294 Part V: What Kind of Class Will I Have?
If you have a recorded version of the song it’s great for you and the children
to have some musical accompaniment. If not, go ahead and sing your heart
out at normal speed. Be cheery and exaggerate the actions, encouraging the
children to join in.Don’t worry about the other phrases in the song unless the children
particularly want to know the meaning.Keeping Teenagers Interested
When you have a class of teenagers, you can have some great discussions
providing that you find the topics that really interest them. Whether it’s the
latest signings by Manchester United, or finding the perfect date, teenagers
make the effort to communicate when they feel strongly enough about the
subject matter.Some other points that teenagers look for in a good lesson are:✓ Evidence that the teacher is prepared for the lesson and interested in
their students’ development: At this age kids are smart enough to know
if you habitually throw lessons together at the last minute and they
behave accordingly.Singing the Happy song
Another great song for young learners is the
Happy Song. It goes like this:If you’re happy and you know it, clap your
hands (clap twice and repeat).
If you’re happy and you know it, and you
really want to show it.If you’re happy and you know it, clap your
hands. (clap clap).
The next three verses are the same except
that you replace ‘clap your hands’ with these
commands in turn: stamp your feet, shout ’We
are!’. Do all three.This song has simple lyrics and the commands
mirror the actions exactly, so you don’t need
to pre-teach them. The only word you need to
teach beforehand is ‘happy’, which is very easy
to do with smiley faces. The procedure is the
same, a slow version first then normal speed.
Repeat it several times the first day and then
regularly after that.After the song you can then focus on the verbs
‘clap’, ‘stamp’ and ‘shout’. Whenever someone
does well you can ask the class to clap.
I suggest you save shouting exercises for
outdoors as you may be unpopular with your
colleagues otherwise. You can use ‘stamp your
feet’ when you talk about cold weather too.