I Bambini Fanno Oh is a song by Giuseppe Povia. I do not know much about the singer, but I set to discover a few things and I share them with you on this page.
First: The Song Video and First Listen (for You Tube)
An absolutely great tune and fantastic lyrics.
Second: The Song Lyrics (to follow along with the song in the video)
Quando i bambini fanno ohC'e un topolino
Mentre i bambini fanno oh
C'e un cagnolino
Se c'e una cosa che ora so
Ma che mai piu io rivedro
E un lupo nero che da un bacino
A un agnellino
Tutti i bambini fanno oh
Dammi la mano perche mi lasci solo
Sai che da soli non si puo
Senza qualcuno, nessuno puo diventare un uomo
Per una bambola o un robot bot bot
Magari litigano un po
Ma col ditino ad alta voce
Almeno loro, eh, fanno la pace
Cosi ogni cosa nuova e una sorpresa
Proprio quando piove
I bambini fanno oh guarda la pioggia
Quando i bambini fanno oh
Che meraviglia, che meraviglia
Ma che scemo vedi pero pero
E mi vergogno un po
Perche non so piu fare oooooooh
E fare tutto come mi piglia
Perche i bambini non hanno peli
Ne sulla pancia,ne sulla lingua
I bambini
Sono molto indiscreti, ma hanno tanti segreti
Come i poeti
I bambini volan la fantasia e anche qualche bugia
O mamma mia...bada
Ma ogni cosa e chiara e trasparente
Che quando un grande piange
I bambini fanno oh
Ti sei fatto la bua e colpa tua
Quando i bambini fanno oh
Che meraviglia, che meraviglia
Ma che scemo vedi pero pero
E mi vergogno un po
Perche non so piu fare oh
Non so piu andare sull'altalena
Di un fil di lana non so piu fare una collana
Lalalalalalala
Fin che i cretini fanno
Fin che i cretini fanno
Fin che i cretini fanno boh
Tutto resta uguale
Ma se i bambini fanno ohh
Basta la vocale
Io mi vergogno un po
Invece i grandi fanno no
Io chiedo asilo, io chiedo asilo
Come i leoni io voglio andare a gattoni ..
E ognuno e perfetto
Uguale il colore
Evviva i pazzi che hanno capito cos'e l'amore
E tutto un fumetto di strane parole
Che io non ho letto
Voglio tornare a fare oh
Voglio tornare a fare oh
Perche i bambini non hanno peli
Ne sulla pancia ne sulla lingua..
Third: Some links about the Song and the Author
- The Italian Wikipage about POVIA
- IL sito ufficiale - POVIA SITO
- A Site with the translation of the lyrics
Lesson Ideas...
Since students will have access like you to the lyrics, the music and the video, as well as information available through the author's website, completing matching activities and vocabulary activities in the traditional sense may not be convenient (there are going to be a thousand ways to "cheat" to find out the answers)...and not much learning can occur in that sense.
I suggest you take the approach of reflecting and playing with the theme of the song, the theme of the video and some project ideas...Keep it light either way. Hope these will help you.
VOCABULARY ACTIVITIES
- Accessing the lyrics in both Italian and English, ask students to think of categories in which they can place the many vocabulary words of the song. Since the song deals with the world of kids, but it also uses metaphors and comparisons with the sense of childhood that adults have lost, you could help students begin to make sense of the words with simple categories. For example, begin with a simple category split - nouns in the song that mean things that can be sensed (touched, smelled, seen, etc...) and nouns of abstract concepts. [i.e. bambino, topolino, cagnolino, lupo nero, bacino...../pace, sorpresa, meraviglia, segreto...] - Work your way through many categories. Invite students to create as many categories as they can. Students could work in groups and collaborate to set a list of categories for the song (by the way - send that to me if you ever do this - I would love to post a link here).
- Work with diminutives - the song has many examples already - make a list of all the possible words that can be transformed and the ones that already are. Invite students to reflect on the words that may sound as diminutives and are not, and how they can change. (Bambino is not a diminutive, but cagnolino is...what is the origin of the word? CANE). Play with the changes and what they can mean. Invite students (this is more for younger kids) to make small cartoons with each version of the word (let's say students select 4 different words from the song) and they draw a picture equivalent for each. Invite students to share their ideas (maybe through a wiki page?)
- Make a list of the key and meaningful verbs in the song and ask students to change the sentences those verbs are in transforming them with different meanings. Foe examples: "Il lupo nero da un bacino a un agnellino...." - DARE UN BACINO A...un bambino, un adulto, una bambola, un orsacchiotto.... - "I Bambino fanno "oh" - FARE OH... fare a gara, fare a tira e molla, fare finta di.... Work with expressions that help your students make sense of the deeper meaning of the lyrics.
- Illustrate - this is a great way to work through vocabulary. Ask students to select a cluster of lyrics from the song and draw what they see it meaning. Great art should come out of this activity. When all works of art are done, select a lesson when the pieces are shown nicely in class and students go through them, trying to interpret which lyrics they represent. Invite students to use post it notes to copy the lyrics they think will match the different pictures and place them by the pictures. Then invite the authors to explain their own art.
- Find the idioms - This song is filled with idioms. Challenge students to find them all and list them. Then invite students to create a short dialogue that allows them to use at least on of the idioms in context.
- When do we say "oh"... - This activity can complete any of the activities about vocabulary on this page. Ask students to explain to you what Saying "oh" means in the song and what it means to them. Then challenge your students to list in Italian all the contexts in which they would say "oh" in their life (or in English if that helps). For example: Faccio "oh" quando... mi sono scordata le chiavi della macchina nella macchina e la macchina e' chiusa!....quando mio figlio ha preso un bel voto a scuola!....quando c'e' la partita in televisione e la mia squadra vince!
The following ideas can develop in bigger projects. very specific to the theme and the words of the song...
- The song is an absolute pleasure to listen to - so a mini-project would be, in my class, to learn to sing it and interpret it leaving students free to make their own versions of the song video. If your students like to make online videos, let them re-purpose the song to a special message they wish to make through the song. Share the interpretations in class. Or ask students to lip sing the song in their own creative ways.
- Invitation to be surprised! the song is a hymn about surprises in life and how we have lost the sense of wonderful that surrounds us. Invite students to create a representation of the "lost wonders" around us, in the form of visuals or drama representations. Then students share their works and viewers watch, say "oh" and the expressions that would make them in awe! For example: watching a beautiful picture of a baby (see picture inserted) - students could say: Oh! Che carino! This way you can practice expressions of CHE + adjectives... in context! Consider challenging students to find the most inspiring images or videos. (I use the site called: http://www.desktopnexus.com/ for my most amazing pictures in super high quality - you may want to consider opening an account there!)
- Wordles and Poems - Ask students to look at the wordle created from the lyrics of this song (I add the picture here but also the link for the actual wordle page - Ask students to use the wordle and create a poem using only the words from the song. Maybe a short story or a haiku - something that expresses their understanding of the song with the words from the song. Those who are more adventurous, can even use the melody of the song and add one or two more versus to the song, in the same line of the theme of the song.
- Youth lost - this is a older students and those who have a bit stronger hold of the language. Invite students to reflect on the deep meaning of the song. Then ask them to expand on the suggested comparison in the song between the way children see the world and how adults see the world. This reflection could be in line with creating short essays, discussion posts on a thread about youth and adulthood, how things are easier or more difficult in either stage of human development...your imagination can guide students to deeper level reflections.
- Objects from the song make a story - A bit in line with the wordle idea, find images of objects and people in the song - un cagnolino, una vocale, peli, lingua.... Use images not words. Make copies of your images (laminate them if you need to so you can reuse them overtime). Then spread the images on the floor or on a big table. Ask students to pick at least five images (you will have made more than one copy of each) and sit down. In about five minutes, students can create a short story with the images they selected, for which they know the meaning, based on the work from the song. Students share their stories.
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| Che carino!!!! |
I am sure there are several other ideas I will be able to come up with in time. I will make sure to add them as this new blog begins to grow.
I will share these ideas in the form of a podcast as well. You can listen to the ideas at: http://valeriapalladino.podomatic.com/entry/2011-08-15T15_52_03-07_00
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