Songs for input
Songs are so powerful for language acquisition. They are just as important as stories and, in many cases, are stories. I also think that for learners with an English L1 background, songs help students manage the polysyllables of Japanese. To make song lyrics friendly and accessible for everyone, I like to include multiple versions to encourage cold character reading (see Terry Waltz). Below are some tried and true songs for beginners.
An easy and friendly first song, it exposes students to hiragana and katakana, onomatopoeia, and animals. Link to lyrics for かえるのがっしょう・FrogChorus.
Another easy and short song, it contains nature-related nouns. Also, it is easy to add gestures for all the places. Link to lyrics for 春が来た・Spring has come.
An easy song that contains a natural conversation and exposes learners to speech styles. Ling to lyrics for ぞうさん・Mr. Elephant
A song with a story, this is song is a good excuse to elicit personal stories about getting lost from students. Link to the lyrics for いぬのおまわりさん・Mr Doggy Policeman.
Although this song contains some archaic words, it also contains a lot of good nature words. Plus, it is such a well-known song that it’s worth learning. Also, it’s easy to do TPR with this song. ふるさと・Old country home lyrics