Nursery Rhymes
Lu-lu has decided to teach the beginning section to level one over again. She had the choice of moving along with our class, or staying back, herself, to become more familiar with section one’s material. Because we sailed through the book in the first two and a half weeks, she wants to do it again and pace herself a little better this time. Since we’ve been finished with the book for so long now, waiting to take the final examination, which is tomorrow, Lu-lu has had to keep us entertained. This has proved difficult and I have a feeling that the reason the class went from 10 to 4-sometimes 5 in attendance is due to the low stimulation provided in the last eight days of class. Of course, I will finish the first section tomorrow with perfect attendance, the only one in my class who can boast of this achievement.
At some point on Monday or Tuesday, Lu-lu threw up her hands and asked us what we wanted to learn about. Arthur shouted out that he wanted to learn songs. Children’s nursery rhymes. Dutifully, Lu-lu showed up the next morning with CDs and a little boom box and we’ve been learning nursery rhymes. This is great for me, since I can translate them into English for my children when I start teaching.
And, without further, ado, I present some of the songs I’ve learned this week. Sing them on your way to work, thinking of tiny little Chinese boys and girls hollering the words at the top of their lungs and not being too far from resembling the sound of Alvin and the Chipmunks:
ZHAO PENGYOU (Looking for a Friend)
-I don’t know what tune you sing this to, but it’s one of those songs like The Farmer in the Dell, where you have a circle and one person in the center that is “looking for a friend”. The child makes his/her choice and then interacts with said friend until it is time for the child who was picked to start the process all over again. Also, each word is shouted out at the beginning, as if the child in the center is reminding the rest of the circle of the words to the song…
ZHAO(a) ZHAO(a) ZHAO PENGYOU (looking, looking, looking for a friend)
ZHAO DAO YI GE HAO PENGYOU (found one friend)
JING GE LI (I salute you)
WO WO SHOU (shake, shake hand)
NI SHI WO DE HAO PENG YOU (you are my very good friend)
ZHAO(a) ZHAO(a) ZHAO PENGYOU (looking, looking, looking for a friend)
ZHAO DAO YI GE HAO PENGYOU (found one friend)
XIAO XI XI (little giggle)
DIAN DIAN TOU (nod, nod head)
DA JIA DOU SHI HAO PENGYOU (All the people are good friends)
LIANG ZHI LAO HU (There are Two Old Tigers)
-This one is a little more “relevant” given the fact that it is sung to the tune of Frere'Jacques.
LIANG ZHI LAO HU (There are two old tigers)
LIANG ZHI LAO HU
PAO DE KUAI (running fast)
PAO DU KUAI
YI ZHI MEIYOU WEI BA (one has no tail)
YI ZHI MEIYOU ERDUO (one has no ears)
ZHEN QI GUAI (really strange, surprise!)
ZHEN QI GUAI
Needless to say, this is one of my favorite songs…EVER.
And then a little propaganda for you:
I Love Tian’anmen Square: Chairman Mao’s favorite children’s song (I'm also not sure what tune this is sung to, but when we listened to it in class, Lu-lu joked with us that children weren't allowed to graduate from Kindergarten unless they learned this song perfectly. Listening to the recording, I would have been hard-pressed to graduate, myself. It's sung REALLY fast.
Wo ai Bei Jing Tian’anmen
(I love Beijing’s Tiananmen)
Tian’anmen shang tai yang sheng
(Sun rises above Tiananmen)
Weida ling xiu mao zhu xi
(Great leader, Chairman Mao)
Zhi ying women xiangqian jin!!
(Leading us in front of progress!!)
