Recycle Trusty Songs and Rhymes

Photo: MyEC member Ariel

It could be argued that teaching English to Young Learners is one of the most important jobs in the world today. Research shows that the best time to learn a new language is in the early years. Regardless of whether your students are EFL or not, most preschool teachers use music to reinforce new language and concepts. Whether you’re teaching the months of the year, or the importance of cleaning up, catchy tunes help kids remember what they have been taught.

As well as teaching kids to share, be kind, and respect others, early years educators today must also reinforce the importance of taking care of the earth. This can be done with simple adaptations of your favourite songs and nursery rhymes.

One of the most popular songs to teach preschool kids in Canada is “The More we get Together”. This trusty favourite has been translated in many languages. Here are the lyrics in case you don’t know them. Here is the tune.:

The more we get together, together, together
The more we get together the happier we’ll be
‘Cause your friends are my friends and my friends are your friends
The more we get together the happier we’ll be

At our local public school the kindergarten classes sing this adapted version of the song:

Reduce, reuse, recycle, recycle, recycle
Reduce, reuse, recycle, it’s easy to do
‘Cause your earth is my earth and my earth is your earth
Reduce, reuse, recycle it’s easy to do

Clean up time is a good time to teach your students this catchy song about the 3 R’s. Reduce your workload by reusing old songs, and recycling important lessons through music.

Keep in mind, you don’t have to be a poet to write musical adaptations for young learners (and it doesn’t have to be just for earth day). Click here for more examples of how teachers are recycling trusty songs and rhymes.