Teach children Serbian through short songs and cartoons that repeat family, animal and everyday vocabulary in an enjoyable context.
Serbian for Children with Songs
A few weeks ago I started creating simple lessons for children who are learning Serbian across the world. At first I thought there would be lack of simple and fun songs for the first few lessons, but as it transpired I was wrong. On Nykk Deetronic's YouTube channel I came across a few great songs, such as:Serbian for Children with Songs
Which words are missing? (More about the verb TO BE in Serbian)
Piju, piju, piju - piju, piju, piju x 3
Mi ____ pilići
Piju, piju, piju
Mali radosni
Jupi, jupi piju x3
Mama govori "Koko roko koko da"
Mi ____ pilići
Piju, piju, piju
Mali radosni
Jupi, jupi piju
________ govori "Kukuriku kukuku"
Mi ____ pilići
Piju, piju, piju
Mali radosni
Jupi, jupi piju
________ govori "av, av, av, av, av"
Mi ____ pilići
Piju, piju, piju
Mali radosni
Jupi, jupi piju
________ govori "mjau x5"
Mi ____ pilići
Piju, piju, piju
Mali radosni
Jupi, jupi piju
________ govori "mu, mu, mu, mu,mu"
Mi ____ pilići
Piju, piju, piju
Mali radosni
Jupi, jupi piju
________ govori "grok, grok, grok, grok, grok"
Mi ____ pilići
Piju, piju, piju
Mali radosni
Jupi, jupi piju
________ govori "me, me, me, me,me"
Mi ____ pilići
Piju, piju, piju
Mali radosni
Jupi, jupi piju
________ govori "kva, kva, kva, kva, kva"
Exercise for Serbian for Children Lesson
Lekcija 7 - Glagol biti
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Why children's songs work for adult learners too
Young learners benefit from predictable repetition, movement and visual support. Play a song once for enjoyment, repeat it with gestures, and then focus on only three to five words. Avoid testing every detail immediately. A child can show understanding by pointing, acting, colouring or choosing a picture before being expected to produce a complete sentence.
Children's songs give you short lines, heavy repetition and a melody that carries the words for you. Mi smo mali pilići is four words and you will not forget it. Adults sometimes resist this material, but the repetition that teaches a four-year-old teaches a forty-year-old just as efficiently.
Song lines in Latin and Cyrillic
| Latin script | Cyrillic script | English |
|---|---|---|
| Mi smo mali pilići. | Ми смо мали пилићи. | We are little chicks. |
| Zmija ide kroz travu. | Змија иде кроз траву. | The snake moves through the grass. |
| Mama voli svoju bebu. | Мама воли своју бебу. | Mum loves her baby. |
| Deca pevaju i igraju. | Деца певају и играју. | The children sing and dance. |
| Na pikniku jedemo voće. | На пикнику једемо воће. | At the picnic we eat fruit. |
Serbian children's books and songbooks are overwhelmingly printed in Cyrillic, so this is a natural place to practise the script on material you already half know by heart. Read Змија иде кроз траву aloud — when you already know the tune, decoding the letters takes almost no effort.
Singing and substituting
Sing the line as it stands, then change one word and sing it again: another animal, another action, another place. Children's songs are built to survive this kind of substitution, which is exactly what makes them good grammar practice disguised as play.
Song exercise
Translate these lines into Serbian in both scripts, then write one new line of your own that would fit the same tune.
- We are little chicks.
- The snake moves through the grass.
- Mum loves her baby.
- The children sing and dance.
- At the picnic we eat fruit.
Answers
- Mi smo mali pilići.
Ми смо мали пилићи. - Zmija ide kroz travu.
Змија иде кроз траву. - Mama voli svoju bebu.
Мама воли своју бебу. - Deca pevaju i igraju.
Деца певају и играју. - Na pikniku jedemo voće.
На пикнику једемо воће.