or, there's always the option to just gloss over it (if it's a minor point) and keep going. They don't tend to notice. ;o)
It's so great to hear about your experiences over there! It sounds like this lesson is just one of many you'll come to cherish. I am sure that your students must be having a great time learning English! (and thank goodness for counting songs... not just for little kids anymore!)
-Jillian B.
Kate's good at thinking on her feet.
..."Why did God create Satan?"
Wonderful, Kate! So I'm assuming you are teaching in French...
We are teaching our middle school choir to sing "A La Claire Fountaine" (Spelling????)...well folks, that is why I'm not teaching in France.
Anyway, What a wonderful teaching story! Keep those coming, Kate!
Jillian: So good to "see" you! And yes, I'm having a great time and already have bundles of stories.
Anne: I still cannot beLIEVE we got that question from a five-year-old! Talk about your prolonged "duhhh"! And then to try to explain it in five-year-old language!! It just goes to show that when you sign up to teach Vacation Bible School, you never know what you're getting yourself into. :o)
Jessica: Yes, I do teach mostly in French (which is not my personal teaching philosophy, but so be it). I try to use as much English as possible though. (And I believe it's "À la claire fontaine", though I'm not familiar with it.)
I will try to keep teaching stories regular on here. You have permission to bug me if I don't.
Today I so your bog and I have very like it.
I have got for you, the pictures of the Christmas'feat if you want.
Oh, I forgetten : Thanks for your good job in our church.
P.V.
Today I so your bog and I have very like it.
I have got for you, the pictures of the Christmas'feat if you want.
Oh, I forgetten : Thanks for your good job in our church.
P.V.
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