On Saturday I was speaking at the Manchester
branch of ALL. My talk was divided into 2 parts: Grammar and Cross-curricular
links. During the grammar section I shared some songs to help children learn French
verbs (avoir, être and porter). Some members of the audience
were Spanish speakers and I set us all a challenge – to create some Spanish
verb songs on the way home (I promised to have a go myself). I don’t know why
but I have made up all my French and Spanish songs whilst driving. Saturday was
no exception and by the time I got to the M60 I had managed to fit the verb ‘tener’
to the tune of La Bamba. By the time I got home I’d added ‘ser’, ‘estar’ and ‘ir’.
The French verb songs are to well-known English tunes but with the Spanish I
tried to put them to Spanish tunes. As well as ‘La Bamba’ I used the ‘Macarena’
and the traditional rhyme ‘Debajo un botón’. I didn’t manage to make any fit to ‘La Cucaracha’ and had to resort
to ‘The farmer’s in his den’ but I guess 3 out of 4 ain’t bad.
Here they are…
Ir
(to go) – to the tune of ‘La Macarena’
Voy, vas, va,
Vamos, vais, van,
Voy, vas, va,
Vamos, vais, van,
Voy, vas, va,
Vamos, vais, van,
¡El verbo ir!
Tener
(to have) – to the tune of ‘La Bamba’
Tengo, tienes, tiene,
Tengo, tienes, tiene,
Y pues tenemos,
tenéis
Y tienen.
Ser (to be) – to the tune of ‘Debajo
un botón’
Soy, eres, es, es, es,
Somos, sois, son, son, son,
Soy, eres, es, es, es,
Somos, sois, son, son, son.
Estar
(to be) – to the tune of ‘The Farmer’s in his Den’
Estoy, estás, está,
Estoy, estás, está,
Estamos, estáis,
Y están.
