January 5

What are you singing?

I started using lots of British nursery rhymes with my early primary learners last term.  It was a great way to get them up and using a bit of energy before settling down to do a quieter activity.  I found I could remember a lot of the actions from when I was a child and, if there were any I wasn’t sure about, I just invented something which seemed to fit.

Here’s are some of the songs I’ve been teaching them…

Incy Wincy Spider

If you’re happy and you know it

I’m a little teapot

The wheels on the bus

The Hokey Cokey

Anyway, as I was singing and doing the actions, I started thinking whether it actually meant anything to the students and whether by singing and miming they were actuallyy learning any new vocabulary.  It made me question whether I was doing the nursery rhymes for a good reason.  But then I thought back to when I was a child and some of the songs which we used to sing which, thinking about them now, didn’t make much sense to me at the time.

Take for example, “Ring a ring of roses” (if that’s even the correct title).  The lyrics to that make more sense to me now having studied a bit of history, but twenty-five years ago, it was just a song we’d sing and dance to.

 

A seven-year-old has much more fun in class standing in a circle and singing the Hokey Cokey than filling in a worksheet of body parts.  So perhaps teaching English should be more about enjoying using language in as natural a state as possible.

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Posted January 5, 2012 by Teresa Bestwick in category My thoughts

4 thoughts on “What are you singing?

  1. Bekah

    I remember learning so many words through silly kids songs, both in English and in my second language. If nothing else, I think that the repeated exposure can help make certain words more active in the mind, and like you said, the songs will make the use more enjoyable!

    Reply
  2. ShadowFalcon

    When I was a kid the hokey cokey was brilliant fun.

    I think the actions are an essential part. With my nephew I’ve noticed if we mime the animals for Old McDonald had a farm he remembers them, even for animals he’s never seen or heard of before.

    Reply
  3. Leahn

    Hi,

    I used to use all of these songs with my VYLs; now, I use the tunes of the songs and try and make up new versions with vocabulary more directly linked to their coursebooks. I still use some songs – at the moment we are reading and singing Old McDonald and There was an old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. I’m combining the books with the songs on the British Council website. They love them!

    I may sing Ring a Ring a Roses this week!

    Thanks

    Reply

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