When the "Wheels on the Bus" Have Long-Since Fallen Off

The above picture is of me singing Karaoke at a gay bar in Tokyo

When I'm Not Singing at a Karaoke Bar...

I teach mostly the 7 and under set and so singing is a huge part of each lesson. But after 8 hours straight of "The Wheels on the Bus", you begin to feel a little like a figurine on the Disney theme-park ride, "It's a Small World"...like a robot programmed on repeat. It can be sort of maddening.

Plus, as I've discovered, It's not so much having a huge knowledge-base of songs that's important as it is knowing which songs are best used in an ESL classroom. The idea behind using songs in your lessons, is in order to review particular vocabulary or grammar...And not just to entertain or kill time. So before you decide to teach the kiddies a song, ask yourself this: How is this song useful?

That being said, the following are songs that I've found to work well...

Top Seven Kids Songs to Teach in the ESL Classroom:

1. The Hokey Pokey (In/Out, Body Parts)

2. Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (Body Parts)

3. The Walking Song (Actions)

4. The Rainbow Song (Colors)

5. The Colors of Our Clothes (Colors, Clothing)

6. The Hello/How Are You? Song (Greetings, Good Warm-Up)

7. One Little, Two Little, Three Little Fingers, (Counting on your Fingers)

Top Three Worst Kids Songs to Teach in the ESL Classroom:

1. The Farmer in the Dell (What in the world is a "Dell"?)

2. Ring Around the Rosie (I don't even know what the words mean)

3. John Jacob Jingleheimer Schimdt (This is a favorite of mine for camp settings...it's loud and easy to learn. But as a tool to teach English? Not so much).