Una "Hello Song" Multicultural

  "Jambo"

A fun adaptation of a beloved song by Ella Jenkins

Cover Art by David García

 

YouTube | Bandcamp | Apple Music | Amazon music | Pandora | Spotify

 

"Jambo" is the Swahili word for "Hello", and Ella Jenkins created a wonderful echo song to introduce children to this word and others.  Playing the original recording for your students is a fun musical learning experience because Ella teaches the listeners about the words and guides them in following the song.  

 

Many wonderful music teachers have adapted this song to include other languages and to assign different students the "caller" role.  I have personally had tremendous success with this song, and it's always a great choice for a school/community performance.  Below is a five-minute video lesson of myself teaching this song for P.S. Arts.

 

 

Miss Cosquilla's audio recording of "Jambo" includes the five languages (Swahili, Spanish*, Japanese, French, and English) taught in this video and can help your students learn and practice the song, have an opportunity for leadership as a caller, and reinforce respect for and curiosity about different languages and cultures.   

 

 

*This recording updates the word amigos to the more inclusive amigues.

 

"Jambo" Lesson Plan Ideas

Here are a variety of great ways to use with "Jambo" in your lessons:

• History / Social Science: 
• use a a supplementary tool for lessons with world geography components
• include in lessons about language and history (see picture books below)
• use to inspire a comparative research project about greetings around the world

• Multi-Cultural School Events: Share a class performance of this song and assign groups to create flags representing the different languages included in the song

• English Language Arts: use as an introduction to a related piece of literature such as Jambo Means Hello or Jambo, Watoto.

 

 

Did you use Miss Cosquilla's version of "Jambo" with your class?  Let us know how it went!