Many of the Great Traditional Songs contain silly rhymes or even meaningless baby talk. Before asking students to listen to these songs, we recommend doing a bit of research in Wikipedia about the cultural history of each song to better answer students' questions.
Fortunately, most students will enjoy these songs with little or no explanation. Their rhythms and tunes are easy to learn and they are simply fun to sing! Ask your students to perform an acappella version of one of these songs in pairs. They are sure to enjoy it!
Whenever a song mentions a geographical place, I have included a special To Do activity to foster students' international awareness.