Rain Song (Teaching Tool)

14 of the Tenth Month 5771

Rain, rain, come and play.

Rain, rain, come to stay.

Come to water the fields, and so

All the trees and flowers will grow.

This is something I wrote while teaching elementary school English as a Foreign Language [EFL].

Often, EFL teachers write their own songs, chants, poems, and stories. Regardless of how good the available teaching materials are, this is done in order to fine tune the focus of the materials to the needs of students.

I introduce the above in the fall, as this is the time for Jewish prayers for rain.

I then remind the students of this song around Tu b'Sh'vat, the New Year of the Trees.

Reading and spelling wise, the words of this song contain several vowel pairs, and vowel-consonant pairs (e. g. ai, ay, ie, ow), including pairs which have different possible pronunciations and different pairs which have the same pronunciation.

One kind find many other examples in this song for reading and spelling words which are unique.

Most teachers do not like to explain grammar, especially at the lower levels. They do not see it to be terribly helpful.

However, one rule I find very helpful to tell students is the following:

יש הרבה כללים באנגלית. אבל יש גם הרבה פעמים כשאגלית לא הולכת לפי הכללים!

There are many rules in English. But there are also many times when English does not go according to the rules!

May our prayers for rain be answered, and may we succeed in passing on the importance of all prayers to our children.