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December 16, 2005
Christmas Carols
On Wednesday I was working in my office when I heard the sound of music (no pun planned) from somewhere in the building. Occassionally I hear a radio or CD, but this sounded live. On following the sound, along with half of the staff I might add, we discovered a group of carolers in the front entryway.
It was a bit of a ragtag group, not from their dress, but from the sizes of the participants. There was a baby, not much older than six months dressed in a bright red dress, to numerous children from kindergarten to high school arranged around the front desk. There were several parents and one teacher lead the crew.
"Eins, zwie, drei," said the teacher as the group began to sing. Of course, this is our German/art/music group from our home school program. Rene Castro, the teacher, uses any opportunity to let the children practice and we were the recepients.
What a treat. The kids sang a variety of songs both in English and in German. We were invited us to sing along, well, at least sing along on the English versions.
The holidays are great times for singing and performing. If you ever look a bit deeper into what goes into those performances you'll find listening and reading at the core. Kids can't sing without having heard the songs (listening) a number of times or reading the words over and over. What a fun way to learn vocabulary and word recognition, a couple of very important skills to have in school.
So sing away-English, Spanish, German. There are all kinds of fun things to learn in singing a new song. Where else can you learn about a Partridge in a pear tree, mistletoe, or corn cob pipes? We don't talk much about any of those things during normal conversation so why not sing and talk about them during the holidays?
Posted by Dr Joni at December 16, 2005 07:38 AM
Comments
Hi Joni,
What I like best about your blog is that you prove the results of an exercise everytime you share one of your own childhood experiences that relate to an activity. This really emphasizes the fact that when we take on teaching something, we think back as to how we learned it and often take that same route.
These activities are important not only for the information they impart but also for the pattern of learning that parents are establishing with their children. They may not realize it at the time, but while they are teaching their children they may in fact, be building the learning path for their future generations.
By the way, I also love the titles to your entries. Too funny.
Posted by: Linda Armstrong at December 23, 2005 08:18 PM