Learning English in Russia: 12 Days of Christmas
When I was informed that my English students would be participating in the upcoming Christmas Gala and I needed to pick a song, I settled on one of four choices: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, The Christmas Song or Baby, It’s Cold Outside.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has a call back in it, so those who were not as strong in English would have to learn fewer words and could often just repeat phrases. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, (reindeer)\had a very shiny nose (like a light bulb)…” It was written for Sears, and would give me the opportunity to talk about Gene Autry, how Christmas has turned into a commercial holiday and what Santa has to do with Coca-Cola.
Frosty the Snowman would have allowed me to talk about Christmas Specials and snowmen with a good chance that we would veer into Olaf territory again. “The Snoz” Jimmy Durante sings the most famous version, and I was pretty sure it was written in America though I didn’t do any real research for it. Anything with a cartoon is fine for me!
The Christmas Song, aka Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, was written by Mel Torme, aka “the Velvet Fog.” It’s 3 verses long, which would make it easy to learn, and there is enough fodder in it to talk about all kinds of Christmas Traditions.
Baby, It’s Cold Outside is just my favorite song associated with Christmas that isn’t specifically Christmas. Because it’s a duet, the singers who were least strong could sing the answering portion of the song. Plus, depending on the feel of the event, we could choose this and not offend anyone. (I didn’t know if there was a problem here with trying to keep things wintery rather than holiday like. There isn’t as far as I can tell, but not for the reason that Americans who talk about “the War on Christmas” would like.)
These were the first 4 songs I thought about that were American. Carol of the Bells is Ukranian, and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is English. Then I thought about what we were doing. We are learning English, so I suggested one more song: The 12 Days of Christmas.
There are many versions of the song, but I just went with the simple one throwing in Miss Piggy’s “5 Gold Rings” (see video below). Because it is repetitive, it makes for the perfect song for those who are beginning to learn the language. It also features a vocabulary that not everyone will know, so it is a challenge to better students. It teaches counting both in ordinal and cardinal numbers. It does this in the guise of singing.
I am no conductor, and my singing skills are suspect, but that’s okay because 12 Days is a Christmas Carol. While Carols can sound amazing when a group of trained professionals sing them, they are made for a group of random people to sing as they go from door to door. Everyone can sing in their own key and have fun. That doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be rehearsal time (and we spent 2 hours rehearsing). It just means that there is no performance pressure!
I have no idea when the 12 days of Christmas are or what the gifts represent. I suspect the 12 days have something to do with the difference between the American holiday and the Russian holiday. I’m going to have to do a little research. Our performance is on Dec. 23, 2017. Wish us a Merry Christmas!
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has a call back in it, so those who were not as strong in English would have to learn fewer words and could often just repeat phrases. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, (reindeer)\had a very shiny nose (like a light bulb)…” It was written for Sears, and would give me the opportunity to talk about Gene Autry, how Christmas has turned into a commercial holiday and what Santa has to do with Coca-Cola.
Frosty the Snowman would have allowed me to talk about Christmas Specials and snowmen with a good chance that we would veer into Olaf territory again. “The Snoz” Jimmy Durante sings the most famous version, and I was pretty sure it was written in America though I didn’t do any real research for it. Anything with a cartoon is fine for me!
The Christmas Song, aka Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, was written by Mel Torme, aka “the Velvet Fog.” It’s 3 verses long, which would make it easy to learn, and there is enough fodder in it to talk about all kinds of Christmas Traditions.
Baby, It’s Cold Outside is just my favorite song associated with Christmas that isn’t specifically Christmas. Because it’s a duet, the singers who were least strong could sing the answering portion of the song. Plus, depending on the feel of the event, we could choose this and not offend anyone. (I didn’t know if there was a problem here with trying to keep things wintery rather than holiday like. There isn’t as far as I can tell, but not for the reason that Americans who talk about “the War on Christmas” would like.)
These were the first 4 songs I thought about that were American. Carol of the Bells is Ukranian, and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is English. Then I thought about what we were doing. We are learning English, so I suggested one more song: The 12 Days of Christmas.
There are many versions of the song, but I just went with the simple one throwing in Miss Piggy’s “5 Gold Rings” (see video below). Because it is repetitive, it makes for the perfect song for those who are beginning to learn the language. It also features a vocabulary that not everyone will know, so it is a challenge to better students. It teaches counting both in ordinal and cardinal numbers. It does this in the guise of singing.
I am no conductor, and my singing skills are suspect, but that’s okay because 12 Days is a Christmas Carol. While Carols can sound amazing when a group of trained professionals sing them, they are made for a group of random people to sing as they go from door to door. Everyone can sing in their own key and have fun. That doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be rehearsal time (and we spent 2 hours rehearsing). It just means that there is no performance pressure!
I have no idea when the 12 days of Christmas are or what the gifts represent. I suspect the 12 days have something to do with the difference between the American holiday and the Russian holiday. I’m going to have to do a little research. Our performance is on Dec. 23, 2017. Wish us a Merry Christmas!