Head Shoulders Knees Toes

Kopf und Schultern, Knie und Fuß,

Kopf und Schultern, Knie und Fuß,

Augen, Ohren, Nase, Mund,

Kopf und Schultern, Knie und Fuß!

Pen, ysgwyddau, coesau a traed, coesau a traed

Pen, ysgwyddau, coesau a traed, coesau a traed

A llygaid a clustiau a trwyn a cheg

Pen, ysgwyddau, coesau a traed, coesau a traed!

Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes

Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes

And eyes and ears and mouth and nose

Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes!

OBJECTIVE: To have fun and warm up the body and voice whilst learning new Welsh, German and English vocabulary for parts of the body. To follow the sound/word pattern in songs and rhymes & develop language skills through songs and rhymes.

Pupils need to be standing and have space around them. Teach them the Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes song.

Now repeat and replace one body part at a time with the German or Welsh word. Keep going until you have introduced the word for each body part in each language.

Extension

Do the whole song in German and then begin replacing one word at a time with the Welsh word.

Explain that the Welsh words used in this song for knees and toes, (coesau, traed) actually means legs and feet, and the German word used in this song for toes (Fuß) actually means feet. Ask learners why they think song lyrics might not be translated literally word for word.

Also, have they noticed that in the Welsh and German verses, the words for mouth and nose are in a different order to the English verse. Does it sound better this way? Why or why not?