The Walt Disney animation ‘Song of the South‘ has been quietly withdrawn by Disney because of its racial stereotyping, but one of the songs that were included ‘Zip-A-Dee-Doo Dah‘ has become an enduring classic.

The symbolsong technique is an alternative to the gap-fill activity that often accompanies a song. At first the students have no idea what the symbols mean, but slowly you will hear gasps of delight as some students start to guess the words.

The students are firstly given a handout of the symbol sheet which represents the song, and after trying to decipher as much as they can, they then listen to the song and compare with their ideas. The full lyrics can be shown to the students for further comparison before they listen a second time.

For obvious reasons the song itself cannot be included here, but it is widely available through the normal channels.

Zip A Dee Doo Dah symbolsong: click here for pdf sheets including the complete lyrics.

Please find a snapshot of the symbolsong below.