Jambo!

I stumbled upon the show Tinga Tinga Tales last year, and it was an instant hit in my book.  I'm not sure if it's the catchy introductory tune, the vibrant colors and patterning, or the animals' spunky and sassy personalities, but I was hooked.  I'm still hooked!

Tinga Tinga Tales are based on African Folktales and geared for audiences of 3-6 year-olds.  It was named for the Tingatinga art of Tanzania.

The show includes main characters: Red Monkey, Elephant, Lion, Hippo, Tickbird, Orange Monkey, Yellow Monkey, and Tortoise, and a long list of other African characters.

There are more than 60 episodes, each of which run approximately 10-12 minutes.  Each episode wittingly shares about how an animal came to be how we know it today,  focusing around a central question, such as, "Why can't parrots keep secrets?" and "Why do zebras have stripes?" Each episodes concludes with the Red Monkey and Lion discussing what was learned from the animal's story.

In our language groups, we have used these stories in a variety of ways:

• Story Retell: We ask students to retell the story using story elements of characters, setting, events, etc.  These stories lend well to discussions about character traits.
• Identify Theme and Lesson: Given the Red Monkey and Lion's discussion at the end of each episode, they are easy to identify.  We stopped the video before the end so that students could determine the theme and lesson on their own.  We continued the discussion further by asking them to explain how the theme/lesson applied to the story and to share a personal connection to the theme/lesson.
• Persuade: We used QR codes for students to watch a video that they were assigned.  After they finished watching the movie, they shared three reasons why their video was best.  The group voted on which video they wanted to watch based on the three reasons.  They loved it!

Go ahead and explore the website: Tinga Tinga Tales.  There are countless videos online.  Here is one of my favorites!