Vocal      -ar Instrumental (talking introduction)     
-ar, -er, -ir Instrumental (no talking)
This song is available on Jim Nailon's "Canciones de mi clase II"

Teaching tips from Jim Nailon: 
-ar, -er, and ir verb songs (lyric variations of same melody)

I make 8" x 12" signs for "él", "ella", "ellos", "ellas" and "usted" written on them. Attach a string to 2 corners so they can be hung around the neck. Pick a boy to wear the "él" sign and a girl to wear the "ella" sign. The teacher wears the "usted". The rest of the boys are on one side of the room with the "ellos" sign. The girls are on the other side with "ellas".

Everyone points to his/her self when signing "yo," a friend when singing "tú", the teacher when singing "usted" and the individual boy and girl with signs for "él" and "ella". We inclusively point to all of us for "nosotros", everyone else for "ustedes", the group of boys for "ellos" and the groups of girls for "ellas". You can also add in actions for each verb as it is sung in turn. The actions are pretty intuitive, but move rather fast when combined with the signs and pointing.

The last verb in each song is necessary in order to play the game Roca, papel y tijeras (rock, paper, sissors). After students have learned all three songs and verb conjugations, I use my song with the same name (from my first CD, Canciones de mi clase) as a culminating activity. I end the 8th grade year with an all-class Roca, papel y tijeras competition, in Spanish, of course.

Yo canto.* Tú cantas. Usted, él o ella canta.
Yo canto. Tú cantas. Usted, él o ella canta.
Nosotros cantamos. Ustedes cantan.
Ellos y ellas cantan también.
Nosotros cantamos. Ustedes cantan.
Ellos y ellas cantan.

Yo toco. Tú tocas. Usted, él o ella toca.
Yo toco. Tú tocas. Usted, él o ella toca.
Nosotros tocamos. Ustedes tocan.
Ellos y ellas tocan también.
Nosotros tocamos. Ustedes tocan.
Ellos y ellas tocan.

Yo bailo. Tú bailas. Usted, él o ella baila.
Yo bailo. Tú bailas. Usted, él o ella baila.
Nosotros bailamos. Ustedes bailan.
Ellos y ellas bailan también.
Nosotros bailamos. Ustedes bailan.
Ellos y ellas bailan.

Yo corto. Tú cortas. Usted, él o ella corta.
Yo corto. Tú cortas. Usted, él o ella corta.
Nosotros cortamos. Ustedes cortan.
Ellos y ellas cortan también.
Nosotros cortamos. Ustedes cortan.
Ellos y ellas cortan.

* All the –ar verb endings are underlined.

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Many thanks to Jim Nailon for permission to display these lyric excerpts.
© Jim Nailon. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

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