This is a choreography song… A Halloween dance number. There are almost no words to to this song.

When you listen to the mp3 file, you’ll notice sections of the song are numbered: a voice will say 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

For example:

Here are the dance directions for Section 1:

Hold both arms out, but bent at the elbows, hands pointing to the ground. Turn slowly around in a circle.

Once students in groups learn Section 1, they have an example. They can begin choreographing the remaining 7 sections of the song. Play the song. Assign one section per group. Their dance must be simple enough that they can write the instructions on the board or on poster paper. We want all dance “steps” on the board so that the entire class can perform the dance, following the instructions.

For basic learners, the directions for one section might be as simple as “Put your right hand on your head.” More advanced groups may write, “Raise your left leg, open your mouth like a fish, jump up and down.”

Perform the dance together, reading the directions from the board. Later, perhaps even the next day when the instructions have been erased, ask students to re-create them–the whole dance, either writing the instructions as best they can in pairs, or verbally.

Real skeletons have been creating dances this way for centuries. This activity is still very popular at traditional skeleton weddings.

But wait. Is this an effective activity for language learning? Well, students will have to create language describing movement, write the directions on the board for all to see, listen and follow others’ directions, with the physical movements reinforcing the meaning of the language. That ain’t bad.

If you like songs involving movement, check out Movement Songs.

 

 Dancing With the Skeletons [1:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (65)

In this creepy song the singer actually sings to a candle. What does he say?
Some key words have been gapped out of the lyrics, but they are listed below. You might try filling in the blanks before listening.

NOUNS: bed, man, nothing, shadows, spider, stair, wall
VERBS: lead, look, make, show, throw

Hey, there, Mr. Candlelight
you __________ the __________ on the __________.
You __________ a __________ look nine feet tall,
and a __________ look small

Hey, there, Mr. Candlelight
Please __________ the way up the __________.
And when I __________ underneath my __________,
Please __________ me __________’s there.

As a Recycle Song follow up, students in groups can write their own words to the karaoke version of the song. They will address some inanimate object and talk to it, using the above lyrics as a pattern. For example, “Hello, Mrs. Tennis Shoe,” or “Good Evening, my dear chocolate bar.”

Words and Music: KM
Time: 1:10

 

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 Standard Podcast [1:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (391)

Here is a short Halloween song of four lines. However, it has been mixed into language chunks. The task is to rearrange the eleven chunks below into the four-line poem. Afterwards students can listen to the song to check their work.

1. a ghost came
2. a ghostly voice call out
3. But when I opened it
4. ‘Cause I heard
5. down the street
6. He might have wandered
7. he wasn’t there
8. On Halloween eve
9. no more
10. to my door
11. “Trick or Treat.”

Words and Music: KM
Time: 0:51

 

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