Genki Disco Warm Up!

Target Language: stand up, sit down, warming up
Target Grade: Kindergarten to Junior High 1
You can find this song in the Teacher's Set & Download Pack

The TPR Warm Up Game has become a huge part of many Genki English lessons around the world - and now you have the soundtrack to go with it! Even before this song was released it has become a big hit in all the test classrooms.

"Genki Disco Warm Up"
by Richard Graham

Stand up, sit down.
Hands up, hands down.
Stand up, and bow.
Sit down, sit down.

And clap.

Stand up, sit down.
Hands up, hands down.
Stand up, and bow.
Sit down. Sit down.

And cheer!
Come on, louder!

Stand up, sit down.
Hands up, hands down.
Stand up, and bow.
Sit down, sit down.

And cheer!

Genki Disco Warm Up Extended Mix

Stand up, sit down.
Hands up, hands down.
Stand up, and bow.
Sit down, sit down.

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle your nose.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle your toes.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle your cheeks.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle your ears.
And clap!

(Repeat Chorus)

Shake, shake, shake your head.
Shake, shake, shake your hands.
Shake, shake, shake your arms.
Shake, shake, shake your legs.

And cheer!
Come on, louder!

(Repeat Chorus)

And cheer!

How to teach ...

Simply stand up, sit down etc. after the music. "Sit down" is repeated twice on purpose, on the second one you raise your hands, just to make sure the kids are listening and not just copying your movements! As usual do the song without the music at first, then bring in the CD to bring the class to life.

In the "clap" and "cheer" section raise your hand and the kids raise their volume. Do this a few times and you'll be able to quieted the kids down at will by simply lowering your arms. I use this in lessons of even 100s of kids and it works a treat.

There's also an Extended Remix version with extra lyrics, simply shake or wiggle the appropriate body parts. "Wiggle your ears" is always a good one!

You can either do the strict TPR ( Total Physical Response) way of doing this, which is to just have the kids do the actions without speaking. But if you only have one lesson a week or less, I'd really recommend getting the kids to say the actions out loud as they do them, it gets them used to speaking out loud, lets you check their pronunciation and raises the atmosphere of the class no end.

See for yourself ...

To see how well this works with your children, try teaching yourself some Japanese with the same song!
Be warned it will stick in your head!

Recommend Games

There's no real game for this song as it's all self contained. You could launch into the Simon Says Please game ( note the big difference in the please version!), but I just use the song as an alternative to a triple Starbucks before moving onto the main theme of the lesson!

You can find this song on the new CD vol. 7

Or in the Teacher's Set or Download Pack

Readers' Comments

by Flossy in Austria

I used the karaoke version of the song and had changed the lyrics to suit some of my current 'command' words. They really enjoyed it and again this will no doubt become a firm favourite amongst my students.

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