I have been discovering how much fun the younger students have with “TPR songs” – “TPR” is an acronym for “total physical response” which is a rather grandiosely-named language-teaching methodology which basically means “have kids move around because it activates their learning.” I’ve always been a believer in this – although I was always personally a very visual learner, I know there are kids who learn better when material is connected to movement (kinesthetic learners). So TPR songs just means songs where there are physical actions that the kids can do.
I’ve been going out into youtubeland and finding good videos to show the kids. Some are more successful than others. Here are two that have been by far the two most popular so far. I have that CJ version of “5 little monkeys” stuck in my head, and the every time I see a first grader now, she or he will say “teacher! knees and toes!”