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I'm a superhero! I can...

How to teach ....

This is probably the easiest and possibly the best ever Genki English song!

1. The teacher sings "I can jump/run/ " etc, whilst miming the action.
2. The kids repeat the line and action.
3. In the chorus the teacher does a superhero pose and sings "I'm a superhero!"
4. The kids do a similar pose whilst singing "super hero!"
5. Everybody sings "Super, super hero!" together with a big pose.
.

That's it and it is so much fun. As usual teach the song first without the music, then bring in the mp3 to amaze the kids!

We're designing & testing the pictures cards to go with the song now and hopefully they'll be on the site soon. "I can hide" is meaning he can become invisible (I chose it because the kids also use it for "hide and seek"). Needless to say "I can cook" gets the most reaction from the kids! Getting them to cut veggies really fast is a popular gesture.

When the music starts pretend to look up in the sky and search for the superhero!

Here are some great kids doing the song in Italy!

Make a Superhero Game!

This game is similar to the imagination worksheets and is used to bring more creativity to the classroom as well as presentation skills (eye contact, clear speech, variation of tone etc. etc.)

1. Give each child a piece of blank paper.
2. Each child imagines their own original superhero hero.
3. They decide what (s)he can.
4. They draw a picture of their superhero.
5. They then present their superhero to the class by holding up the picture, saying

�gI�fm a superhero, my name is�h plus their original name and then
�gI can�c.�h plus 3 the things their hero can do!

Grades 1 to 6, even the teachers get into it!

Other Classroom Games

Or you can try the Leapfrog game!




Bonus Printables

Other ideas are a Superhero version of I can make you a star or the Can you kick? game. There's also an online picture book in the works!

This song is on CD vol. 9 and in the Download Pack.

Enjoy!

Readers' Comments

Students loved it. The chorus was really popular with kids singing "I'm a super hero" well into lunch time. Stuck to basic gestures for the words...most of the kids had a splits contest for the "i can stretch"gesture. It's really easy (even without flash cards) to teach. Can be used as a TPR style warm up too. SUPER...... - Tokugaz

This song is the best one so far!! In the classrooms it was one of the most successful songs, and in the one most kids sing from beginning to end feeling like superheros!!! They sing the loudest, they move and show amusement. They really believe they are superheros and superheroines.So much energy!!! Everyone is excited when singing it!!! BRAVO!!!
- Terespain

This has proved an amazing song to teach. The boys especially seem to get very involved. I start by asking them to tell me the names of any superheros - Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Fantastic Four, X Men, and the Hulk have all been mentioned. I didn't use the pictures of the heroes until they had mentioned them. I also ask them to tell me what special powers they have, sort of brainstorming. Some ideas where in English and some in German at this point. I had printed off the black and white pictures and told the children it is such a new song that the pictures are not even in colour yet. I also tell them that they are so lucky as its not on CD yet. I like to make them appreciate what they are getting!!!

I then show each picture in sequence and they guess what the action is. They then say I can... I can... after me. We then think of actions together as a class. I pretend to do the actions like a 'normal person' and ask them if a superhero would jump so low or chop so slowly. They of course do everything at triple speed then. There have been different actions in different schools too, very interesting especially with fly. We then go over the vocab and the actions together. For the chorus they have stretched their muscles, thrown houses, flown, jumped etc etc. I do like them to do their own actions for the chorus. Finally the music. We all point to the sky to see Genki man and then begin. They really do sing very loudly and its works well to have spoken the song a couple of times before hand. It is also possible to move around the classroom for some of the actions.

We then played a miming game using the vocab. The children come out and do an action and the other said. He can jump or She can run etc. depending on if it is Genkiboy or Genkigirl! I then asked some of the older students to do any other actions that are not in the song. Some came and ate like a super hero, drank, read etc - Flossy

For more advanced classes

I just wanted to share a different way to introduce the song for more advanced groups. I have a private group of 10 children, who I have taught for the last 2 years. For homework today I told the student's there was a new Superhero. They were very interested. For a listening exercise I told them to find the verbs in the song. They managed all 6/8, pretty good for 10 year olds and of course they loved the song. I then told them they had to draw and create an image for Genkiman for this weeks homework. I did not show them the flashcards. I also said they could write or draw smaller pictures of all his special powers. They had so many questions, can he do this?, can he have a GM on his T- shirt?? and on and on. Of course I told them to use their own ideas and draw exactly what they think he looks like. - Flossy

Just had my first try with these cards topic. Though I love this song, I didn�ft expect the reaction to be as great as it was. The kids just were bubbling to think about there Superhero, and when I put on the song, their voices were really like heroes and they were laughing all over. - Margit

This song really works well!. I had one special education student who was the cutest superhero ever. The look on her face made my whole day! It is so amazing how GE songs and gestures can perform magic in the classroom.

I used Richard's bingo idea. Since there are always at least 2 teachers in the classroom, (today there were FIVE!) I paired up the students and gave them 8+1 superhero cards. They put them in a 3 x 3 bingo grid. Students then raised their hands to ask the superheros a question. For example they would ask Mr A., can you swim? If Mr A answered YES, all the pairs could turn that card over. If Mr A. answered NO, they couldn't turn the card over. Groups tried to see how many BINGOS they could get. I usually wait until all the pairs get at least 1 bingo. It is winner every time I play it. The teachers really had fun with this, one even showing the students how she could fly. Lots of laughs! - Gumby

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