Nellie the elephant

This is not an easy song, it has quite a few difficult words and structures and it might be a bit too long for children at the first grades. Nevertheless we can teach them the chorus (or the first two verses with the chorus) at the beginning and subsequently teach them one verse at a time, always providing a context. I like this song particularly for several reasons: First and foremost, it talks to the children about an animal that does not want to be chained or showed in a circus (which I think is an important lesson to learn). Secondly, the first two verses and the chorus are not too difficult if a good context is provided (mimics, silent drama, a video). Thirdly, it can be used year after year and when we achieve the point when children are not interested in nursery rhymes anymore, we can provide them with a punk cover by The Toy Dolls which many adults love and which was indeed a great hit during 84's christmas.

To Bombay
A travelling circus came
They brought an intelligent elephant
And Nellie was her name
One dark night
She slipped her iron chain
And off she ran to Hindustan
And was never seen again

Ooooooooooooo...

Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk
And said goodbye to the circus
Off she went with a trumpety-trump
Trump, trump, trump
Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk
And trundled back to the jungle
Off she went with a trumpety-trump
Trump, trump, trump

Night by night
She danced to the circus band
When Nellie was leading the big parade
She looked so proud and grand
No more tricks
For Nellie to perform
They taught her how to take a bow
And she took the crowd by storm

Ooooooooo

Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk
And said goodbye to the circus
Off she went with a trumpety-trump
Trump, trump, trump
Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk
And trundled back to the jungle
Off she went with a trumpety-trump
Trump, trump, trump

The head of the herd was calling
Far, far away
They met one night in the silver light
On the road to Mandalay
So Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk
And said goodbye to the circus
Off she went with a trumpety-trum
Trump, trump, trump

Ooooooooooooo...

Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk
And said goodbye to the circus
Off she went with a trumpety-trump
Trump, trump, trump
Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk
And trundled back to the jungle
Off she went with a trumpety-trump
Trump, trump, trump

Using the song:

Like I said before, I think a good way to introduce such a complex song will be to focus on the first two verses and the chorus. To start with we will listen to the song together with this video to provide some context. Subsequently we will listen again, but adding some mimics for the chorus (packing, saying good bye, the trumpety -trump etc.). We can finish by making a small dramatization in which the first two verses are performed.

In case we are working with older people, we can continue by playing after a few times the Toy Dolls cover in two different videos: one containing the lyrics and the official video.