Teaching English through songs, rhymes and chants(I)

Objectives
By the end of the session, you will be able to:
be clear about the difference between English songs, rhymes and chants understand why songs, rhymes and chants can be useful in language teaching understand what they can be used for know how to teach songs for language learning purpose in an English class

Warming-up
Enjoy an English song, a chant and a rhyme London bridge is falling down Ten fat sausages Skip and drip

Skip and Drip

With a rope I skip, skip, skip. In the pool I dip, dip, dip. I jump and turn a flip, flip, flip. Water comes down drip, drip, drip.

Difference among English songs, rhymes and chants

Task 1 Discuss about the difference among English songs, rhymes and chants

Difference among English songs, rhymes and chants

A song is singing with music. A rhyme is a short poem which has very
similar sound at the end of each line. A chant is a word or group of words that is repeated over and over again(often spoken with rhythm).

Reasons
Task 2 Group discussion: Why songs, rhymes and chants can be useful in language teaching?

Reasons
Songs, chants and rhymes are natural language behaviour. They provide a natural context for language use. They make language easy to remember. They allow children to pick up chunks of language. They encourage all children, even shy ones, to participate and to speak in class. They are fun!

Purpose
Task 3 Pair work: What purposes can songs, rhymes and chants serve in childrens language learning?

purpose
It is generally agreed that songs, rhymes and chants can be used in the classroom: to activate children to review what has been learned to introduce new language when teaching songs, rhymes and chants to practise the target language to change the pace

Whats a good song,rhyme or chant?

Task 4 Group work: What makes a song, chant or rhyme suitable for your students? Brainstorm suggested answers.

Checklist to decide a song, chant or rhyme

1) Length 2) Level 3) Repetition 5) Relevance 6) Actions 7) Context 8) Catchiness

Checklist to decide a song, chant or rhyme

Choose a song, chant or rhyme from the collection in this chapter. Using the checklist, decide how suitable it is for a class you teach.

Teaching English through songs

Video time Task 5 Watch a video clip and identify the teaching steps.

Three steps: Pre-singsing While-singsing Post-singsing

Five little Monkeys

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed, One fell off and bumped his head. Mama called the doctor, and the doctor said,No more monkeys jumping on the bed! Four little monkeys Three little monkeys

Read the following teaching plan for Five Little Monkeys

Teaching objectives 1) understand the chants 2) be able to read the chant with right tone and pronunciation. 3) be able to act out the chant with peers

Teaching steps
1Teacher plays the chant and make students

have the first listening to the chant. 2Teacher explains the meaning of the chant sentence by sentence with body language and pictures. 3) Makes the students follow the teacher to practice the chant for several times. 4) Asks the students to practice in groups and get preparation to act out the chant 5) Asks the students to act out the chants in groups 6) Teacher evaluates the students performance


Pre-singsing While-singsing


Post-singsing TPR ,

Read and evaluate

Task 6 Read the teaching plan for Rain, rain, go away and try to judge if its proper in terms of teaching objectives and teaching design.

Teaching English through songs

Task 7 Work in groups. Make a plan of how to teach the song Old Macdonald Has a Farm. Decide the teaching steps in your group.

Old MacDonald Has a Farm

Pre-singsing:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Introduce the activity. Show children a picture of a farm Show children a picture of a duck Show a picture of Old MacDonald Narrate the song with actions

Old MacDonald Has a Farm While-singsing:

6. Sing the song with actions. 7. Sing the song again and invite children to sing the E-I-E-I-O and the quack/moo parts. 8. Invite children to sing along. (Do this twice.) 9. Ask children to sing the song with actions. 10. Divide children into groups to sing different parts of the song.

Old MacDonald Has a Farm

After-singsing:
11. Get the children to act out the song 11. Get children to think of more animals and the sounds they make. 12. Get children to think of new verses for the song and sing their new verses.

A collection of songs
Teaching alphabet 1.The Alphabet Song 2. Bingo Teaching sound 1.Rain, rain, go away 2.Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star 3.There is Thunder (Are you sleeping?)

A collection of songs
Teaching vocabulary
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Ten little Indians Clap, clap, clap your hands This is the way I can sing a rainbow Old MacDonald has a farm

A collection of songs
1. 2. 3. 4. Teaching grammar The more we get together This is the way we wash our clothes If you are happy Teddy bear