BOCA BETH: One Song at a Time

So, I go into the studio about three years ago to record this song that I had in my head about “Where is my eye?….Where is my ear?…..¿Dónde está mi ojo?…. ¿Dónde está mi oreja? and so on!  Ken, the music arranger and producer who has worked on our Boca Beth bilingual music songs for children since day one laughs and gives me this weird, sordid analogy to a 1970’s song about something not so child-friendly!

I tell Ken he has harmed me for life when it comes to trying to perform this song during a live children’s concert or library event or classroom edutaining circle time!!!  I have a very difficult time keeping a straight face on while I hold my little felt glove and ask the children to help Ms. Beth hold her eye, her ear, her nose and so on.  The body part pieces velcro onto the mitt and the children get a chance to learn a second language with tactile, audio, fine motor, eye/hand, visual and kinesthetic learning all in this one song called Where is My…?  ¿Dónde está mi…?

                                          

From our first CD called My First Songs in Spanish / Mis primeras canciones en ingles this song is track 11 with the following lyrics:

“Dónde Está Mi . / Where Is My . . .” (sung to the beat of “Frere Jacques”)

¿Dónde está mi ojo?
Where is my eye?

¡Aqui estoy!
Here I am!

¿Como estás hoy ojo?
How are you today eye?

¡Muy bien!
Very fine!

¿Dónde está mi oreja?
Where is my ear?

¡Aqui estoy!
Here I am!

¿Como estás hoy oreja?
How are you today ear?

¡Muy bien!
Very fine!

(continue with the following parts of the body -
Dónde está mi boca . . . mi nariz . . . mi mano . . . mi pie . . . )

Suggested circle time activity:  A fun and simple six body parts song. There is a cute felt hand glove on the market with all six body parts included with velcro on the back of them. I start out with a full glove and then hand out a body part for selected children to hold. Each time I ask them to gently point to or touch the part we are singing about. On the part of the song about the hand, I ask them to hold up their “mano/hand” and I give each child a high five. Lots of high self-confidence during all of this interaction – providing a sense of pride and high self-esteem during the language lesson (something conjugating verbs and testing on grammar does not do). That’s why this is so successful!

Another idea is to go the your public library and gather some of the bilingual board books about body, cuerpo and use this as an additional resource for body part learning in both Spanish and English.  Rebecca Emberley, Gladys Rosa Mendoza and others have made some cute books available on amazon.com and alibris.com for pretty cheap if found used/like new!

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth

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