Head, Shoulders, Knees, and all that

Simple Children's Christmas Song

Phew!!!!  Our 2006 Christmas parties wrapped up on Sunday.  Great, great fun.  It's an odd feeling when the parties are done.  They really are a ton of fun, the kind of events that make everything worth it, but they wipe us out as well.  We'll all be enjoying a nice winter vacation starting the end of the week.    

Here's a video of one of the Tokyo parties singing What Do You Want for Christmas? off of Super Simple Songs.   

Santa was indeed on his way, but he got a little lost...more on that tomorrow.

What Do You Want For Christmas was one of the first songs we made for our students several years back and it's really exemplary of what the Super Simple Songs concept is all about; a simple, non-intimidating tune, basic lyrics which emerging speakers (whether they be young native English speakers or ESL/EFL students) can learn quickly and confidently through gesture,  and lots of space for movement and dance.

If you are looking for a last minute, simple children's Christmas song, What Do You Want for Christmas is available for download at iTunes, Rhapsody, MSN Music, MyKidsMusic.com, etc., etc., etc.

So, what do you want for Christmas?  Better yet, what do your kids want for Christmas (and is Santa going to bring it?)  Fran over at About: Kids Music asks an interesting question.  Her six year old wants an iPod for Christmas.  Pop over there and tell her...would you buy an iPod for a six year old?

Down by the Glen

As often happens, when someone mentions one song by a particular artist, I go to check out that song and end up listening to a whole bunch more.  Gwyneth brought up "All My Colors" from Ralph's World as a great color-themed song the other day, and I've been on a Ralph's World binge ever since.

I was thrilled to come across the following Ralph's World video clip at youTube.  We use A LOT of dancing and gestures in our classes, often incorporating bits and pieces from American Sign Language.   I frequently visit the ASL Browser site for new sign/gesture ideas.  It's an online dictionary of American Sign Language signs with video clips.  I visit so often the woman who does the signing in the videos feels like an old friend.   It's a tremendous resource for any early childhood educator.  Somebody very cleverly edited together many of her video clips to make a great little video for a great little song Down by the Glen. 

Don't be suprised to see me "borrow" the idea for this video;-)

Colors songs for kids

Here's a video of some Knock Knock English students singing "I See Something Blue", one of the simplest of the Super Simple Songs. Thanks to Mizuki, Nagi, Chikara, Akari, Hono, Megumi, Miyu, and Mei!

Do you have any favorite color-themed children's songs?

ESL Songs for Kids

I came upon this thread in the ESL Headquarters discussion forums about what are some good songs and CDs for young ESL/EFL students.  I won't rehash my lengthy post in that thread, but I did want to share a couple of iTunes i-mixes I made.  There are a lot of great children's artists who don't write with ESL students in mind, but still have several songs that work great in ESL/EFL classrooms.  Thankfully, in today's world, you don't have to buy the full CD to get the one or two songs you want, we can download individual songs.

So, here are a couple of i-mixes of songs for children's ESL/EFL classes featuring tracks from artists like Dan Zanes, Laurie Berkner, Milkshake, etc.  (You'll need to have iTunes installed to open these links.)

Great Songs for Children's ESL/EFL (U.S. iTunes)
易しい英語のうた (iTunes Japan)

One thing I've found is that the features which make a song great for young ESL learners (fair amount of repetition, clear enunciation, moderately paced lyrics which can be understood through gestures and dance) also make these songs ideal for any emerging speakers, such as native-English speaking babies and toddlers and children with special needs (children with autism, learning disabilities, etc.).  So if you are looking for some fun, active songs to enjoy with emerging speakers of any stripe, give these a shot.

Music and Book Recommendations

Jeff shares his thoughts for great songs to enjoy with the family every month over at Out With the Kids, and bi-monthly book suggestions too! I'm a little late linking to his October music and book picks (especially since some of the books are kind of Halloween related), but check them out. I particularly enjoyed John Prine's My Darlin' Hometown.

Three Little Birds

Every so often, the topic of "what are some good adult songs for kids" comes up on one of the blogs which touch on children and children's music, including this one.  The Beatles are always well represented.  Number one by a good margin on my list is "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley.  Here's a nice rendition by Brazilian singer Giberto Gil.

Mr. Gil has led quite an interesting life, including stints playing with Yes, Pink Floyd, and the Incredible String Band in the 70's, and is currently Brazil's Minister of Culture.  More about him at wikipedia.

Children's Music Web Awards

The 2006 Children's Music Web Awards Winners have been announced.  The Children's Music Web Awards pride themselves on being chosen by kids, families, and caregivers in a multi-stage judging process.  Here's how the judging process goes:

"Entries are first screened by a blue-ribbon panel for appropriateness for kids. Entries are sent worldwide to volunteer families or neighbor groups comprised of adults and kids of appropriate ages. The entries are then rated by kids and adults according to specific guidelines for quality such as performance, production values and content. The top scorers in each category, the Finalists, are passed to the next round.

Each of the Finalists are then rated by a total of 100 kids of appropriate ages in 3 volunteer classrooms and day care centers in geographically diverse areas. The kids vote on their favorites using a simplified ballot. In the case of the Baby and Toddler categories, caregivers do the rating. Those recordings that score a composite of 90% or better will then be declared Winners."

There are a lot of great artists amongst the winners, including lifetime achievement awards for Tom Chapin, Red Grammer, and Sharon, Lois, and Bram.

I'm happy to say that Super Simple Songs 2 is a Winner in the Best Recording for Babies and Toddlers category.  We tried hard to make a CD that even very young children could sing and participate with, so it's a thrill to learn that caregivers are finding the songs as fun and useful as we have.

To see what we mean by super simple, check out our latest teaching tips video for Rock Scissors Paper off of Super Simple Songs 2. 

Thanks to our students for helping out; Yuma, Dai, Asuka, Mizuna, Shoko, Hono, Akari, Megumi, Mei, and Miyu...you're the best!

Uh-huh!

I was playing the silly question game in class with my students last year (where we take turns asking each other silly questions like, "Do you like butterfly ice cream?"), and without thinking I was answering some of their questions with "Uh-huh", and "Unh-unh."  The kids latched on to it and started mimicking me, but it's not as easy for non-native speakers to say as you might think.  It's all in the nose, so you can't show someone how to pronounce it, and the stress pattern is not easy to grasp at first.

Sooooo, we made a simple song that would bounce around in the kids' heads and we have had a great time singing it in class, everybody nodding their heads up and down and side to side.  It's called Uh-huh! and it's on the Super Simple Songs 2 CD.

Last week, Jeremy-sensei disappeared into one of our classrooms for  an hour or so with his laptop, 2 puppets, and a copy of Super Simple Songs 2, and emerged with this classic video for Uh-huh!  I hope you enjoy it as much as we have!

Hello My Friends

I post about Nancy Stewart's Song of the Month every month because I think she provides a remarkable service, for free.  These songs are great for pre-schoolers and kindies...very simple lyrics and she always provides gesture and dance ideas to make the songs really fun and interactive. 

This month's song is Hello My Friends (those words immediately bring Neil Diamond to my mind), a very gentle tune great for starting off the day with and/or for circle time.

p.s.  you can stop talking like a pirate now

The Bath Song

We've been getting requests from teachers using the Super Simple Songs CDs for more teaching tips, so we, the kindly folks at Knock Knock English, have entered the YouTube arena ourselves!  Here's a short clip introducing The Bath Song from the first Super Simple Songs CD.

We're going to be adding clips for all or most of the songs little by little, so any feedback on what would make these clips most useful for teachers and parents would be greatly appreciated!  Mahalo!