Teaching Nephi's Courage - Let the Kids Make Up the Motions - KIDS LOVE THIS AND LEARN IT FAST!!!

Hi Friends, 

I first published a post about teaching Nephi's Courage in 2012 and noticed a LOT of traffic to it this weekend (thousands of visitors) so I wanted to share a little more about the BEST WAY TO TEACH THIS SONG.

Since 2012, I've served as Primary President for almost six years, and have seen this song taught more than once. Of all the songs I taught, and all the ways I taught it and saw it taught, this one was my favorite song to teach and my favorite way to teach a song.The kids LOVED it and learned it SO FAST, even the Sunbeams. 

I had three different choristers during my years as Primary President that were and are all seriously AMAZING music teachers, and surprisingly, this was the one teaching method that I used that I never saw repeated! So I want to make sure it's in your teaching tools. And, there's NO PREP WORK except to KNOW YOUR SONG, which is a given.

All I did was asked the children to help me make up motions for each part of the song rather than teaching them a motion. They loved being able to participate in this way and they learned it VERY fast. The only trick was that you have to remember if you are teaching this song in Junior and then again in Senior, that you may need to remember and use different motions for the different classes. I jotted down a few notes after I sat down to help me remember but if you teach the song again the following Sunday, the kids can help you remember the motion, too, especially the kid that came up with the motion that you are using.

How it works:

Chorister: [Assuming you have already discussed the first line of the song. If not, introduce it as described here.] "I want you to help me teach this song. I'm going to sing the first line of this song with the chorister, and I want you to listen carefully so you can help me think about a motion we can make with our hands to remember that line. For example, if the song was about a tree, I might go like [this] with my hands. Or if the song was about a heart, I might go like [this]." 

Chorister and Pianist: [Sing the first line with the pianist.] Okay, what motion do you think we should use for "The Lord commanded Nephi to go and get the plates?" 

Involving Kids: At this point, you can either call on a kid, or encourage kids to show the motion they suggest and pick the best one, or encourage children to raise their hands, and show you their motion. If the motion is really weird, ask them why they chose it. Sometimes the reason is really good, even if it's not intuitive, and you should use it! Sometimes, the motion makes no sense, and then you can gently prod them - "That's a great idea but let's do something that will remind us of a book, because plates are like a book. Do you have a motion for a book?" If they are still struggling, ask them to choose between three good options. Try to be flexible here though. If the motion isn't inappropriate, try to use it though. You want to encourage your children, and by asking why they chose that motion, you can usually find that their reasons were good behind their creative young minds. They get so excited to be able to help here. Also, try to focus on kids that don't get called on a lot. I remember I had a weird motion for "said it would not float" but the little kid explained that he was turning is hand over to show the boat tipping over, so I went with it. 

Okay, you now have one line, with one or two motions to represent that line.

Chorister: "Great, let's sing just that line with that motion." (For example, it could be pointing at the sky for "Lord commanded" and then putting hands in front of you like your hands are book for "to go and get the plates.")

Chorister and kids: Sing that line with that motion.

Chorister: Okay, let's talk about the next line of the song. [Sing the line with the pianist:] "From the wicked Laban behind the city gates."

Chorister: "What motion can we use to show the wicked Laban behind the city gates?" 

Kids come up with a new motion for the new line.

Chorister: "Okay, let's sing the first line and the second line."

Keep going, starting over from the very beginning after you add each line. This gives you repetition, which is one of the greatest tools in memorizing when you can do it in a FUN way. They learn it SO fast, but they're having fun because they're participating!

Chorus:
Keep the chorus simple, I pump my arms back and forth for "I will go, I will do, the things the Lord commands, ... He helps me to obey."

When the kids were reverent enough, we marched back and forth in their rows for this part, too. They were good about sitting down when we got to the first line of each new verse, then standing back up to march when we got to the fun end part. Everyone loved this, Sunbeams through 11.

Mother's Day and Father's Day Childrens Choirs

My friend that is a chorister in a different children's choir in Springville has a very different way of teaching his Primary class music. He rarely uses visuals or plays games to supplement or motivate the singing. His Primary loves him, and he is able to effectively elicit active participation

For Mother's Day, he explained to the children that there were two main reactions they could elicit from their mothers on Mother's Day:

Reaction 1: "Awh, aren't they cute!"

Reaction 2: Heartful sobbing and joy.

He told them that while each reaction was great, that they should go for the second reaction, and that to get the second reaction, they needed to sing powerfully, watch him closely as he led the music, and to think about the words they were singing.

I believe the most powerful thing we can do as we teach children music is to make sure they understand what they are singing, and why they might be feeling a certain way as they sing the words.

Many years ago, I was teaching the song, "Nephi's Courage," and a child in the class that was less familiar with the Book of Mormon raised her hand and asked why Nephi, Laman, and Lemuel had to get the plates that are referenced in the song. I've linked to the song so you can read the lyrics. I said, "That's a great question. Let's open up the scriptures and find out. I believe this is in Nephi chapter 3 but can a teacher call out the chapter and verse if you know it?" We were able to find the appropriate scriptures quickly, and on the fly, look up and read the part of the story that was pertinent, make sure her question was answered, and make sure that what we were singing and learning was meaningful. To this day, this is one of my favorite songs in the Children's Songbook. 

Learning "Nephi's Courage"

February 2020 update:

Hi Friends, 

I first published this post in 2012. Since then, I've served as Primary President for almost six years, and seen this song taught more than once. Because of all the traffic to this post, I wanted to share the best way to teach this song, that pairs well with the below section on learning the lines, or as a week 2 follow-up. See the update here. I still think the introduction below is valuable and important to make sure they understand what they are singing.

++++

I am finally teaching "Nephi's Courage" this Sunday. I did not have time until now because I wanted to prepare for singing during Sacrament on Father's Day, and then I wanted to do a specific Father's Day singing time activity where we sang other songs. We sang a song that we had not sung in several months yesterday ("Listen with My Heart"), and junior primary had clearly forgotten most of it, so it was a good reminder to try to bring back older songs. I will make a new flip chart for that song to review it too, since I don't have the original flip chart (a different chorister taught it).

I was a primary teacher several years ago when the primary chorister taught "Nephi's Courage," and I remember really loving this song. I'm honored that I get to teach it again. I can't remember what the previous chorister did to teach it, but since I know that at least the senior primary remembers this song, I will have a "What Song Am I?" game. The children should be able to guess this song, since they have sung it before. I expect Senior Primary will catch on faster since they just need a memory jolt, so in their case, I'll plan to do all three verses and add some more fun to it. :)

What Song Am I? Pop the Balloon game
I will put these clues in each balloon, which the children then get to choose and pop with a pin.
1. A scripture that describes part of the song (1 Nephi 3:7)
2. Play the first few notes of the song
3. Name the "characters" of the song and ask them if they recognize what song features these historical figures
4. Describe what principle the song teaches (following the Lord's commandments and having faith in the Lord)
5. A picture that depicts the song

To Introduce the Words of the Song
1. I will talk about the story of Nephi getting the brass plate (possibly have them read more verses), then quote from this article by President Monson.
2. I will ask anyone that knows it to go ahead and sing it with me.
3. I will sing it with the piano one time through so they can hear the story, holding up pictures that go with the song so that the children also have the visual. I will ask them to listen carefully and see if they can answer three questions. (Ask them upfront)

(I will do one verse at a time and only go to verse 2 and 3 if we finish memorizing verse 1 early. Half the song is the chorus so I'll be happy to have them memorize the first two lines and the chorus initially.)

• What did the Lord ask Nephi to do?
• Where did Nephi have to go to see Laban? (Inside what?)
• Who was afraid?

4. I will sing it again and ask the children to tell me how Nephi responded to the Lord's commandments  I will remind anyone that knows the song to sing it with me.

• Does Nephi say he will obey the Lord's commands or that he won't?
• Why is Nephi 

4. I will sing it again and ask them to count how many different people are mentioned in the story. (By the way, if you don't want to make your own flip charts, there's a great one on SugarDoodle, here. I happen to have some that a previous chorister made - wa-hoo, flip-chart making break so I'm going to use that one this time.)


Skit the Following Sunday
I would like the children to do a skit with this song, but I think I will focus on learning the basic first. Maybe I will show them some motions and tell them that they are learning the motions for a skit that we will do next week. I think I can round up enough "Nephi" clothes from neighbors.