Teaching Method - Turns With Phrases

Turns With Phrases is a teaching method that forms groups of children to sing each phrase of the song. A child is chosen from each group to help you lead that group. Teach each group one phrase of the song. Alert the children that the groups will switch phrases later, so they should listen to all the phrases as they are taught. Sing the whole song, with each group singing their phrase. Then switch phrases and groups and sing the song again.

Our song for April is “Did Jesus Really Live Again?” and I’m planning to use Turns With Phrases to teach it. I'm planning to use three groups and teach each group the phrases that answer the question in each verse. Because the song tells a story, it seems incomplete without singing all three verses. I want to teach the three verses together as if they were one verse. So, I’ll teach the phrases of each verse to each group. For each verse, I’ll sing the questions and then I’ll teach the answers to each group. I’ll sing the questions again and they can sing the answers back to me. I’ve prepared pictures to give them visual clues for the phrases. A couple of children in each group can hold these up as their group sings about them. Then we’ll switch phrases and sing the song again.

This song bears a beautiful testimony of the real events of the Savior’s resurrection. It tells how the Savior spoke to Mary in the garden and to others. These became witnesses to the reality of his resurrection as they watched him eat and felt the physical wounds in his body. The final phrase testifies that because Jesus lives again, we will also be resurrected.