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?!?!
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!)
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