songs and games in the classroom

[Janey Haynes]

As one without native fluency, but who loves the history, language, and customs of Russia (as well as a high school teacher of Russian), I have to say, games and songs of all persuations are welcome.  I have no problem using folk songs to teach grammatical or vocabularic concepts.  After all, don't we do it in English as well?  As to movement in the classroom, one of my kids' favorite games is "swat it!", where they swat vocabulary words on a white board, trying to beat the opposite team.  It gets to be quite fun!  I'd be interested in what you're producing.
Janey Haynes
Nashville, TN
-------------- Original message from Inna Tigountsova <itigount at DU.EDU>: -------------- 


> Dear John, 
> I think both of your examples are great, and I use very similar games and a 
> variety of songs in my first-year Russian classes. Students love the vocab games 
> when they all are sitting in a circle, person 1 stands behind person 2, and I 
> show them a card with, say, the word "muzykant." Whoever says it first moves one 
> step further sideways, etc. Songs in Riazanov's films are great even for the 
> first-year, "Esli u vas netu teti" from "The Irony of Fate," for example, 
> introduces them to Gen. sg. My more advanced students loved the songs from 
> "Bremenskie muzykanty." 
> Hope this helps, 
> 
> Inna Tigountsova 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: John Langran 
> Date: Monday, March 31, 2008 3:39 pm 
> Subject: [SEELANGS] songs and games in the classroom 
> To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU 
> 
> 
> > Dear colleagues 
> > 
> > A couple of further queries for the adaptation of my Ruslan course 
> > for the 
> > US market. I would be grateful if those teaching beginners Russian 
> > have time 
> > to respond. 
> > 
> > 1. 
> > Do you like using language games that involve students moving around 
> > the 
> > classroom talking to each other in Russian? I have been encouraged to 
> > drop 
> > these from my US edition, as your classrooms are perhaps more "rigid" 
> > than 
> > ours in the UK. But I am not sure of this advice, and I want to check 
> > it. 
> > Example of such a game for beginners in the first few lessons of a beginners 
> > course. 
> > They already know - Izvinite! Ya- Vy - Da - Net, and a few other necessary 
> > words. 
> > - students choose a profession - either inzhener, muzikant or zhurnalist. 
> > They don't tell anyone who they are. 
> > - they then have to get up from their seats and regroup in 3 groups, 
> > all the 
> > engineers together, etc, using Russian only. Teacher stays on hand to 
> > help 
> > with vocab etc as needed. 
> > 
> > 2. 
> > Will there be any resistance from teachers to the idea of fun songs for 
> > learners using popular Russian tunes with new words? There is an 
> > example of 
> > such a song to the tune of "Iz-za ostrova na strezhen" at 
> > http://www.ruslan.co.uk/songs/Iz_aeroporta_v_centr.wmv - only low quality, 
> > the song is being recorded properly next week. It has been suggested 
> > that 
> > some teachers will see this as a mockery, but I think that the memorable 
> > context is a good aid to learning. There are likely to be 4 or 5 such 
> > items 
> > in the new book. 
> > 
> > Thanks for any feedback 
> > 
> > John Langran 
> > www.ruslan.co.uk 
> > 
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