See the blog post with all the embedded videos here: http://alaivani.com/Blog/tabid/56/EntryID/475/Default.aspx Video by Jennifer Kumar, CC, LMSW, Cross Cultural Adjustment Coach http://journeys.alaivani.com Jennifer Kumar is a cross-cultural teacher, trainer and lifestyle adjustment mentor helping people adjust to American and global lifestyles through a variety of methods, including Indian cooking classes. She was educated in India as a social worker and in America as a life coach. Feel free to see her website - Authentic Journeys - Lifestyle and Cultural Transition Services. Here is the transcripts to this video: Today I am going to introduce nursery rhymes as a cross-cultural topic. How are nursery rhymes possibly a cross cultural topic? Well, music and tunes are sometimes universal - they span across different cultures, and we may hear the same musical tune in different countries but the words will be different because they'll be in a different language. Similarly, when people come to America from other countries, and they socialize their children in day care or in school, they may be part of a sing-a-long where they hear songs that have a very familiar tune, but they can't sing along because the words are in English now, and that makes it very challenging because... it's a different language! So, that’s how it becomes cross cultural! So, I am going to do a little series, whenever I can, on different nursery rhymes. What the purpose is – is to introduce you to the nursery rhyme by number one, … rehearsing the nursery rhyme simply by words. I will tell the nursery rhyme word by word to you, and, then, for your entertainment, sing it to you! And, then, I will, you will realize why I didn’t become a popular singer! ;-) And, then, the third part is I will briefly try to highlight some of the difficult sounds in some of the words. What I mean by that is when we learn a new language, there are new sounds, …and new ways to move our tongue, or our lips, or our mouth muscles to make new sounds. So, in doing that sometimes it becomes difficult to make new sounds. So, I will highlight a few of those sounds, …and on my blog page I will embed a couple videos, one being a video that may highlight how to make some of those difficult sounds; where to put your lips and your tongue in your mouth so that you can learn how to make that sound in American English. … and then a couple of embedded videos with the nursery rhyme in question. One being the nursery rhyme, with the song … and the lyrics written on the screen along with it so you can follow along. And, then the other video, if it’s available, will be a karaoke version, or a version with music without any words written on the screen so you could try to sing it yourself! So, here’s the lesson… (3min 10) Today’s song is: Row Row Row Your Boat! …so here are the lyrics… Row, row, row your boat Gently down the stream, Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream. This is usually repeated a number of times. There may be additional words to this song, but popularly it ends here. So, here’s my attempt at singing! Row, row, row your boat Gently down the stream, Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream. Now, you know why I didn’t become a popular singer. ;-) Anyway, when we learn a new language, we have to step outside our comfort zone, and sometimes even to teach other people about our language we have to step outside our comfort zone. So, for that, I sang a song for you, and you may hear more outta me! ;-) So, don’t run away yet! Alright, now I am gonna highlight a couple of the sounds I think that if you are an English as second language learner may be a little challenging. First is the R sound. …..r….. ….r…. The second is the B sound ….b… ….b… The next is the W sound …w… ….w…. The next is the L sound …l… …l… With some people L and R become a challenge. R is …r… And L is …l… In L your top- your tip of your tongue will fall behind the top row of your top teeth …l… Whereas with …r… that is not the case. I will actually embed a video for that ‘cause I made a video for that earlier. So, I hope some of these tips are helpful, and if you would like to learn more from me, either keep tuned into this blog, or you can always contact me and I’ll be more than happy to help! So, thanks for listening and stopping by. Have a great day! Bye!