Нова українська школа: методика навчання англійської мови в 1-2 класах закладів заглобальної середньої освіти на засадах компетентнісного підходу - Карпюк О. Д. 2020
2. Songs, Chants and Rhymes
Part II. Helping Tips
Songs, chants and rhymes are an excellent way of developing children’s speaking and pronunciation skills. This section will begin by analysing why teaching songs, chants and rhymes is so beneficial for young learners. The content of the section will provide you with tried-and-tested suggestions of songs, chants and activities to take into the young learner classroom that will simultaneously appeal to children’s interests and needs, and help them learn and speak English naturally and in context. You will be focused on silly tongue twisters and fun rhymes that help you work on and improve the children’s pronunciation skills without their realising that they are working hard. Two essential tools for a teacher of young learners are songs and chants which relate to the different topics that you are teaching. Songs and chants are also very versatile classroom management tools, which you can use as warmers, transition markers or coolers to meet your teaching objectives fora particular lesson.
9 reasons to use songs and chants in your classroom
✵ A regular rhythm
Songs and chants have a regular rhythm which is almost repetitive and intuitive. This is a fantastic way for you to work on teaching children pronunciation and intonation in English without boring them to sleep. Once children have learned the rhythm of a song, all they have to do is to slot in the language. This is a fun way of helping them distance themselves from first language influences.
✵ Catchy
A good song or chant can stick in our ears and memories for a whole day. This means that when children learn a new song or chant, they will be picking up and practising language without even realising it.
✵ Language in context
Songs and chants present children with a clear context in which they can use the language they are learning and encourage children to apply and use this language in other contexts.
✵ Confidence-building
Songs and chants are a great way to get shy children to speak in class. Singing a song or saying a chant as a whole class allows shy students to join in a speaking activity without feeling exposed in front of the class. They are also presented with the opportunity of repeating the target language over and over until they have mastered it. This means that when you do ask them to sing or speak on their own, they will be able to do it well because of all the practice they have had. Consequently, their confidence and motivation will be enhanced.
✵ Memory and concentration
We have already focused on the fact that songs and chants are repetitive and that they allow children to repeat the target language over and over until they are able to sing the song or say the chant on their own. This natural repetition allows children to develop their memory and concentration skills which will be essential language learning tools later on in the learning process.
✵ Introducing and ending a topic
Because songs and chants are fun, they are a fantastic way of introducing or ending a topic. They can often be easily related to a story or any other activity that you are doing in class. Thus, songs and chants are a great way of complementing cours book activities.
✵ Mixed abilities
We all teach in mixed-ability classrooms in which children have different levels and learning rhythms. Many children learn best when they see and hear the target language that we are teaching them; adding an element of movement is also important for a lot of younger learners. Songs have the added advantage of being available online, often with videos that we can use to motivate children to learn the target language.
✵ Variety of skills
Another great reason to use songs and chants in the young learner language classroom is that they allow children to work on various skills in one activity. Children develop their listening skills as they first hear and learn a particular song or chant. As they are learning it, they are automatically working on their speaking skills. You can easily develop writing skills by getting children to write a short sentence or text about the song or chant they have learnt.
✵ Fun
Perhaps the most important reason to use songs and chants in the classroom is the fact that they are fun. Why not spend the last two minutes of a lesson listening to a song for pleasure?
10 songs for the young learners
The songs that you use in the classroom need to meet various criteria in order to guarantee that children are having fun and learning language at the same time. A good song needs to be memorable and enjoyable, and should introduce enough target language for the level that you are teaching. Great songs also repeat and drill that target language to a good rhythm, which sticks in children’s memories long after your lesson has finished. Here is a list of 10 all-time favourite songs for the young learner classroom. You can find the words in the Appendix, p.129 and make copies of them. To get to know the tunes, search for these songs on YouTube.
1 Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
This is an active song that gets the children up and out of their seats. It’s a perfect one to use when you are teaching the topic of the body, as it drills the following words: head, shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, feet, tummies, arms, chins, shins, hands, fingers, legs, lips and hips. The children touch each part of the body as they say the word. Speed up the pace as you sing each new verse.
2 The Hokey Cokey
This is another fun song to use when teaching words for parts of the body. Although it drills fewer vocabulary items (right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg and ’whole self’), it does teach children nice chunks of language and the concept of right and left, which they often find difficult. The children stand in a circle and do the actions that they are singing. When they have finished, they all jump into the circle at the same time.
3 The Colours of the Rainbow
Teach the children this song about colours to the tune of ’The Wheels on the Bus’. Substitute ’red and orange’ with ’yellow, green and blue’ and ’indigo and violet’ the second and third time you sing it.
4 If You’re Happy and You Know It
This is a wonderful action song for raising energy levels in the classroom and getting the children into a good mood. It also has the benefit of drilling language chunks relating to action verbs which are perfect for the children to do as they sing the song.
5 Do You Like Broccoli Ice Cream?
If you’re looking for a fun song to teach words on the topic of food, you’ll love this. It drills vocabulary such as broccoli, ice cream, doughnuts, juice, popcorn, pizza, bananas and soup, as well as the structures children need to talk about their likes and dislikes: ’Do you like ...?’, ’Yes, I do’ and ’No, I don’t.’ It also surprises children by joining words together that they wouldn’t expect to find. Get the children to do a thumbs up and thumbs down action as they sing the song.
6 The Wheels on the Bus
If you want to prepare a little surprise for parents’ day or the end-of-year party, try this song, which you can get the children to act out. From a language point of view, it helps children learn onomatopoeic sounds that are associated with words in English: wipers (swish), horn (beep), money (clink), baby (wah) and mummy (shush).
7 Incy Wincy Spider
This is a popular finger rhyme that has survived the test of time. It’s a perfect song to use when teaching children about animals or the weather. Get the children to do the actions as they sing.
8 Old Macdonald Had a Farm
If you’re looking for a fun onomatopoeic song to teach about animals and the sounds they make, try this. The song drills the following vocabulary: cow (moo), pig (oink), duck (quack), horse (neigh), lamb (baa) and chickens (cluck), and stays in the children’s memories long after the lesson has ended. Get the children to imitate the animals as they sing the song.
9 Five Little Monkeys
Children love monkeys and their playful nature. This song allows the children to play as they sing and role-play the actions they are singing. It is also easy enough for children to sing to their parents in order to show them what they have been learning in class.
10 The Alphabet Song
An alphabet song helps you develop children’s literacy skills. This one has been tried and tested in classrooms all over the world for years and can easily be turned into a chant. Get the children to make letter shapes with their fingers as they sing.
Some activities to do with songs and chants
Getting children to learn a new song or chant involves far more than simply getting them to sing or say it a few times. Remember that before children can sing a song or say a chant, they need to learn the melody (in the case of the song) and the rhythm. Start by having them hum the melody and clap to the rhythm a few times. Then, slowly introduce the words and sing the song or say the chant several times. Turn down the volume to find out whether the children are ready to sing or say it on their own. Here is a list of 7 activities that you can do with songs and chants.
ü Guess the words!
Before you actually start teaching children the song or chant, share the title with them and let them guess which key words will be in it. Write the words the children guess on the board. With younger learners, stick a flashcard next to each word card to help them identify the words. As they hear the chant, ask the children to stand up each time they hear one of the words on the board.
ü Hold up pictures!
Hand out flashcards of the key words in the song or chant to the children at random. Ask these children to hold the flashcards in front of their chests so that everyone can see them. Play the song or chant and ask the children with the flashcards to wave them in the air each time they hear the word on their flashcard. As a follow-up activity, ask the children to put the flashcards on the board in the order they hear them in the song/chant.
ü Point to the flashcard!
Show the children flashcards of the key vocabulary in the song or chant. Then play a flashcard game of your choice with them. Once the children know the words, display the flashcards and corresponding word cards around the class. Ask the children to point to the flashcard as they hear the word in the song or chant.
ü Sing in sections!
To learn a song or chant, the children will need to sing or say it several times. To prevent this from becoming boring, transform the drilling activity into a fun competition. Choose three children to be the jury. Divide the class into groups. Begin by teaching the whole class a small part of the song or chant. Then divide the class in two and repeat that part of the song or chant with each group. Next, get each group to perform their version to the rest of the class. When the last group has finished, invite the jury to vote for the best group. To speed up the process of grouping children, divide the class into a girls’ and boys’ team and see which group can sing the best.
ü Invent and mime actions!
Once the children know the song, encourage them to take ownership of it by choosing actions that they can do while singing it. They practise the actions several times, then they sing the song and make the gestures together. Film the children and share the video with parents on the school webpage.
ü Sing faster!
After the children have sung the song or said the chant a few times, they may start to get bored and lose interest. Keep them focused by introducing a cognitive challenge such as singing the song faster and faster each time. Have a competition to see who will invent a verse and role-play the song or chant. A nice, challenging post-listening activity is to have the class invent the next verse of the song. This activity can be done as a whole class, in groups or in pairs, depending on the characteristics of the class. The children can then prepare a performance of the song to present to parents or to teach to other children in the school. Children often feel empowered when they are asked to teach younger children.
ü Draw the song!
Songs appeal to children because of repetitive melodies and the emotions they bring out. They can change our mood on a particular day and put a smile on our face. Make children aware of this by getting them to listen to a song and draw a picture of how it makes them feel. You can then develop writing skills by asking the children to write a sentence about their picture.
Fun rhymes to use in the young learner classroom
Rhymes are an effective and motivating tool to use in the young learner classroom as they are very child-friendly and simple to use. They are short and simple, which means that children learn them unconsciously and effortlessly while playing with their voices to become aware of and practise English sounds. By getting children to add gestures to rhymes, you can aid the memorisation process and give children a sense of achievement as they learn a rhyme to share with others in English. Here is a list of 10 rhymes that you can use in your classroom. Rhymes 1-6 are traditional nursery rhymes, rhymes 7 and 8 are action rhymes, and the last two will help you with classroom management. You’ll find the words of the first five rhymes in the Appendix, and you can learn the tunes by searching for these classic songs on YouTube.
1 Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
This traditional nursery rhyme has five verses. Choose the number of verses that you want your class to learn according to their level of English.
2 Humpty Dumpty
This traditional rhyme can be used to introduce an Easter-egg-making activity. The children can say the rhyme as they decorate their Easter eggs.
3 Baa Baa Black Sheep
This is a great rhyme to teach children while they are working on the topic of animals.
4 Jack and Jill
This traditional rhyme can be taught in conjunction with lessons about being helpful and obedient (doing chores) and being careful (avoiding accidents and what to do if they happen).
5 Hickory Dickory Dock
This traditional rhyme is a fun way to teach or revise the time. The original rhyme has 12 verses which you can teach your class depending on their language level.
6 One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
’One, Two, Buckle My Shoe’ is an action rhyme which is great for teaching to children who are learning numbers. When the children say the rhyme, they show the numbers with their fingers and simulate the actions: One, two, buckle my shoe (pretend to buckle their shoes); three, four, open the door (pretend to open the door); five, six, pick up sticks (pretend to pick up sticks); seven, eight, lay them straight (pretend to lay them straight); nine, ten, a big fat hen (pretend to be a big hen).
7 Bouncing ball rhyme
In a bouncing ball rhyme, children bounce a ball and try to do the action as they say the rhyme.
Number one, touch your tongue.
Number two, touch your shoe.
Number three, touch your knee.
8 Skipping rope rhymes
Children love to play with skipping ropes. Getting them to say the following rhyme is a great way for you to practise numbers with your class. If you don’t have lots of space in your classroom, take the children outside to learn this rhyme:
Bread and butter, sugar and spice,
How many children think I’m nice?
At this point the class counts the number of jumps that the child is able to jump.
9 Jumping Jack
This action rhyme can be used as a classroom management strategy to give children’s energy levels a boost. The children stand up and act out the rhyme as they say it.
Jumping Jack, jumping Jack,
Clap your hands, clap, clap, clap.
10 Counting rhymes
Choosing a child to come up to the front of the class and volunteer can be tricky and even unfair in the eyes of some children. To avoid this situation, you can use a counting rhyme. Say the following rhyme and point to the children as you say the stressed syllables.
Apples, peaches, pears and plums,
Tell me when your birthday comes!
When you have finished saying the rhyme, the child who you pointed to on the last syllable answers the question by telling you which month their birthday is in. The children sitting either side of that child then say the names of the months in order, beginning with the month that child’s birthday is in. The child who says, ’December’ is the chosen one for your next activity.