eslHQ - A Game for teaching morning routines.

Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush is a great singing game that you can use to teach the daily actions involved in the morning routine of getting up, getting washed, brushing teeth etc.

YOu can listen to the song here

http://www.pamseslclassroom.com/Free_ESL_Music.html

Just click on the mp3 link and you can listen to it. YOu can also download the mp3 for free.

Here are the lyrics and instructions for the game.

Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush

(Form a circle and skip around as the chorus is sung.)
CHORUS: (To be repeated after every verse.)
Here we go round the Mulberry bush,
The Mulberry bush, the Mulberry bush.
Here we go round the Mulberry bush.
On a cold and frosty morning.

Verse 1 (Perform actions for washing the face)
This is the way we wash our face.
Wash our face, wash our face.
This is the way we wash our face.
On a cold and frosty morning.

CHORUS:

Verse 2 (Pretend to brush teeth)
This is the way we brush our teeth
Brush our teeth, brush our teeth
This is the way we brush our teeth
On a cold and frosty morning.

CHORUS:

Verse 3 (Pretend to brush hair)
This is the way we brush our hair
Brush our hair, brush our hair
This is the way we brush our hair
On a cold and frosty morning.

CHORUS:

Verse 4 (Pretend to get dressed)
This is the way we put on our clothes
Put on our clothes, put on our clothes
This is the way we put on our clothes
On a cold and frosty morning.
(Dance around and sing the Chorus)

17
Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush Lesson Plan

Purpose:
To teach new vocabulary, listening skills, pronunciation and group cooperation.
This is a great song for learning the names of the actions that we do in our daily living:
Wash our face. Brush our hair. Get out of bed. Eat our breakfast. Put on our pants. Put on our sweaters. Put on our jackets. Put on our shoes or socks. The possibilities are endless.

Vocabulary:
These phrases are repeated throughout the game; wash our face, brush our hair, brush our teeth and put on our clothes.
The words to be introduced for this game are cold, frosty and morning.
Words that are not on the CD version of the song, but which can be used in extra verses you might choose to use with your students are socks, pants, shoes and jacket. Also explain that one can also say, ’get dressed’ instead of ‘put on your clothes.’

Introduction
Play the musical version from the CD for the Children.
Sing along with it
Invite the children to listen as you sing along,
Next listen to it and then begin demonstrating the actions while listening to the song Gradually introduce the vocabulary using the flashcards as the song progresses.
Demonstrate with a flashcard or bring in an actual letter.

Group Work:
Sing as a class and do all the appropriate actions so the children can be sure of what to do as they play the game.

Play The Game
Have the children form the circle and play the singing game with the actions involved.
The more they play the more they will learn how to pronounce the words. This game gives the students the opportunity to have lots of
practice and repetition as they pronounce the words over and over while playing and
singing.
The repeated instructions as children play this singing game will reinforce the vocabulary and the pronunciation of these words to the children.

Individual or Partner Work:
These are worksheets available through my site but you can easily make your own using these ideas.

The Cloze Worksheet for this chant involves filling in the missing words. Depending on the level of your students, you may read this together and fill in the blanks as a class, with you writing the words on the board or you may assign the exercise as an individual task or as partner work.
Read it through when completed and discuss the meaning of the words. You could have the children take turns reading one line each. Or you could read it out loud and have the students volunteer or take turns providing the correct word by speaking it out loud.
The Writing Worksheet asks the students to copy the description for the pictures.

Anyone have any other ideas around this theme.