Following Directions: Tuning Ears in Using Music

Some of my students struggle to follow directions because they have difficulty tuning their ears in to listen.

Sometimes they tune their ears in part way through the direction, but miss the beginning. Sometimes they tune their ears in right away and catch the beginning, but then miss the end of the direction because they haven’t persisted in their listening. And sometimes they just don’t tune their ears in at all and miss everything.

One of my favorite ways to help students work on tuning their ears in and building persistence in listening is with music. I love using the song Willoughby Wallaby!

If you have never used Willoughby Wallaby, it’s a super fun and flexible rhyming song about an elephant that sits on anything or anyone.

Willoughby Wallaby wocket,
An elephant sat on a rocket.
Willoughby Wallaby webra,
An elephant sat of a zebra.

You pick your target thing (or person, place, etc.) and replace the first sound with a /w/ for the first line (e.g., TARGET: popsicle “Willoughby Wallaby wopsicle”) and then sing the second line, pausing for the student(s) to fill in the last word (e.g., “An elephant sat of (a)_________”).

If I’m working with a whole class or a group of students I’ll use this with students’ names to get everyone’s ears tuned in. Students can stand up, sit down, go to their desk, etc. when they hear their name rhyme:

Willoughby Wallaby Wasmine,
An elephant sat on <Jasmine>.
Willoughby Wallaby Welias,
An elephant sat on <Elias>.

Students that have a tricky time tuning ears in right away will be more successful if you leave them until later on (challenge them by choosing them earlier on), whereas students that have difficulty with persistence in listening will have more success if you pick them early (challenge them by leaving them until later).

This is an activity teachers can use as a warm up activity to make sure their students’ ears are listening before giving directions.

I also use this song with visuals to work on tuning ears in, with students in small group or individual therapy. I set out a number of pictures (animals, people, objects, etc.) and then sing Willoughby Wallaby using the pictures. Students listen and pick out the picture of the word that rhymes. To start with I will use multisyllabic words (ideally 3-4+ syllables) and I will only set out two pictures. The longer the word, the more time students have to tune their ears in to get information. When students are successful with 3-4+ syllable words I will start adding some two syllable words and then finally some single syllable words. Single syllable words require ears to be tuned in very quickly. I will also start adding more than two pictures at a time.

When students are successful with this Willoughby Wallaby activity using visuals, I will increase the challenge by removing the visuals. I will give a category (e.g., animal) or sub-category (e.g., farm animals). Just like when I use visuals, I will start with multisyllabic words to give more information then move to single syllable words to increase the challenge.

Building in a check-back opportunity allows students to build self-awareness and self-monitoring skills.
“Wow, you heard me rhyme your name! You must have been listening with your ears.”
“Oops, you didn’t stand up when I rhymed your name. Did you forget to turn your ears on and listen?”
“Hmm, listen again…do you think that ‘warrot’ and ‘pumpkin’ rhyme or ‘warrot’ and ‘carrot’ rhyme?

Do you use Willoughby Wallaby with your students? Do you have any other strategies for helping students tune their ears in?