Simple verb songs to recommend?

[Kelly Farrow]

Hello!! I'm teaching English to 6th graders in Japan. Next week we begin a 4-lesson unit on verbs, with very simple ones like buy, have, play, know, eat, drink, etc. I tried looking up verb songs on YouTube but came up dry, and I can't think of any good pop song (old or new) that we could use. Do any of you fine ELL educators have any suggestions for me?? :)

[Glori H. Smith]

I don't know that you would call it a pop song, but  the song "Because You Loved Me," made popular years ago by Celine Dion,  has lots of past tense verbs, showing all the varieties of English past tense formation and pronunciation.

My high school students enjoyed it as a cloze exercise, trying to fill in the verbs as they listened. It has a basic message that is easy to understand, but we also had fun with a bit of critical thinking. Invariably, when I asked them to whom they thought Celine was singing, they would say boyfriend or husband. After some discussion, I would ask who else the song could be intended for? They would sometimes come up with friend or parent and we would discuss how the meaning was different when you thought of different target people. Finally, I would tell them that it was written by Dianne Warren for her father (that is what I read somewhere--I hope it is true.) If there was time we might have a writing assignment that required students to rewrite the song in present or future, or write a short essay explaining the meaning of the song between the student and someone in their life, (Ex: How were you "lifted up" by _____?).

[Kelly Farrow]

Good choice and great extension exercises!! Thanks for the idea.  :)