Lesson 9: Winter

It's winter, winter,

snow is falling,

make a snowman

with the white snow!

It's winter, winter,

snow is falling,

make snowballs

with the white snow!

It's winter, winter,

a cold, cold winter,

wear your mittens,

and play with the snow!

Stage 1 – Brief Revision

Revise the previous lesson briefly following the procedure of Lesson 3 Stage 1 (here revise: autumn, rain, wind, bare tree, fallen leaves, umbrella)

Stage 2 – Vocabulary focus i) SEASONS: winter ii) WEATHER: snow, cold iii) WINTER LANDSCAPE: snowman, snowball iv) CLOTHES: mittens v) COLOURS: white vi) (optional - secondary) VERBS: to fall, to make, to wear, to play

Prepare flashcards and finger puppets at home that depict the season of winter and whatever characterises it, such as snow, snowman, snowballs, mittens, white trees, woolen clothes, scarves 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 winter?” “What is the weather like in winter?”, “What are the colours of winter?”, “What kind of clothes do people wear in winter?”. Present and drill the following vocabulary items winter, snow, snowman, snowball, mittens by using the flashcards and / or rhythmical clapping [win-ter, sno-w, mi-ttens (clap two quarter notes, ta ta), sno-w-man, sno-w-ball (clap three quarter notes, ta ta ta)]. Use mime and teach the verbs to fall, to make, to wear, to play as well as the adjective cold.

Alternatively, if the lesson takes place in winter, you can ask Ss to look outside their windows and describe the weather, the landscape, the clothes people wear and the colours that characterise winter (white, grey).

Tell Ss that they will sing a song in which they describe the season of winter. 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) sing the song focusing on the following vocabulary items snowman, snowballs, mittens by pausing before these are heard in the song and asking Ss to sketch the word missing on paper iv) to describe what kind of feelings the music evokes by sketching a happy or sad face in their drawing pads 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 triangles (ta-ah ta-ah) , Group B beats 4 quarter notes per measure using their jingle sticks (ta ta ta ta) and Group C beats “4 eighth notes, 2 quarter notes” per measure using their bells (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 draw something depicting winter or make a collage picture by cutting pictures from magazines or printing them from the web. In the end, Ss vote for the best drawing / collage picture and the winner describes it in class. While drawing, Ss could be listening to music (e.g. Vivaldi “The Four Seasons - Winter”). Ask Ss to sing goodbye to Mrs Mary (see Lesson 1 Follow-up).