Autumn Songs for Kids

Autumn Songs for Kids

Hello! 

   This post is for those who want to organize an Autumn party for kids. This season is colourful and amazing.
Our children enjoy autumn  and they also love parties. So, why not to do something interesting for them.We can encourage our little students to make something unusual with leaves,autumn flowers,fruit and vegetables and decorate a hall with their masterpieces. Usually, a good concert or a show with reciting poems, singing songs, demonstrating autumn costumes,playing games is an essential part of any kids' activity. Let them demonstrate their creative nature!

 As usual, I'd like to advise you some lovely videos to create a spesial autumn atmosphere.

                                                                                    

My November Guest

Robert Frost    "My November Guest"

Painter James Tissot Hello! Let's welcome November!  The third autumn month comes with sharp winds, grey clouds,drizzling rains,bare trees. This month is colourless,chill and dull. What can change it into the most beautiful season? Love, and only love. To my mind ,this marvelous poem wonderfully explains the feelings of lovers                                        "My November Guest" (by Robert Frost) My sorrow, when she’s here with me,    Thinks these dark days of autumn rain Are beautiful as days can be; She loves the bare, the withered tree;    She walks the sodden pasture lane. Her pleasure will not let me stay.    She talks and I am fain to list: She’s glad the birds are gone away, She’s glad her simple worsted gray    Is silver now with clinging mist. The desolate, deserted trees,    The faded earth, the heavy sky, The beauties she so truly sees, She thinks I have no eye for these,    And vexes me for reason why. Not yesterday I learned to know    The love of bare November days Before the coming of the snow, But it were vain to tell her so,    And they are better for her praise Vocabulary
a withered (plant)  has become dry and is dying sodden - completely wet fain - this old word describes the feeling of gladly or willingly doing something worsted - a type of woolen cloth: gray- a grey  suit  clinging - hold on tightly to
vex -make (someone) feel annoyed, frustrated, or worried
And now let's enjoy this video and try to recite the poem ! .

Autumn Rain

Reading : Autumn Rain by Mary T. Lathrap

Hello!





Today, let's read a poem about  autumn rain. You may think that it is too sad, but our life is not only joy and happiness. You know,  we won't be able to admire the brightness of spring without sadness of  autumn.

             
                                     

Autumn Rain

  by: Mary T. Lathrap  (1838-1895)

There's a sad, sad voice in the autumn rain,
Mournful rain;
As it beateth slowly against the pane,
Window pane.
And the wind sings by with a conscious breath,
And seems like a messenger whispering death,
As the flowers bend with a drooping eye--
Bend and die.

What gives such a sadness unto the rain?
Autumn rain;
For it sobs like a human heart in pain,
A heart in pain;
Does it know its drops with a chilly tread
Lie cold on the beauty that now is dead?
Does it know the beautiful must decay?
Passing away.

Sure the summer rain had a merry tone,
A laughing tone;
Its patter made melody all its own,
Yes, all its own;
The flowers looked up when it came from the skies,
And the drops for mischief fell right in their eyes,
And sparkled in brightness like mimic tears,
Joyful tears.

Then tell me, why is it this autumn rain,
Mournful rain,
Chills my very heart as it sweeps the pane?
Dripping pane.
Is it that it sighs o'er a summer fled,
O'er the graves where more than flowers lie dead;
Is it that memory lendeth a strain
To the sobbing rain?

O where are the hopes of the bright spring tide?
Sweet spring tide.
With the summer blossoms they too have died,
Yes, they have died.
They have fled away; will their bloom come back?
Will they bless again as I tread life's track?
Or, by and by on some other shore
Bloom evermore?

Sob on,--it is well,--O passionate rain;
'T is well, O rain,
Tho' the flowers now faded may bloom again,
Will bloom again;

 Some things that have died with the summer's light,

 Some things that have fled with the summer's flight,
Will never, no, never, come back again,
Sob on, O rain! 

Vocabulary 

 mournful - feeling, expressing, or inducing sadness, regret, or grief

 pane   - a single sheet of glass in a window or door.
tread - a manner or the sound of someone walking
decay - the state or process of rotting
pattera - repeated light tapping
mischief - playful misbehavior or troublemaking
flee (fled) -  run away from a place or situation of danger

Warm up Activity for English Lessons

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Warm up Activity for English Lessons

Hello !

Everyone knows the famous English proverb “A good beginning makes a good ending”. The good start is a very important part of any activity.
So, today let’s talk about the beginning of the lesson and doing warm up exercises.

Is warming up activity so important?
It certainly is. Teachers must create a specific atmosphere at the lesson from the first minute. Well-chosen activity helps students to feel more confident during the lesson, encourage them to focus on English.


There are a lot of different types of activity you are able to use .They depends on the age of students , the level of the group and the tasks you have put for the lesson.
Here I'd like to share and recommend you the types of activity I use at my lessons .

Warm up  phonetic exercises.

This is a very important type of activity. I use some minutes at the beginning of the lesson to correct the students' pronunciation. Different authentic poems, proverbs and tongue twisters can be used for these exercises. I also like jazz- chanting. It gives an awesome result! Poems always help student to memorize the correct pronunciation and what is more, they are full of a useful vocabulary and grammar.
So, to my mind, chanting is one of the best way to start a lesson. Here is the example of a jazz chant:

 

Another kind of phonetic exercises is singing. I use it as warm up activity only for my youngest students: their songs are short and don't take much time.  Kids  like it very much. A merry tune welcomes kids to start a lesson,  revise the vocabulary and pronunciation without boring repetition. The good idea for kids is to use songs and rhymes with movements. Songs are also useful as a warm up exercise if you are going to teach grammar. There are a lot of grammar songs for kids! This is one of them:

Vocabulary warm up exercises

 If you want to revise the vocabulary of the last lesson(s) , you can use different games:
Ask students to guess what you are drawing, adding line by line the pictures of new words(I use this for young pupils )
Ask student to guess the word and read the description of the  words (for well-prepared groups);
Write down the words with the missing letters on the blackboard     and ask them to guess the words;
Use crosswords;
Tell a story with the missing words or picture story (use new vocabulary) and ask students to complete the story.

The Sounds the Animals Make

Hello everyone!
This song is very useful for teaching kids . Using it they'll be able to learn the  animals and the sounds they make.
Hope, you'll like it!

Comparisons of Adjectives : Main Rules

Hello, dear learners!

Today we are going to  study some interesting rules of  using adjectives and their comparative and superlative forms.

 

  Comparisons of adjectives ( main rules):

• For comparisons adjectives have two forms : comparative and superlative.

We use comparative degree + than   to compare a person or a thing with another person or a thing 
February is colder than March.
His car is more expencive than mine.

• We use the +superlative degree of adjectives  + of/ in  for comparing one person or thing with more than one person or thing.

 Nick is the tallest in our group.
To my mind, London is the most desirable city in the world.
Ann is the kindest of all my friends.

Formation of comparisions of adjectives

• One-syllable adjectives add -er/est to form their comparative or superlative forms:

hard-harder-hardest

clean-cleaner-cleanest

• Two-syllable adjectives ending -ly,-y, -w also add -er/ -est

tiny-tinier-tiniest

•  Adjectives of two or more syllables take more/ most 

interesting-more interesting- most interesting

Note

• Adjectives  real, right, wrong  form their degrees with more and most

real-more real,  most real

• Some one-syllable and two-syllable adjectives of abstract meaning such as clever, common, clear, gentle, safe,  true, free,wise,etc. form their comparative and superlative forms with -er/-est or more/ most

wise-wiser-wises or more wise- most wise

• The comporative and superlative form of adjectives ending in -ing, -ed, -ful, -less are formed with more/ most

trilling-more thrilling- most thrilling

bored-more bored -most-bored

Don't forget!

There are some irregular adjectives in English. Their comparative and superlative forms are:

good-better-best

bad-worse-worst

much -more-most

many-more-most

little-less-least

far-further/father -furthest/farthest

 

Types of Comparisons

Today we'll talk about types of comparisons.

We started to learn comparisons .

as+ adjective +as
not so/ as + adjective + as
His new novel is as interesting as the previous one.
Sam is not so/ as educated as  Max.

twice/three times, etc./half as + adjective+as
Their house is three times as expensive as ours.



prefer +ing form/ noun +to+ ing form + noun
I prefer  reading to going out.
She prefers tea to coffee.

would prefer + to infinitive+ rather than+infinitive without to
I'd prefer to work hard rather than do nothing.

would rather + infinitive without to+than+infinitive without to
I'd rather learn English than watch TV.

less+ adjective+than
the least+ adjective+of/in
 As for me, English is less  difficult than Chinese .
 He is the least hard working of all.

the+ comparative, the+ comparative
The harder you work, the more you'll get .

comparative+ and+comparative
The days are getting shorter and shorter.

The Homes of England by Felicia Dorothea Hemans

 This poem was written by Felicia Dorothea Hemans (1793–1835)



It is full of love to her native land. So, it's no wonder  that people in English-speaking countries know this poem from their childhood. And now it's our turn to learn it.

The Homes of England       by     Felicia Dorothea Hemans
 
The stately homes of England
How beautiful they stand!
Amidst their tall ancestral trees,
O'er all the pleasant land!
The deer across their green sward bound
Through shade and sunny gleam,
And the swan glides past them with the sound
Of some rejoicing stream.



The merry homes of England!
Around their hearths by night,
What gladsome looks of household love
Meet in the ruddy light!
There woman's voice flows forth in song,
Or childhood's tale is told;
Or lips move tunefully along
Some glorious page of old.

The cottage homes of England!
By thousands on her plains,
They are smiling o'er the silv'ry brook,
And round the hamlet-fanes;
Through glowing orchards forth they peep,
Each from its nook of leaves;
And fearless there the lowly sleep,
As the bird beneath their eaves.

The free fair homes of England!
Long, long in hut and hall
May hearts of native proof be rear'd
To guard each hallow'd wall.
And green for ever be the groves,
And bright the flow'ry sod,
Where first the child's glad spirit loves
Its country and its God. 

Vocabulary

a stately home -  a large and fine house that is occupied or was formerly occupied by an aristocratic family.

amidst - among

a hearth -  a fireplace

ruddy - rosy, red

a cottage home - a small simple house, typically one near a lake or beach

a plain -a field

a brook-a stream

hamlet -  a small settlement, generally one smaller than a village

a fane - a church

to peep - look quickly and furtively at something, especially through a narrow opening

a nook - a small corner or sheltered space

a hut -  a small single-story building of simple or crude construction, serving as a poor, rough, or temporary house or shelter.

a grove -a small wood, orchard, or group of trees.

sod - the surface of the ground, with the grass growing on it.