Resource 2: Examples of songs and rhymes
Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils
An example of an isiZulu song with an English translation
This is a lullaby – a song sung to help children go to sleep. Notice the frequent repetition of the same letters and sounds – particularly in the isiZulu version.
Thula thu’thula baba thula mntwana
Thul’umam uzofika ekuseni (sing twice)
Kukh’inkanyezi eholel’ ubaba (sing twice)
Thula thula thula mntwana
Thula thula thul’ uyeza (sing twice)
Hush, hush, hush, little boy, my child
Be quiet, mother will be here in the morning (sing twice)
There’s a light drawing father
Lighting up the way home for him (sing twice)
Hush, hush, hush my child
Hush, hush, hush, he is coming (sing twice)
A rhyme in English that is fun to say quicklyYellow butter by Mary Ann Hoberman
Yellow butter purple jelly red jam black bread
Spread it thick
Say it quick
Yellow butter purple jelly red jam black bread
Spread it thicker
Say it quicker
Yellow butter purple jelly red jam black bread
Now repeat it
While you eat it
Yellow butter purple jelly red jam black bread
Don’t talk with your mouth full!
An action rhyme
I’m a little teapot, short and stout
Here is my handle, here is my spout
When I get my steam up
Then I shout
Tip me over
Pour me out.
Song of the animal world – a song from the Congo
Note: This song is about movement and the sounds of the chorus represent the movement of the creatures.
NARRATOR: The fish goes
CHORUS: Hip!
NARRATOR: The bird goes
CHORUS: Viss!
NARRATOR: The monkey goes
CHORUS: Gnan!
FISH: I start to left,
I twist to the right.
I am the fish
That slips through the water,
That slides,
That twists,
That leaps!
NARRATOR: Everything lives,
Everything dances,
Everything sings.
CHORUS: Hip!
Viss!
Gnan!
BIRD: The bird flies away,
Flies, flies, flies,
Goes, returns, passes,
Climbs, floats, swoops.
I am the bird!
NARRATOR: Everything lives,
Everything dances,
Everything sings.
CHORUS: Hip!
Viss!
Gnan!
MONKEY: The monkey! From branch
to branch
Runs, hops, jumps,
With his wife and baby,
Mouth stuffed full, tail in air,
Here’s the monkey!
Here’s the monkey!
NARRATOR: Everything lives,
Everything dances,
Everything sings.
CHORUS: Hip!
Viss!
Gnan!
Taken from: Yellow butter – Traditional rhymes/songs; New Successful English, Grade 6, Reading Book, OxfordUniversity Press
Song of the animal world – Traditional song from the Congo, African Poetry for Schools, Longman
Resources 1: What successful readers and writers need to know
