Teacher Resources

This page is currently under development. If you have any good tips for how to use the rhymes in class, we'd love to hear from you - thanks.

1. Photocopy a country's rhymes and base a lesson around the geography, language and traditions of the country you have chosen - find out 5 things the children know about that country and extend their knowledge.

2. Bring to class (or make with the students) traditional recipes to accompany the rhymes - see recipes section on this site for ideas. Explore using different utensils and in different ways (i.e., chopsticks, fingers, from the same bowl, sitting on the floor). Ask children to match pictures of prepared food dishes with country flags.

3. For the launch of our book, we had children dressed in traditional costumes reading the rhyme from their own country. It was really special as all the children looked so proud to be representing their region. They can say a few words about where they (or their parents) were born and then read their favourite rhyme.

4. Photocopy the images of an international children's picture book and ask the students to write the accompanying words. You can see how many different stories are developed by each child's different perspective - then compare with the original by putting up the English words to the book to see if any guessed the actual story. It's sometimes surprising what the story is about when you don't have access to the words!

5. FOR POETRY DAY: Ask students to search for poems on the site and choose their favourite. Ask them to talk about why they chose the rhyme, how it reflects their idea of the country of its origin, etc. 

6. Join Our Book Crossing Experiment

A cross between a treasure hunt and a message in a bottle! Small World Books is "setting free" its book, My Village: Rhymes from Around the World and you can be part of the experiment. Teachers just buy one book from this site and email me to let me know you'd like it to be part of the BookCrossing experiment. I will send you a copy that has been stickered and logged in to the system. Then your class can follow the progress of the book as it is set free across the world. Finders of the book will log in and leave a message before setting the book free again - if you're lucky it might return to you! Parents can do the same thing. It's a fun way to get your kids excited about books and world geography. The first My Village book cross started in Auckland and is currently in Greenwich Connecticut!

BookCrossing is free to join and safe for kids. BookCross because books change people . . . people change the world.