Resource 2: Examples of songs and rhymes

Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

Examples of Hausa and Yoruba songs with an English translation

These are lullabies –songs sung to help children to stop crying. Notice the frequent repetition of the same letters and sounds – particularly in the Hausa and Yoruba versions.

Hausa:

Yi shiru yaro, yaro yi shiru (Sing twice)

Uwarka ta na zuwa

Yi shiru yaro, yaro yi shiru

Yoruba:

Dake omo, omo mi dake (Sing twice)

Momo re nbo

Dake omo, omo mi dake

English:

Be quiet, child, my child be quiet (sing twice)

Your mother is coming

Be quiet, child, my child be quiet

A rhyme in English that is fun to say quickly

Yellow 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!

Taken from:Yellow butter – Traditional rhymes/songs; New Successful English, Grade 6, Reading Book, OxfordUniversity Press

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: Song of the animal world – Traditional song from the Congo, African Poetry for Schools, Longman

Resource 1: What successful readers and writers need to know

Resource 3: Example questions to ask about a grocery item