Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Languages: English, French
Ressource Type: song, nursery rhyme
Theme: Traditionnal Song
Age-range: infant-preschool, 3 – 7 years
Download the words of the song:
♦ Row, Row, Row Your Boat Lyrics
“Row, Row, Row Your Boat” is a popular american children’s nursury rhyme. The most common modern version is often sung as a round for four voice parts.
The earliest printing of the song is from 1852, when the lyrics were published with similar lyrics to those used today, but with a very different tune. The modern tune was first recorded with the lyrics in 1881 in The Franklin Square Song Collection.
English Lyrics:
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is just a dream.
Another version:
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream.
If you see a crocodile,
Don’t forget to scream.
French translation:
Rame, rame, rame dans ton bateau
Rame, rame, rame dans ton bateau,
Paisiblement dans le courant.
Joyeusement, joyeusement, joyeusement,
La vie n’est qu’un rêve.
Another version:
Rame, rame, rame dans ton bateau
Rame, rame, rame dans ton bateau,
Paisiblement dans le courant.
Si tu vois un crocodile,
N’oublie pas de crier.
Culture and Vocabulary:
- discover a traditionnal song;
- row, boat, stream, dream.
Grammar:
- use the imperative form to give orders.
Phonology:
- pronunciation of the diphthong [əʊ] (boat /bəʊt/, row /rəʊ/);
- pronunciation of the long vowel [i:] (stream /striːm/,dream /driːm/);
- rhymes (stream/dream);
- rhythm of the song.
Teaching suggestions:
- sing the song as a round for four voice parts;
- What words contain the sound [əʊ]? What words contain the sound [i:]?
- sing the French nursery rhyme “Bateaux,ciseaux“;
- match the way you sing the song to the adverb you use: “Quickly down the stream”, “Slowly down the stream”, “Quietly down the stream”, “Loudly down the stream”.
Videos of the song “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” in English:
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