A nursery rhyme and repetitive song to teach
English to children and non native speakers.
Angela Lansbury with lit tree at Brixton. Photo by Trevor Sharot.
The Tree
In the street, what did I see?
From the street I saw a tree
On day one I saw a tree
What did I see? I saw a tree
On that tree what did I see?
I saw a bird up in the tree
On that tree what did I see?
I saw two birds up in the tree
Up in the sky I saw a nest
What do I like most?
That was the best!
I put a picture in the post.
On day two I saw two trees
What did I see, I saw two trees
Two singing birds
That’s what I heard
You can’t see anything after dark
After dark after dark
That is when they close the park
Close the park, close the park
Go in daytime to see the roses
See the roses, make some posies
After dark, the park closes,
The park closes, the park closes
On day four, guess what I saw!
Guess what I saw! Guess what I saw
On day four, an apple tree
My neighbour’s tree, an apple tree
That apple looked so good to me
Good to me, good to me
My neighbour said, take it please,
I hope you like it, it’s free
It is very good to munch
You can have it for your lunch
I said, you are very kind
How did you see it? You’re half
blind
He said, I’m only colour blind
He said, I don’t see red on green
You’d be surprised how much I’ve
seen
You’d be surprised how much I’ve
seen
Besides, there’s so much I can
tell
From the touch, and from the smell
Here comes a cat, how do I know
The birds don’t sing. Where do
they go?
The birds don’t say, I was here
first
They don’t say, let cats do their
worst
Wise birds don’t sing a tell tale
song
They don’t say, I’m right, the cat’s
wrong
The world is big, they fly away
The birds find somewhere else to
play
That old cat will die one day
And birds come back another day.
In other countries, have a rest
And then come back, our welcome guests
The farmers say that birds are pests
A few are welcome, but not so many
Wise birds know when to stay or
fly
Some build their nests high in the
sky
Some like birds, some like cats
Some like both, I’ve heard of that
Some folk stay home, plant apple
trees
Some build big boats and sail the
seas
Some take gifts, and some take
skills
Some work hard, and pay their
bills
And at weekends stay home and rest
Admiring birds in their small
nests
Some people say, I’ve done no
wrong
I work, I play, I hear a song
I look out and what do I see?
A small bird singing in the tree
He sings for birds, not just for me
But good to hear we all agree
Oranges grow where it is hot
Apples grow where it is not
Bees in hives will make you honey
Good honey sells for lots of money
In tropics dates grown in the heat
Big juicy grapes, so good to eat
See rice, that’s nice, wines from grape
vines
Pasta, wheat, dates, sell, buy, eat
Some like fruit, and some like greens
Some can’t eat fish, some won’t eat
meat
Some like sugar, others don’t
And some guests will, whilst others
won’t
So long as we can all agree
What they don’t eat leaves more for
me
There’s many more apples if you plant
a tree
More fish in tanks and a wider sea
Another small bird in that same
tree
Another small bird in that same
tree.
What do I see , a big oak tree
Yes, that’s what I see, a big oak
tree
Under the tree, guess what I found
An acorn, small, and long, and
round
After time a small acorn grows
To a big oak tree, everyone knows.
-ends-
