Teaching English Using Nursery Rhymes and Songs

2. Teaching English Using Nursery Rhymes and
Songs

3. When students sing or recite, they
automatically assume command of the
prosodic features of the language.
Poems and songs exaggerate the rhythmic
nature of the language.
Songs and rhymes give insights into the target
culture. Introduces cultural elements of the
language.

4. • Helps with pronunciation and literacy skills.
• The format of nursery rhymes and songs is
short, simple and predictive, making them
easy to learn and repeat.
• Nursery rhymes and songs are easy to find
and cost efficient.

5. Enrich young children’s vocabulary/numeracy.
Provide opportunities for oral language
development.
Helps develop cognitive skills.
Enhances individual development.
Introduce children to basic story structure such as
problem and solution, cause and effect.
Be easily integrated into already existing themes.
Be FUN and engaging for
young children.

6. Grammatical and Phonological Elements
Vocabulary
Intonation
Sentence Structure
Phonics- pre-school children who can identify the
beginning and end sounds of a word find learning to read
easier.

7. Peas Porridge Hot
• Peas porridge hot,
Peas porridge cold,
Peas porridge in the pot
Nine days old.
Some like it hot,
Some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot
Nine days old.

8. Phonics
• Beginning and ending sounds-
– Peas porridge hot,
– Peas porridge cold,
– Peas porridge in the pot
– Nine days old.
• Rhymes
– Peas porridge hot,
– Peas porridge cold,
– Peas porridge in the pot
– Nine days old.

9. Vocabulary
• peas
• porridge
• pot
• hot
• cold
• old

10. Teaching Elements of Nursery Rhymes
• Repetition
• Sentence Structure
• Themes
• Objectives and Goals

11. Themes
• Time- Hickory Dickory Dock
• Weather and bugs-Itsy Bitsy Spider, Little Miss Muffet, It’s
Raining, it’s Pouring
• Cooking- Peas Porridge Hot, Pat- A -Cake
• Counting-1,2 Buckle my shoe, Ten Little Indians
• Gardening and plants-Mary Mary Quite Contrary
• Animal Names-Hey Diddle Diddle, Little Bo Peep, Little Boy
Blue

12. Itsy Bitsy Spider by grade level
• 3rd – phonics, rhyme patterns, finger puppets, singing, coloring pages
• 4th- - phonics, rhyme patterns, finger puppets, singing, drawing, weather (sun
and rain)
• 5th –phonics, rhyme patterns, puzzles (find the water spout), drawing, creative
writing ( change some words in the song),role plays, weather, arts and crafts,
recreate the scene through cut-outs and poster boards, Reader’s Theater
• 6th – phonics, rhyme patterns, puzzles, weather, creative drawing and writing.
Make a new song about the itsy bitsy spider, role plays, reader’s theater,
weather (scenarios, what is there is a typhoon, what would the itsy bitsy spider
do?)

13. • Songs and rhymes are a rich resource for language
activities in the language learning classroom.
They are a memorable and enjoyable way of…
• introducing
• using
• consolidating
• recycling &
• remembering
new language that has been taught.
• They can actually be used very successfully with all
language learners, but especially with YLs.
Why Use Songs and Rhymes with
Young Learners?

14. Songs and rhymes should be carefully chosen for the English class as not
all songs and rhymes are suitable for YLLs
As a guide, the more you can say Yes to the following questions about a
song, rhyme, chant or poem you are thinking of using, the more useful and
successful it will likely be.
1. Is the song or chant suitable for the
age group of learners you want to use
it with?
6. Is the amount of new language in the song
suitable for the age and ability of these
learners?
2. Is it suitable for the language level of
these learners?
7. Does it clearly introduce, revise or
consolidate the language you wish to
focus on?
3. Is it suitable for the cognitive level of
these learners?
8. Will the meaning of the song, rhyme, chant
or poem be clear if shown or demonstrated
with visuals, realia or gestures?
4. Is there an easy melody line?
9. Do you have a clear recording of the song
or chant?
5. Do you like the song or chant?

15. Introducing Songs and Chants to Students
• take part in the activity
• sing the song or recite the rhyme,
chant or poem to the students (or
else, use a very good video
recording of someone else doing
this
• rehearse the song or chant before
class and consider how he/she will
introduce it to his/her students
• have a good visual model
because they will be looking at
that person's lips to see what is
being said or sung
It is important that the teacher:
It is important that the students:

16. WAYS OF TEACHING
SONGS AND RHYMES

17. Illustrate the story line with pictures
and mimes.
This is the best approach for young
learners who do not worry about
understanding about every word in a
text.

19. Translate the text into students’
mother tongue.
This is most appropriate for pieces
which are linguistically complex, but
it can also be done to save time.

21. Write the text on the board, poster or
hand-outs, but with the key words or
phrases deleted.
Students have to identify the missing
words as they listen.

23. Put some focus questions on the blackboard or
worksheet to guide the class listening.
With beginner classes, especially, you can use
inverted WH-questions.
In this way the questions contain the words of
the text in exactly the order they will be heard.

25. With more difficult texts, true-false statement
or choice questions enable you to reproduce
virtually the whole text before it is heard.
If there are more than two or three statements
or questions, they should be written on a poster
or roll-up blackboard beforehand.

27. This is another good way to approach a longer
piece. After a fairly rapid and silent reading, the
students ask for any needed explanations.
This may be done in English or the mother
tongue, depending on the level of the class.
The piece is heard learned without any form of
presentation and with no problem
of comprehension.

29. Provide a jigsaw version of the text before it is
heard.
Another useful technique to use with more
difficult texts.
Either the words within lines are jumbled,
giving a structural emphasis to the task of
unscrambling or the order of the lines is
changed.

31. Put the whole text on the blackboard.
Students read it as they listen.
One or two words are erased and it is sung
again.
More words are erased, and so on until it can
be sung with no support.

33. Dictate the text and correct it publicly before
the class hears it.
This is only suitable for short texts in which
most of the words are already familiar with the
learners.

35. A mixture of two or more techniques can also
be used.

37. The step by step demonstration will clarify
those approaches, but first a word about the
prosodies.
In all of the rhymes, the rhythmic patterns
receive close attention as this is probably the
most important linguistic feature of any form of
poetry.