Singing a song

Every year I return to two New Year songs in Russian. The texts are about the New Year’s tree, and they are just full of useful structures and vocabulary. Kids pick the songs up really fast.

Today we jumped into learning the songs.
“A little tree was cold in the winter
We took her home.
So many bright ornaments,
pink cookies,
golden pine cones!”
and
“The little tree
was born in the forest
She grew there;
Winter and summer
she was green and
perfectly shaped.

It’s so easy to jump off with simple circling questions and pictures from this song. I can ask where the tree was born, where the trees we use at Christmas were “born,” and whether trees in our neighborhood are pretty and green summer and winter. We can talk about how we decorate, whether we have a tree or not, whether it’s a New Year’s tree, and why people have trees at all. Then we can discuss ecology…there’s so much to talk about from these two simple children’s holiday songs.

Check out the ones you might sing in your target cultures. It’s amazing! They can lead to lots of tangents.