[clivehawkins]

Ok, it's only November but if we don't start learning the new songs now we'll never be ready in time.

This year we've abandoned the idea of a play as walking and talking at the same time proved to be a tad tricky. The mothers still look at me badly after last year's shambolic effort

Therefore, this year we're singing and that's it. No argument.

Apart from the standard Christmas classics does anyone have any unusual songs they've done, or anything that went down particularly well?

I'd be grateful for any suggestions.
Cheers guys

[Eric]

I did "Must Be Santa" by Raffi one year. It was really cool because it's a song that you can break up into many sections. Here are the lyrics:

Who's got a beard that's long and white?
Santa's got a beard that's long and white.
Who comes around on a special night?
Santa comes around on a special night.

Special night, beard that's white...
Must be Santa, must be Santa,
Must be Santa, Santa Claus.

Who wears boots and a suit of red?
Santa wears boots and a suit of red.
Who wears a long cap on his head?
Santa wears a long cap on his head.

Cap on head, suit that's red,
Special night, beard that's white...
Must be Santa, must be Santa,
Must be Santa, Santa Claus.

Who's got a big red cherry nose?
Santa's got a big red cherry nose.
Who laughs this way, "Ho, ho, ho!"?
Santa laughs this way, "Ho, ho, ho!".

Ho, ho, ho, cherry nose,
Cap on head, suit that's red,
Special night, beard that's white...
Must be Santa, must be Santa,
Must be Santa, Santa Claus.

Who very soon will come our way?
Santa very soon will come our way.
Eight little reindeer pull his sleigh.
Santa's little reindeer pull his sleigh.

Reindeer sleigh, come our way,
Ho, ho, ho, cherry nose,
Cap on head, suit that's red,
Special night, beard that's white...
Must be Santa, must be Santa,
Must be Santa, Santa Claus.

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen,
Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon.
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen,
Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton.

Reindeer sleigh, come our way,
Ho, ho, ho, cherry nose,
Cap on head, suit that's red,
Special night, beard that's white...
Must be Santa, must be Santa,
Must be Santa, Santa Claus.

I think I had about 12 students, each one picked a line from each verse (there are 2 "subjects" for each verse). So in the first verse, "beard that's long and white" and "comes around on a special night" were the subjects. For each of those lines, the student that picked that line drew a picture of that line. So the person who had the first line, drew a beard that's long and white.

Then (I think this is how I did it) they lined up (shoulder to shoulder) all facing me. They'd be holding their picture with the picture side hidden. All the student's would sing "Who's got a beard that's long and white?" and the student who is holding the picture would sing back, "Santa's got a beard that's long and white" while showing their picture.

And then when they repeat back all of Santa's characteristics like, "Special night, beard that's white...", they'll go down the line each student singing their part and showing their picture that they drew.

All of the students sing "Must be Santa, must be Santa,
Must be Santa, Santa Claus." together.

It's kind of tricky and takes a lot of practice but it was fun. You can also do variations on what I said.

Try to get the Raffi version. There is also a Disney version of the song but that's really annoying!

You can hear a preview of Raffi's version here: Raffi on iLike™

You can also hear an instrumental version at the bottom of this page: Must Be Santa

I hope some of that makes sense...

There's only one bad part, that tune is waaayyy too catchy. Be prepared to be ostracized by your friends, asked to leave the teacher's office and told to sleep on the couch.

[clivehawkins]

Love it!
Just need to find the music and we'll give it a go.
Like the idea of them doing their own picture too - that'll really help them to remember their 'bit'.
Thanks a lot Eric.

As for being catchy, that's fine. Anything to get The Wiggles out of my head!!!!! :-)

[Eric]

Quote clivehawkins

Just need to find the music and we'll give it a go.

I found it in iTunes (if you like that service). I couldn't quickly find it anywhere else...

[clivehawkins]

found it, played it, got down on my knees and worshipped it like the TEFL Christmas anthem that it is.

The kids loved it, we're going to work on the pictures over the next couple of weeks and learn it word perfect!

Eric, you're the man!
Cheers

I'll video it and send you a copy. This is gonna be BIG.

[Eric]

Great!

Quote clivehawkins

I'll video it and send you a copy. This is gonna be BIG.

I'll hold you to that.

[Xinderela]

Thank you so much for this post!
I am going to try it as well with my class

[clivehawkins]

Eric,
You're right about that song being catchy. It's starting to drive me mad. Still, at least it's taken over from The Wiggles :-) Whatever happened to the days when I listened to old Stones, The Clash, a bit of Northern Soul? Dorothy the Dinosaur, sweet as it is, doesn't quite have the same effect.

[Eric]

Quote clivehawkins

Eric,
You're right about that song being catchy. It's starting to drive me mad.

You're only a week in! You still have a month left.