If your school was like mine, in NYC, you were being taught to sing along to a catchy, upbeat tune popularized in the '50s through the international stylings of Marais & Miranda. You were also being taught there was a foreign land called the Union of South Africa and that Pretoria was a city inside it. Many of us found that incredibly interesting.

You could also march around the classroom, which was quite relief after sitting since lunchtime.

Another song was "I Got a Mule and her Name is Sal." Raising our consciousness about animal rights? I don't think so. It was just fun to sing and taught us that canal boats, the Erie Canal, and mules used to be very important. There was actually something interesting called "history"!