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I,You,He,She, We are Happy.. Pronouns Song

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In the first several lessons of an English course you should always start off with "I" and "You" for the very simple reason that these are pronouns that kids use the most.

But once you've done several "I" themes e.g. I'm hungry, I'm 7 years old, I came here by helicopter, I'd like an orange juice etc. you can then use this pronouns song to dramatically increase the amount of English the kids can say. It's a huge confidence booster!



How to teach...

In the previous lessons make sure you've at least done How are you? and the extra How are you? words. Of course the more themes you've done before the better this theme works.



"hungry"

1. Put the I'm hungry card on the board and make sure the kids remember it. Do the gesture for "hungry". For the "I" part either point to yourself or another idea is to use the sign language for "I".

2. Sing the "I am hungry" line from the song with the gestures. If the kids notice the difference simply say that you can either use "I am hungry" or "I'm hungry" in English. Don't let other teachers go into a big grammar explanation.

3. Get the kids to repeat with the actions. If you can do it, it's always fun to joke with the kids by saying "No, I am hungry!" etc.

4. Teach them how to say "You are hungry". This time with a gesture of either pointing at the kids or the sign language for "you".

5. Get the kids to repeat from step 3 using the other pronouns.

For "He" you point to one boy in the class, for "she" point to one girl, for "we" point to lots of people and include yourself, for "they" point to people away from yourself, and for "everybody" try and include the whole class in your gesture. Or as mentioned before use the sign language, whichever version you are familiar with, for these words.


6. Now put up the "thirsty" card (from the extra How are you? words). See if the kids can figure out the "you are thirsty" etc. parts. You can either do this by asking the kids in their own language and getting them to translate into English or by using the pronoun picture cards or gestures. This is a really important step. We want the kids to realise they can chop and mix and change the language they know to mean new things.

7. Now crank up the CD player to full and sing the song. The kids will love it, it's possibly the best ever Genki English song! If you've done "hungry" and "thirsty" explicitly you normally don't need to prepare "happy" separately, the kids will pick up on it straight away.

8. Everyone will be on a super high note. So hit them with some tests. Teach "and" and "but" and then use either gestures, the kids' native language or picture kids to elicit lines such as "I am hungry, but she is thirsty and they are tired" The kids will love the great big confidence boost making a long sentence like this gives!

9. Usually that will be the end of the lesson so finish on another big loud rendition of the song!


Recommend Game: I am a dinosaur game

For the 2nd lesson, review the song and put up all the How are you? words on the board. If you're really adventurous, and they've already done the theme, you could use the What are you doing? words to come up with sentences like "I am eating but she is dancing and he is fishing." Then you can try today's game:

1. Put the kids into pairs.
2. The first person in the pair says "I am ..." plus one of the words from the board, e.g. I am cold.
3. The other person in the pair makes it into a "you" sentence, e.g. "You are cold"
4. Repeat from step 2.
5. But if the first person says "I am a dinosaur" then both players have to race and touch the nearest wall.
6. The fastest person to the wall gets a point!
7. They repeat with the other person asking questions.
8. After a while get them to make groups of 3 (mingle is great for this).
9. Now one person says "I am..." and the other two say "He is ..." or "She is..."

Here's a video of the game in action. I originally called it the "I am the walrus" game, but nobody got it!








Anyway this is one of the best Genki English songs and is hugely popular with the kids. Give it a try, it serves as a fantastic example of how any English or any grammar can be taught in a genki way!

This song is on CD vol. 9 and in the Download Pack.

Be genki,

Richard

Readers' Comments

I've been using this song in my classes lately and I love it. It has really helped with the personal pronouns and verbs that I've been teaching lately. It reminds me of something from my childhood but I can't quite pin down what. Keep up the good work. Rosebud.

I've used the song now with my 2 classes of sixth graders and it is a huge hit!! They were singing the song quietly throughout the whole lesson! It was still in their heads this morning. SUPER!

I place the students in a big circle and on the inside are myself, a student in front of me and a boy and a girl on either side. You sing to the appropriate person and those in the middle join hands for "we" then we point to those in the outer circle "they" and for "everyone", everyone joins hands and sings. - Carol

Great song. I use Japanese sign language. The thumb for 'he' the pinky for 'she' both the pinky and thumb on one hand for 'they'. For 'we' I do an sweeping motion toward and across the body with an open hand. Whenever I use the words in any sentence or question I try to do the gesture.

He and She are not 'obvious' signs so before I teach the signs I write the words 'he' in blue and 'she' in pink on the blackboard. Then I use pix of famous people by saying 'He' is Ichiro. 'She' is Sayaka Aoki. Then I ask students 'he' or 'she? by moving the picture to both words. They catch on really quick. I usually try to end with 'Ikko' or 'Mikawa Kenji' (Japanese male celebrities who wear dresses and take on a woman persona) for a laugh. Then I move on to the students who become very aware of the meaning and difference of the two words. - Gumby

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