An Adapted Version Of The Children's Singing Game "Gigalo" That Promotes Children Reading

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents an example of the children's singing game "Jigalow" ("Gigalo") wand documents an adapted version of the children's singing game "Jigalow" that promotes children reading.

The "Read Along" game was performed by a branch of the United States based international organization Lit World. Information about this organization is included in the Addendum below.

The content of this post is presented for educational, cultural, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owner.

Thanks to LitWorld for their educational and humanitarian activities. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/12/childrens-rhyme-gigalo-examples.html for a pancocojams post entitled "The Children's Rhyme "Gigalo" ("Jigalow") - Examples & Probable Sources" that was originally published on this blog in 2011.

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VIDEO EXAMPLE OF THE SINGING GAME "GIGALO" ("JIGALOW")
playing gigalo at cheer camp



bby209angl, Published on Aug 3, 2010

this was my first time playing it was fun :)
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Here's an example of the singing game "Gigalo" that I collected from my daughter and her friends in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (the late 1980s).

All: Gig ah lo-o
Gig gig a lo-o
Gig ah lo-o
Gig gig a lo-o
Group: Hey, Kayla
Kayla: What?
Group: Are you ready to gig?
Kayla: Gig what?
Group: Gigalo
Kayla : My hands up high
My feet down low
And this is the way
I gig a lo
Group: Her hands up high
Her feet down low
And this is the way she gigalos
-T.M.P., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, mid to late 1980s.

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LITWORLD'S ADAPTED VERSION OF "GIGALO" ENTITLED "READ ALONG"
LitWorld: A Global Force for Change


litworld, Published on May 16, 2016
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The "Read Along" chant begins at 1:02 -1:22

Group- Hey Kenya!
Soloist (Kenya) - What?
Group- Are you ready?
Soloist- For what?
Group-To read
Soloist- Read what?
Group- Read along
Soloist: [Well, my hands up high
My feet down low
And this is how we read along
[All other group members, with soloist still singing and moving]
Her hands up high
Her feet down low
And this is the way she reads along.

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ADDENDUM: INFORMATION ABOUT LITWORLD
From http://www.litworld.org/story/
"LitWorld was founded in 2007 after Pam Allyn, literacy educator and author, visited Kibera, an area of extreme poverty in Nairobi, Kenya. There, she experienced the urgent desire children had to read, write and share their stories, and the barriers that stood in their way.

Literacy is not a gift given just to some lucky ones, it is a foundational human right that brings joy, economic independence, gender equity and a pathway out of poverty.

Inspired after her first visit to Kibera, Pam returned to New York and mobilized a group of friends and leaders to join her in building a new movement founded on this belief. They set out to create a community-based approach to programs and training that would lead to transformational literacy defined by dreams that can come true.

Over the next five years, LitWorld developed and launched the programs that stand today as the organization's core models: LitClubs, LitCamps, and World Read Aloud Day. The LitClub model of in-depth, out-of-school self-empowerment and literacy programming has allowed us to bring our innovative methods to communities across the world. LitCamp redefines summer learning through innovative, research-based reading and writing lessons with an engaging and interactive summer camp approach that reduces the “summer slide.” World Read Aloud Day calls global attention to the importance of reading aloud, sharing stories, and the idea of literacy as a human right by bringing communities together across the world to read aloud and change the world.

[...]

From around the world, children’s stories of learning, growth, and achievement pour in every day. From the girl in Kenya who is no longer afraid to raise her hand and speak up in school to the boy in India who now wants to grow up to help people to the young woman in New York City who is the first in her family to go to college: This is the LitWorld story."...

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