Songs, Rhymes and Chants

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@Lake School Email:enquiries@englishinoxford.com

Songs, Rhymes & Chants

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 songs
Three 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 songs
Language level.
Amount of new vocabulary.
Relevance to syllabus.
Relevance to topic.
Ease and memorability of tune.
Quality of recording.

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Rhyming
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 animals 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 names Joe
And I work in a button factory
Ive got a wife
Three kids
One day my boss came up to me
He 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 legbottom.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.

3

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 smile
like a clown,
then you turn the corners down.
Show your teeth
open wide
move your jaws from side to side.

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

Raise your eyebrows
roll your eyes
make them grow to twice their size.
Shut them tight
wink and blink
keep them open just a chink.

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

Make your face
long and slim,
give yourself a double chin.
Twitch your nose
frown and pout
suck your cheeks in, puff them out.

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

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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

Childrens
Songs

Childrens Songs
Duke of York
Oh, 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, 1
st
stress)
Pepper (2 syllables)
Salt (1 syllable)

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

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Londons Burning
Londons Burning, Londons burning
Fetch the engine, fetch the engine
Fire Fire,
Fire Fire
Pour on water, pour on water

I Hear Thunder (to the tune of Frre Jacques)
I hear thunder, I hear thunder
Hark dont you? Hark dont you?
Pitter patter raindrops, pitter-patter raindrops
Im wet through, so are you.

I see blue sky, I see blue sky
Way up high, way up high
Hurry up the sunshine, hurry up the sunshine
Well soon dry, well soon dry

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

Two Little Dickie Birds
Two Little Dickie Birds
Two Little Dickie Birds sitting on a wall
One called Peter, one called Paul
Fly away peter, fly away Paul
Come back Peter, come back Paul

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

The Fast Food Song
A Pizza Hut, a Pizza Hut
Kentucky Fried Chicken & a Pizza Hut
A Pizza Hut, a Pizza Hut
MacDonalds, MacDonalds
MacDonalds, MacDonalds

Try changing the lyrics, for example The Salad Song

A cucumber, a cucumber
A big bowl of lettuce and a cucumber
Tomatoes, tomatoes
A big bowl of lettuce and a cucumber
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Pop Songs

Pop Song idea 1
1) 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.

Thats 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 isnt 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.

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Characters in Each Peach Pear Plum
1. The Three Bears (Goldilocks and The Three Bears.)
2. Little Bo Peep Nursery Rhyme
Little Bo peep has lost her sheep
And doesn't know where to find them.
Leave them alone and they'll come home,
Bringing their tails behind them.
3. The Wicked Witch (from many stories)
4. Tom Thumb ( a character of English folklore)
5. Jack and Jill
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
6. Cinderella
7. Mother Hubbard
Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To get her poor doggie a bone,
When she got there
The cupboard was bare
So the poor little doggie had none.
8. Robin Hood (heroic outlaw in English folklore)
9. Baby Bunting
Cry Baby Bunting
Daddy's gone a-hunting
Gone to fetch a rabbit skin
To wrap the Baby Bunting in
Cry Baby Bunting
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The 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 trains horn.
From: Google Images

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Stop That Noise

Shh Shh stop that noise
(everyone)
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

Shh Shh stop that noise (everyone)
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

Shh Shh stop that noise (everyone)
Tell everyone to please be quiet. Please be quiet now!

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Rain A jazz chant.

It was raining, raining, raining hard
It was falling on my head
It was falling on the stars
It was falling on my shoes
It was falling on the sun

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

The rain was sweet
sweet sweet
The rain was warm
warm warm
The rain was soft
soft soft
It reminded me of home
home home

It was falling, falling, falling on the stars
It was falling, falling, falling on the stars

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Sweet rain
Its raining, raining
Warm rain
Soft rain

Soft rain
rain, rain
Sweet rain
rain, rain
Warm rain
rain, rain, rain.

Adapted from Jazz chants by Carolyn Graham

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

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Price Tag by Jessie J.

Hes 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?
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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

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Teachers notes
Thats what makes you beautiful
by One Direction

Lead-in
Play guess the band/singer
Pupils 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.
Theyve 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.

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Teachers notes

Thats 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 its 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 doesnt 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
shes
She
looks
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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/cant 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
17

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/cant 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.

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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 ________ ________ ________.

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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 10,28,3
4
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
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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.

21

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.

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@Lake School Email:enquiries@englishinoxford.com

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