Skills and Concepts:
- recognizing that different cultures have different ways of saying "hello."
- encouraging respect for cultural diversity
- hearing that words are made up of sequences of individual sounds and syllables.
"Hello" in Different LanguagesVocabulary:
hola, hejsan, jambo, bonjour, privet, ni hao, shalom, salaam, annyong, konnichiwa, sawubona, prijatno, namaste, dzien dobry, aloha.
Activity:
This is a call and response song about the ways people say "hello" in different languages. Children listen to each word or phrase then sing it back like an echo. As a lead up activity, it is helpful to break the words into syllables and slowly say each syllable one at a time. This is an excellent activity for helping children develop phonemic awareness, or the ability to hear the sounds of language.
Hola, hola, (OH-lah) says hello in Spanish
Hejsan, hejsan, (HEY-sun) that's the word in Swedish
Jambo, jambo, (JAHM-boh) says it in Swahili
'Round and 'round the world we go with ways to say hello
Bonjour, bonjour, (bohn-zhoor) says hello in French
Privet, privet, (preev-YET) that's the word in Russian
Ni hao, ni hao, (nee how) says it in Chinese
'Round and 'round the world we go with ways to say hello
There are oh, so, many friendly ways
Every language has a word or phrase
Shalom, shalom, (sha-lome) says hello in Hebrew
Salaam, salaam in (sah-lahm) Arabic and Persian
Annyong , annyong, (ahn-yohng) says it in Korean
'Round and 'round the world we go with ways to say hello
Konnichiwa, konnichiwa, (Ko-nee-chee-wa) says hello in Japanese
Sawubona, sawubona, (saw-oo-BOH-nah) that's the word in Zulu
Prijatno, prijatno, (pree-yat-no) says it in Macedonian
'Round and 'round the world we go with ways to say hello
There are oh, so, many friendly ways
Every language has a word or phrase
Namaste, namaste, (nah-MUS-stay) says hello in Hindi
Dzien dobry, dzien dobry, (JEEN-do-bri) that's the word in Polish
Aloha, aloha, says it in Hawaiian
'Round and 'round the world we go with ways to say hello
Follow up:
Sing this song using greetings from other languages. Here are some possibilities: Mingala ba (Burmese) Bula (Fijian) Halito (Choctaw) Dobar dan (Croatian) Talofa (Samoan) Bawoni (Yoruba) Guten Tag (German) Poolah (Setswana) Zdravo (Serbian).
Book Suggestions for this Song:
See more of our Multicultural and Early Childhood Song Lyrics
Many thanks to Hap Palmer for permission to display these lyrics.
© Hap-Pal Music. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
