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Hmmmm, sounds like the standard line most people provide when asked to speak in a foreign tongue. Considering I live a long distance from any greek restaurants I knew this would be a challenge. But with a little assistance from my favorite assisted living residents we decided to have a “An Alphabet of Greek Fun”. At their request, there are lots of songs about moving and sports as Greece is the birthplace of the Olympics.
Alpha – We sang the greek alphabet as I found it here on Teknia. This served as our structure for the group – something for each letter of the greek alphabet. Things are necessarily related to the letter.
Beta – Physical warm up to Greek music. I used “Zorba the Greek” for this. Arms, legs, wrists were all warmed up
Gamma – “The Star Spangled Banner” was sung to mark the beginning of our games.
Delta – Distribute drums while we sing “Oh When the Saints“.
Epsilon – Drumming the rhythm “It’s Greek to me” with opportunities for people to solo on top of it.
Zeta – Sing & play to “Them Bones” then discuss how we are constructed for movement
Eta – “Roll Out the Barrel”
Theta – “Faraway Places” was sung. It has been the theme song for the year.
Iota – “Bicycle Built for Two”
Kappa – “Camptown Races” with a discussion of types of races.
Lambda – “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”
Mu – “By the Sea” followed by a discussion of swimming events.
Nu – “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain”
Xi – “Back in the Saddle Again” followed by a mention about equestrian events
Omicron – “God Bless America”
Pi – “Tennessee Waltz” with a short discussion about dancing for exercise.
Rho – “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”
Sigma – “Sweetheart of Sigma Chi”
Tau – Trivia was next over facts about Greece.
Upsilon – “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag”
Phi – “Man on the Flying Trapeze” followed by a discussion on gymnastics while I pass out scarves.
Chi – Scarf dance to “Yerakina”.
Psi – We repeated the “Greek Alphabet Song”.
Omega – We sang our standard closing song “Show Me the Way to Go Home”.
This was a lot of fast pace fun. We learned, laughed, and remember an amazing amount. A big thank you to Evelyn L. (@evievie) for the music recommendations we used for our warm-up & scarf dance.