In Genki English we have several different “Days of the Week” tracks, to suit the mood of every class you have.
First off is the “No Saturday” mix where you “forget” to say “Saturday” – great for younger kids!
Or try the much more funky “When, when?” mix:
Then you can move onto the “What day is it today?” version:
And just in case you didn’t pick up on the gestures, here they are!
As usual, all the songs are included in the Teacher’s Set, but be warned, they will stay in your head all day! 🙂
Be genki,
Richard
Earn More From Your Passion For Teaching English!
Hi Richard!
I also like the idea of connecting words, meanings and gestures very much. I only doubted if children would mix them all. But I think the way out of the situation is explanation in their mother tongue.
I did something like this with colours. Children often have difficulties with remembering colour words, so I supplied the words with gestures connected with articulation of key sounds of the words and suggested an funny image to each word, eg
‘orange’ – a Russian ‘o’-like orange orange (it’s the easiest to remember word, because the Russian word sounds alike),
‘green’ – a grinning crocodile,
‘red’ – a ready to get applause wearing red Punch,
‘blue’ – a blowing wind,
‘pink’ – a sight fillip (kids liked it most of all),
‘purple’ – a magician doing magic,
‘yellow’ – a sunbeam cropping up and vanishing very quickly,
‘brown’ – a certain Mr. Brown.
But I’ve just realized that I have no gesture for ‘black’.
Happy Russian Old New Year to everybody :-)!
How about getting the kids to close or cover their eyes? You don’t need an image because the kids wont be able to see it!!! Just a thought….
Thank you Stephen!
No problem – glad to help!!!
I like this but I think it’s difficult to teach my students. Thanks.
Hi Quyen,
Do look up the Pygmalion effect If we, as teachers, believe the kids can’t do it, they never will. But if we just hold up a higher expectation, believing they can do it, magically it becomes true!
We always underestimate what our kids can do and it is one of the most damaging things we can ever do. So *always* aim for the stars, I guarantee your students are all amazing and can achieve things that none of us can visualise! We just have to believe in them! And I totally believe that *you* can inspire them!
Plus keep an eye on the blog for a video of real kids doing this song! 🙂
Thinking of the song “what day is today?” , I got a different set of gestures that make more sense for my Brazilian kids, and perhaps might be easier for some of you.
Sunday-the sun is ok,but trace it with both hands showing “1” (1st day of the week),Monday-hands show “2” (in Portuguese the words for Monday-Friday are related to numbers 2-6),so Tue-3, Wed-4,Thu-5,Fri-6; Saturday- “S”:a wiggly, snake like,fun dance…A great follow up for numbers 1-10,perhaps! ENJOY!