Nursery Rhyme Week Day 5: The Grand Old Duke of York

The Grand Old Duke of York

The Grand Old Duke of York

Oh, the grand old Duke of York, 
He had ten thousand men, 
He marched them up to the top of the hill 
And he marched them down again. 
And when they were up they were up, 
And when they were down they were down, 
And when they were only half way up 
They were neither up nor down.

You can find the nursery rhyme here

I shared today's rhyme with some 5 and 6 year old English learners, this week. I introduced it through The Grand Old Duke of York, small world play. 

What you need:

green dyed rice
a soldier (I used this Play Mobil Royal Guard one, but a painted peg doll would be fine)
10 wooden peg dolls
a canon (optional)
a tree (I used a Play Mobil one, but you could easily make one from sticks from the garden)
green pom poms
grey pebbles
a large pebble covered in green felt
a plastic container with a lid


I pointed to the soldier, look! a soldier. What's his name? I asked. The soldier replied I'm the Grand Old Duke of York.We all said hello. How do you do! How do you do! I put him back and  we counted the 10 men. Then The Duke started shouting orders at his men. MARCH! I marched a couple of men through the grass. March UP the hill! I then marched the men one after the other up the hill. They're at the top on the hill!, The Duke continued shouting orders;  MARCH! Down the hill! I marched them down the hill. They're at the bottom on the hill. I repeated this several times and encouraged the children to repeat when they were ready.. I added stop when they were half way down the hill. Oh, they are Not UP or DOWN I said shaking my head. They're half way up! I added a few more orders turn around and stop. The soldiers followed my orders. I handed out a peg doll soldier to each child and then asked two children at a time to listen carefully and follow my orders with their own peg soldier.

I followed this up by singing the nursery rhyme as I marched my fingers up an imaginary hill and then marched them down the other side. The children joined in when they could. I checked some pronunciation (had, thousand, marched, hill, down) This is great for teaching the directions of up, down and half way and encourages them to move their fingers in time with the music. I repeated singing a few more times leaving out  up and down. I cupped an ear with one hand and pointed up/down encouraging the children to sing.

I shall be following this up with game where children follow orders from the Duke, similar to "Simon Says" I'll also have the children take it in turns to play a drum to the beat of the music while the others march and sing the rhyme. Another time we may sing the rhyme with the help of  a parachute! I'll keep you posted! 

Main Communication:

• vocabulary: a soldier, a hill,  march, top/bottom,  plus revision of numbers to 10, up/down, turn around, stop, hello, what's your name?, how do you do!
• Listening and following orders
• Listening for key words in a nursery rhyme
• Repeating some words and phrases of a nursery rhyme