I love using songs to teach English. Students love it, too. It makes the class fun, dynamic, and uplifting. I recorded an Episode of the Dream English Teaching Kids Tips Podcast on Teaching Songs. Have a listen here. It is also now available on iTunes. Thanks for listening!
Teaching Kids English Tips Podcast
Hi! I’m excited to introduce the Teaching Kids English Tips Podcast. Podcasts are a great learning tool, and I love listening to podcasts on my way to work, driving or out for a walk. So, I decided to start my own, and give some fun and helpful teaching tips. I have 2 episodes up already: Warm Ups in Class, and Teaching English using Songs Have a listen here!
New Animal Names Song and Matt Show # 1 Learn English Kids
Hi! I’m super excited about the new Animal Names call and response song. This song works really well with young learners of English. It is simple, and also a lot of fun! I’m also excited to introduce the new Matt Show! Have a look and more below the video:
Animal Names Song
The idea of this song is simple. Let’s say some animal names, and repeat. This song can be a lot of fun with young students in small, and large class sizes. I would recommend this song from 3 years and up. It can be a bit of a challenge to say, “L, L, L, L, L, L, Lion!”
The Matt Show
The idea of the Matt show is simple, to reinforce the vocabulary and concepts in the song at the beginning of each video. After all, in a class we wouldn’t just sing a song, and then that is the end of the class. We would play games, and practice the vocabulary in different ways.
Different Ways to Learn
In the first episode of the Matt Show we have the following segments:
- Spelling Game: Let’s learn how to spell Lion. If you make a mistake, watch out for the dinosaur!
- Ask Tunes: Let’s ask Tunes a question. In this episode I ask Tunes, “What’s your favorite animal?”
- Quiz Time: What animals do you see?
- What did we learn today? A review of the things we learned in the song and video.
I hope you and your students find the new song and show ideas fun and helpful. Remember, teaching English is easy, if you make sure to be clear with what you are presenting, kids will just get it! Happy Teaching!
Food! Top 10 Teaching Food Vocabulary Ideas to Young Learners of English
Food, Glorious, Food! A line from the great musical Oliver. Teaching young ESL and EFL learners about Food is a fun topic. We all have our favorite food, for me it is pizza, not to mention favorite fruit, and ice cream flavors. In the new Food Family Finger video, we learn the names of five popular food items, and how to ask for them in English. More below the video:
Top 10 Teaching Food Vocabulary Ideas
- Use flash cards, toy food, or draw pictures to teach children food names in English. MES English has some great flash cards here.
- Personalize the class! Ask the students, “What is your favorite food?” Beginners can answer with just the name of the food, and more advanced students can answer in a sentence like, “ I like pizza.”
- Use flash cards, or food props, and have a “restaurant”. Lay out the food on a table, and have the students take turns asking for food by using phrases like, “I want a salad.” Make sure they say “Thank you” after the teacher gives the student the pretend food. Watch the video above to practice this vocabulary.
- Craft Time: Have students draw pictures of their favorite meal! Including dessert and drink. If the students do not know the name in English, be sure to teach them. Have the students share in English about their meal to the class.
- Watch a Dream English Kids Video about Food, here are a few popular ones: Food Song Learn 15 Food Items Fruit Song Learn 12 Fruit
- Play a Shopping game. Similar to the Restaurant game (see # 3), but this time students gather, or ask for items, and use pretend money to buy the items. A teacher can be the cashier and say things like, “That will be three dollars.” Or have the students take turns. You can easily make pretend money and food for the game out of paper. Put the food items around the room like a real supermarket.
- Read books about food. Some of my favorites are: The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, and I Like Apples from my other site KidsEnglishBooks.com
- Ask students what they ate for lunch. Again, if they do not know the vocabulary in English be sure to teach them. Use the phrase, “What did you eat for lunch today?” You could also ask about breakfast if your class is in the morning.
- Sing a song about Food! Check out I Like Apples, it is a free download here.
- If you are a teacher that eats lunch or snacks with your students, be sure to talk about and ask questions about the food they are eating. For example, “What are you eating? Is it yummy? What color is your apple?”
I hope these ideas help you get off to a great start teaching about Food to young learners of English. I am sure you have many ideas of your own that are great as well. Happy teaching!
Learn Rooms of the House with a New Song!
Students can learn the rooms of the house pretty easily. With that in mind, I made a Rooms of the House Song with some actions, like cooking, and reading. This combination of themes makes for a lot of fun in the classroom! How to teach and more below the video:
UPDATE: Download a FREE MP3 of this song, click here!
How To Teach:
Before showing a video I like to introduce the vocabulary with flashcards. MES English has some great Rooms of the House flashcards that contain all of the vocabulary in this song. Get them here at MES-English.com
You could also have some fun with your students and draw the rooms on a white board. Ask the students to draw objects that they might see in the room.
Next, pre-teach the actions: cooking, reading, playing guitar, eating, brushing teeth. Your students might already be familiar with a lot of this vocabulary. Then, watch the video, and have the students try to do the actions and sing-along. Here are the lyrics just in case you want to pre-teach those as well:
Rooms of the House Song Lyrics:
I’m cooking some food in the kitchen.
I’m reading a book in the living room.
I’m playing my guitar in the bedroom.
Please be quiet! I’m trying to sleep.
Ok! After my guitar solo!
I’m eating dinner in the dining room.
I’m brushing my teeth in the bathroom.
I’m playing my guitar in the bedroom.
Please be quiet! I’m trying to sleep.
Ok! After my guitar solo!
Game idea: Ask your students to take turns acting out the gestures of cooking, or reading, and have the students take turns guessing. For an extra challenge, ask your students to choose a room flashcard where they are doing the action, and have the students answer like this, ” You are reading a book in the living room.”
I hope this helps you with some ideas to get started with your own awesome Rooms of the House lesson! Happy Teaching!
Teaching Family Members and Instruments with the Family Finger Song
I love mixing different topics in one song. It is a great way to increase students vocabulary, and help young learners remember new words in a fun way! The Family Finger song with instruments is my latest attempt at making a fun mix. Teaching tips, full song lyrics and more below the video:
How To Teach:
Before I teach a song, I always introduce and review the vocabulary. For this song the main vocabulary is Daddy, Mommy, Brother, Sister, Baby, Guitar, Piano, Recorder, Drums. You can teach the vocabulary by showing flashcards, or pictures from a book or textbook. Make sure the students understand the meaning of the words.
Next, I like to teach the actions of the song. For example, ” I am playing the piano.” Say the words, and do the actions. Here are the full lyrics of the song:
Daddy finger, Daddy finger where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
I’m playing the guitar
Mommy finger, Mommy finger, where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
I’m playing the piano.
Brother finger, Brother finger, where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
I’m playing the electric guitar.
Sister finger, Sister finger, where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
I’m playing the recorder
Baby finger, Baby finger, where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
I’m playing the drums
Next, watch the video, ask your students to sing along and do the actions!
After the video:
I like to ask my students a few questions after watching the video. Here are some sample questions you could ask:
- What instrument was Mommy playing in the video? (Piano)
- Can you show me your baby finger?
- In what room was brother playing the electric guitar? (bedroom)
Be creative and come up with new game and lesson ideas on your own using the Family Finger Song. You can do it! You are a great teacher! Happy teaching!
Teaching Places and Vehicles with the New It’s a Beautiful Day Song
I think it is important to introduce fun and memorable ideas when teaching young learners of English (ESL, EFL). I created a new song to teach places (library, playground, restaurant, and supermarket) with a fun twist of getting splashed by vehicles. Check out the video here, more teaching tips below:
Teaching Tips
Before playing the video for your students, use flash cards, or pictures to introduce the vocabulary in the video. Here are all the vocabulary words needed to teach:
Places: Library, Playground, Restaurant, Supermarket
Vehicles: Fire Truck, Bus, Banana Car, Bulldozer
You can use flashcards you already have, or look around the web to source your cards, I recommend MES English for great flashcards for teaching kids English.
Introduce the vocabulary on the flashcards, and the action of walking. Here are the full lyrics of the song if you want to pre-teach all the lyrics:
It’s a beautiful day
I’m on my way
I’m walking to the playground
Look, it’s the library
the library
I got splashed by a fire truck
Oh, no!
(repeat with other vocabulary above)
Now you are ready to play the video, and sing-along with your students. I would make the students stand up, if possible, and do the actions. They can really get into it and act like they are getting splashed, too!
The idea of these types of songs are that they are a fun natural way to learn English. Give it a try, and happy singing!
Teaching Colors with the What Color Is It? Song Free MP3 Download
Hi, Friends! I hope wherever you are in the world you are feeling positive today! Today I added the “What Color Is It?” Song as a free download on Dream English.com. This is a song that I use almost every day in my classes. I use it as an action song to get the students up and moving around the room. Young learners love to be active, and this song is a big help. If you are not familiar with the song, have a look at the video:
To go to the page with the free MP3 download of the “What Color is it?” song click here.
Why I love this song
Learning colors is an important basic part of any English course for young learners. This song teaches eleven main colors. It also teaches the question, “What color is it?” and how to answer, “It’s red.”
Students can sing the song and watch the video, or get active! I play the song in the classes, actually I play it and sing on guitar, but you can use the mp3 download. Ask your students to go around the room and touch or pick up objects with the colors they sing in the song. The second half of the song repeats the colors and gets faster. This is really fun for students!
Super Teaching Tip!
Have your students sing along, and when they get to the color and touch it have them say, “here!” when they touch the color. As a teacher, be encouraging. Say, “Great job, Sally! Nice work, Billy!” Give it a try! Happy singing and color finding! -Matt
New Walk in The Woods Action Song for Teaching Children English
It is really important to have fun in the classroom when teaching children English. One way to do this is with emotions. Quickly changing emotions from happy to sad, or not scared to scared can be a fun way of teaching. More below the video….
Walk In The Woods Song
The target language in this video includes animals (owl, fox, bear), nature (woods) and the use of “not” (I’m not scared.) You can pre-teach this vocabulary, or just go ahead and watch the video and have the children follow along. If they are already familiar with the target language, the students should be able to follow along quickly!
Get Moving!
I recommend having your students stand to watch this video. Get them moving and following along with the actions. This will get them more involved, and they will remember the words not only by singing, but with their bodies. Remember: Movement is very important!
Lyrics
Here are the lyrics of the song:
Let’s go for a walk in the woods
Let’s go for a walk in the woods
I’m not scared, no, no
I’m not scared, no, no
Stop! What’s that sound?
An owl? Shhh! Be very, very quiet
(repeat with fox and bear)
So that is the walking in the woods song, give it a try in your classes! For extra excitement, can you think of a game idea for the song? You could have students act out the different characters in the song and sing along. Happy Singing!
Family Finger Songs – Teaching Different Ideas to Young Learners
Many of you may know the popular children’s song Family Finger. I have made some new versions using different vocabulary. I like this song, because it teaches other vocabulary such as, “Where are you?” I also use these songs to teach actions like dig, mix, and more. More below the video:
How To Use This Song in your Classes
This song can be used as a warm-up song or in the middle of your classes as a song break time. You can begin by teaching the Construction Vehicle names, then the actions. Then watch the video and have your students do the actions and sing along. Here are the full lyrics:
Excavator finger, excavator finger where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
Let’s dig like an excavator
Bulldozer finger, bulldozer finger, where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
Let’s push like a bulldozer
Road roller finger, road roller finger, where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
Let’s roll like a road roller
Dump truck finger, Dump truck finger, where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
Let’s drive the dump truck.
Concrete mixer finger, concrete mixer finger, where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
Let’s mix like a concrete mixer.
So give it a try and get moving in your class! Here we go!