Lesson 11: Summer

It's summer, summer,

it's a hot summer!

Eat an ice cream,

ice cream!

It's summer, summer,

it's a hot summer!

Go to the beach

and play with the sand!

It's summer, summer,

it's a hot summer!

Go swimming,

swim swim swim!

Stage 1 – Brief Revision

Revise the previous lesson briefly following the procedure of Lesson 3 Stage 1 (here revise: spring, butterfly, bee, bird, tree, daisy, rose)

Stage 2 – Vocabulary focus i) SEASONS: summer ii) WEATHER: hot iii) SUMMER LANDSCAPE: beach, sand iv) FOOD: ice cream v) VERBS: to eat, to go, to play, to swim

Prepare flashcards and finger puppets at home that depict the season of summer and whatever characterises it, such as the beach, the sea, ice cream, swimming, sunbathing, sandcastles, buckets and shovels, holidays, sunny and hot weather etc. Present the flashcards to Ss, use L1 and ask them: “What can you see in the pictures?”, “ Look at the pictures and guess which season we are going to talk about.”, “Do you like summer?” “What is the weather like in summer?”, “What are the colours of summer?”. Present and drill the following vocabulary items summer, ice cream, beach, sand, swimming by using the flashcards and rhythmical clapping [beach, sand (clap one half note, ta-ah), su-mmer, swi-mming (clap two quarter notes, ta ta), i-ce-cream (clap three quarter notes, ta ta ta). Also, use mime and teach the verbs to eat, to go, to play, to swim as well as the adjective hot.

Alternatively, if the lesson takes place in summer, you can ask Ss to look outside their windows and describe the weather (it's sunny, it's hot), the kind of clothes people wear in summer (T-shirts, shorts, sandals, hats etc), the food and drinks people eat ( ice cream, refreshments etc) and the colours that characterise summer (yellow, blue etc). You can also make a recording (or find one on the Web) of the sound of the sea and waves, play it in the classroom and ask Ss to recognise what they hear.

Tell Ss that they will sing a song in which they describe the season of summer. Play the song on the piano. Ask Ss to i) stand up and move to the rhythm of the music ii) raise the correct flashcard or finger puppet of the word that is heard in the song iii) reproduce the sound of waves and the sea. iv) describe what kind of feelings the music evokes by sketching a happy or sad face on paper v) clap their hands (4 quarter notes per measure, ta ta ta ta)

Stage 3 – Incorporating percussion instruments into our activities & practising rhythmical patterns

Divide the class into groups and give them the percussion instruments they are going to use in this song (Always give instructions by following the procedure of Lesson 1 Stage 3). Group A beats 2 half notes per measure using their scrapers (ta-ah ta-ah), Group B beats 4 quarter notes per measure using their tambourines (ta ta ta ta), Group C beats “4 eighth notes, 2 quarter notes” per measure using their jingle sticks (ti-ti ti-ti ta ta). Practice separately and then altogether as a band. Last, ask Ss to play and sing the song as much as they can.

Stage 4 – Follow-up activities

Ask Ss to make a collage picture of their favourite summer holiday destination. In the end, Ss vote for the best collage picture and the winner describes it in class. While drawing, Ss could be listening to music (e.g.Vivaldi “The Four Seasons - Summer”). Ask Ss to sing goodbye to Mrs Mary (see Lesson 1 Follow-up).