Thu 30 Nov 2006
These are among the simplest of Recycle Songs.
First: students practice saying numbers. This is good practice even for advanced learners. They won’t believe it, but let them try. In “Counting Song 1 - 7,” they sing along with the numbers: “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7… 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”
“The Even Counting Song” is harder. Try singing along… “2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12… 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2.”
Now you know the basic melody for this 12-second song. A huge range of Recycle versions can be composed by students themselves. Examples:
1. Students create their own number songs. They can sing any numbers (”100, 80, 25, 10… 16, 17, 43, 1″) to the melody and the rest of the group writes them down. Thus the group gets speaking, listening, and pronunciation practice.
2. Don’t stop with numbers. Students can make a list of words for this melody. The melody may have a theme, as in the Animal List Song, or it may be current vocabulary.
Counting: One Through Seven, Up and Down [0:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (153) Counting: Two Through Twelve, Up and Down [0:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (105) Sing your own number song! [0:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
February 23rd, 2007 at 2:20 am
[...] Take The Counting Songs. 10 seconds long. The singer counts from one to seven, and then back. It seems like a beginning level activity. Can be. But I have used it at all levels. I have used it with teachers of English and teacher trainers of English. They think it’s easy the first time when they sing “1-2-3-4-5-6-7-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.” But what the heck? The song’s 10 seconds long. It’s not as if you are wasting time. Then they are usually suprised to find that the “2-4-6-8-10-and-12″ version is not so easy, especially counting backwards. [...]