Hi! I was thrilled to stumble across this thread and see Super Simple Songs recommended. I'm one of the collaborators on the CDs, so let me throw my two cents in and give a few more suggestions.
The reason
Super Simple Songs was created was because I was in the same situation Shelley was in, having a bit of a hard time finding good songs for young beginners. Actually, there are a lot of good songs out there which are simple enough or close to it, but we were pulling one song from this CD, two from that CD, another from a different CD. We couldn't find a collection of songs on one CD appropriate musically and lyrically for very young learners. That made it hard for our teachers and when parents asked where they could get the songs we were using in class, we had to recommend like 10 different CDs, each of which only had 2 or 3 songs appropriate for their children's level.
We wanted our students to be able to take the songs we were using in class home on one CD. So we started making our own songs. All the songs were created or adapted for young learners. We use them in class with children as young as 2 years old, and even the children who aren't yet speaking are able to begin following along through gesture.
We've been adding
video samples to our website so you can get can get an idea of how the songs would work in your classes. As Shelley noted, these aren't for older kids. Super Simple Songs 2 just won a Children's Music Web Award for Best Recording for Babies and Toddlers (native English speakers). For native English speaking children, the songs are best for pre-school and younger. And for ESL/EFL students, Shelley hit the nail on the head when she said 8 years old was about the upper end of the age range for these CDs. We've gotten great feedback from teachers and parents of young Autistic/Special Needs students as well.
These are a few other CDs/artists I highly recommend:
Genki English CDs were created more with elementary school aged students in mind, I believe, so they are very energetic and fun while remaining very simple. We use a lot of their songs in our elementary school age group classes, and few with some of the K and under students. And I don't think you'll find any other CDs which offer the kind of support that the Genki English website does. A lot of great stuff there.
Sue Schnitzer is probably our favorite artist. She doesn't write specifically for ESL/EFL, but her songs are all music and movement based so there is a lot of great TPR-ablity (yes, I made that word up, I think). She has a great voice and her songs aren't over-produced...they have a real warm feel. I definitely recommend her CD
Wiggle and Whirl, Clap and Nap. Not every song is easy to use with beginners (a few have that "Jingle Bells" issue) but there are definitely enough songs that make it worth your while.
Wee Sing CDs are definitely worth having. The songs are all great for young native English speakers. For young ESL/EFL learners, there are a lot of songs which are either a little too difficult lyrically, a little too fast, or a little to hard to understand because many of the songs are sung by children and it's not always easy to catch their enunciation. Nonetheless, all of the Wee Sing CDs are packed with songs and very well produced, so I think they are definitely worth having if you are teaching ESL to youngsters. You'll find at least several songs on most of the CDs which you can use in class, and the rest of the songs work great as background music even if you don't "teach" them in class. Try "Wee Sing for Baby" "Wee Sing Children's Songs and Fingerplays" and "Wee Sing: 25th anniversary celebration" (all available through amazon.com)
Dr. Jean's songs are great, and she's legendary amongst kindergarten and pre-school teachers in the U.S. With Dr. Jean CDs you can find songs for every activity in your classroom. Songs for saying hello, lining up, cleaning up, naptime, etc. For ESL/EFL students, I think her CDs are best suited for full-time ESL students. EFL students and young students learning English just a few hours a week may not catch on a lot of the songs lyrically...again the Jingle Bells issue. She also operates an amazing website for
preschool education with great ideas for songs to teach in class.
Nancy Stewart offers a ton of great, free songs perfect for the under 8 set at her website. Every month, she releases a new song of the month. Not only are these free for download, but her entire archive of songs of the month are free as well. Or, if you prefer just to have them all on CD already, you can purchase CDs through her store. Not all of the songs work well with ESL/EFL beginners, but a lot of them do, at least the choruses.
And then there are a ton of great children's music artists (Dan Zanes, Laurie Berkner, Raffi, Hap Palmer) whose songs are often too difficult for young ESL/EFL learners, but who maybe have a song here and there that works. You may not want to buy a whole CD, but you can download individual tracks through iTunes.
I made a couple of iTunes i-mixes of what I think are some great songs for young ESL/EFL classrooms. If you have iTunes installed, these links will take you to those lists:
U.S. iTunes iTunes Japan
I write a blog about children's music and early childhood education, so if you're interested in reading more about kids music for the classroom, stop by from time to time:
Head, Shoulders, Knees, and all that.
Happy teaching!