SKKN choosing songs related to the theme to motiva te young learners to study english

INDEX Content Page Introduction 1.1Rationale for choosing the topic 1.2 Objectives of the study 1.3 Objects of the study 1.4.Methodology of the study 3 4 Development 2.1 Literature review 2.1.1 What is song? 2.1.2 Why are songs useful for children to remember new words? 2.2 Reality of teaching and learning vocabulary at some primary schools in Quang Xuong district 2.3 Solution to the problem: using songs in teaching vocabulary 2.3.1 Some general suggestions for using songs 2.3.2 Steps to prepare for teaching song vocabulary 2.3.3 Steps to present song teaching Step 1: Preview Step 2: Acting out Step 3: Choral singing songs Step 4: Group/ individual acting 2.4 Effectiveness of the study 5 Conclusion and suggestion 3.1 Conclusion 3.2 Suggestion 21 21 21 10 10 17 17 18 18 18 18 1 Introduction 1.1 Rationale for choosing the topic: In fact, English is not only a quite difficult subject to teach and also quite difficult to learn according to the perception of many people It is a subject that is quite separate from other subjects, requiring both teachers and learners to try to find their own effective teaching - learning methods There are many foreign language teachers who have difficulties in their teaching path Many students are scared and bored to learn Therefore, how to teach and learn to get the most out of this important subject? That is a very big question posed to both English learners and teachers Everybody knows that it’s much easier for a child to pick up and remember new words than for an adult It’s all about how the human mind is set up, and children’s minds are set up to naturally remember new things easily and well So all you really need to when you want to increase a child’s vocabularies is to simply create the right environment for learning the language Young children love anything funny or something else like that so why not take advantage of this to teach them vocabulary items? Singing lovely and funny songs has long been recognized as fun and child-friendly tools in both First and Second Language Acquisition We are all aware of both benefits and the way of using these songs to teach children English vocabulary However, teaching English through singing song in general and choosing songs related to the themes in particular are something very beneficial and brand new in teaching vocabulary in Vietnam Being aware of the essential role of choosing suitable songs in teaching children vocabulary is the first reason why I this study Children love funny songs or singing out aloud very much but it is also very difficult for Vietnamese primary teachers to master and apply it into their teaching English effectively Besides, using suitable songs is also a certain part of every unit in the English textbook nowadays Therefore, in this study I also provide teachers of English with steps of using suitable songs related to each lessons and even the way of making up their own songs to teach with the hope that they can create more effective lessons and help their children remember new words better through the songs While teaching English at Primary School, I have paid attention to research and explore how to apply new methods to create interest in learning, promote positivity and initiative students There are many ways to achieve these goals, but adopting a “Learning songs” is an activity that students are most excited about The songs have rich content, using interesting and useful language in accordance with their perception Through the song, students will acquire knowledge and the ability to apply language in easy communication, consolidate and deepen knowledge firmly, giving them passion and excitement in study, in employment When we make songs based each English lessons on a regular basis, with science, the quality of teaching English will surely improve How to use songs to teach English is really a broad issue because it can be used to teach not only vocabulary but also other aspects of language In addition, “children” is also a broad object, so I just focus my study on grade students, who are mostly in the first year of learning English and find remembering new words difficult because their methods of learning vocabulary haven’t been formed Under the limitation of time and for the main reasons as above, I decided to carry out this study and present here "Choosing songs related to the themes to motivate young learners to study English" 1.2 Objectives of the study: This study aims at clarifying the benefits of choosing appropriate songs to teach very young children to learn English vocabulary and suggesting the way the songs can be used to help children remember new words 1.3 Objects of the study: Singing songs out aloud can be used to reinforce and practise vocabularies or grammar patterns as well as the natural rhythms of spoken English And singing sweet and funny songs can be used for students of all ages and all levels However, the main focus of this study is looking at the reasons why and the ways how the songs should be used to help children in general and grade students in particular remember new words 1.4 Methodology of the study: To attain the mentioned objectives, a number of techniques will be used during the process of carrying out the study Theoretical background of the study is based on watching, reading, analyzing and synthesizing of the materials and relevant books Investigating the reality and collecting the data of grade students’ remembering new words before and after using songs to teach vocabularies are also applied And according to applicative approach, some funny songs for some units in the textbooks Smart Start are also applied in teaching practice Development 2.1 Literature review: 2.1.1 What is song? A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition and variation of sections Written words created specifically for music, or for which music is specifically created, are called lyrics If a pre-existing poem is set to composed music in classical music it is an art song Songs that are sung on repeated pitches without distinct contours and patterns that rise and fall are called chants Songs composed in a simple style that are learned informally "by ear" are often referred to as folk songs Songs that are composed for professional singers who sell their recordings or live shows to the mass market are called popular songs These songs, which have broad appeal, are often composed by professional songwriters, composers, and lyricists Art songs are composed by trained classical composers for concert or recital performances Songs are performed live and recorded on audio or video (or, in some cases, a song may be performed live and simultaneously recorded) Songs may also appear in plays, musical theatre, stage shows of any form, and within operas, films, and TV shows [1] 2.1.2 Why is singing songs useful for children to remember new words? We have to admit that singing songs is a fantastic tool of teaching and learning English Singing and making music are among the most enjoyable learning activities for children Because they have both elements - enjoyment and learning - I consider them to be essential methods of reinforcing basic skills in numeracy and literacy While this reinforcement is useful to all children, regardless of their academic abilities, my own experiences in the classroom and as the mother of a child with Down syndrome tell me that it is vital to children with learning difficulties One of the most important abilities music and singing stimulate is auditory discrimination This is important for all children, and vital for children with learning difficulties such as Down syndrome I also think singing and music are essential to the development of children's imaginations and their ability to express ideas in words, music, dance and gesture Taking singing first, there are several ways in which the reinforcement of academic learning takes place through singing The most basic reinforcement is by repetition The Victorian fashion for rote learning was effective to a degree, but singing enables children to repeat words and phrases in a far more enjoyable way than just speech alone can provide Indeed, singing can be so much fun that they are probably unaware that they are repeating (and thus learning) the same words over and over again Repetition is also important for learning the songs by heart, something that pre-reading children have to This is why so many nursery rhymes and children's songs have very simple words which are frequently repeated Because children with learning difficulties struggle with reading for longer than the average child, learning songs by heart assumes greater importance in their academic spectrum Songs can also provide good language models which are easy to follow as the flow of the words is often enhanced by the flow of the music Singing provides an added advantage for these children too: it requires greater mouth movement and better articulation on the part of both the teacher and the pupil A good illustration of this advantage is the ease with which we can sing in a foreign language without being able to talk in the same language Songs also provide an enjoyable way to develop memory There are counting songs, action songs, finger movement songs, songs which get longer with each verse, alphabet songs and story songs I am sure that most of us can recall complete songs, even quite long ones, almost word for word But very few of us could remember a story word for word Along with this, songs encourage children to sequence events, actions, ideas etc, especially in songs that get longer with each verse Singing in groups or in class also involves co-operation, especially when children are sharing ideas and activities Not only does this lay the foundations for future team work, it also encourages children to listen to each other, to learn from each other and to value each other's ideas With the development of modern technology and Internet, it is so easy for teachers to teach songs even though they are not able to sing well For example, we can search a lot of channels and songs with only the key “English song for kids” on Google or Youtube like this: [2] [2 [3] 2.2 Reality of teaching and learning vocabulary at some primary schools in Quang Xuong district: English Primary level in general and grade in particular, is an elective but still difficult subject, not all young learners are gifted to absorb it easily There are still many weak learners, they not have a firm knowledge, not have suitable learning methods, passively study,they always wait for the results of their friends and follow exactly Many of them are afraid of practising out aloud in front of the class, afraid of saying because they think that it will be wrong They not even take notes in class, not homework.This fact shows that these students have not liked the subject yet Some students, especially weak students, lack of sense of learning, lack of patience in learning, have not kept up with new learning methods,they are still confused in acquiring and applying knowledge, practice skills Some only study out of curiosity, so when it's difficult to learn,the students will let them go Therefore, they are not really serious and try their best in learning On the other hands, most of their parents think that their children can not even learn and read Vietnamese well , therefore they are not able to learn or speak English I have been teaching English in a primary school in the countryside, so the difficulties above are the facts that I have to face every day However, My students love English, they have only a little of time and opportunity to hear native speakers’ voice in real life or through CD player, TV and so on Otherwise, English is a “stress-timed” language but Vietnamese isn’t As a result, my students often have difficulty in pronouncing an English word correctly and they have great fear of vocabulary checking from the teacher It’s really a big challenge for me as a teacher to help my students learn new words and remember them long after During my career of teaching English as a second language, some techniques have been used to check up and help children remember vocabulary such as “rub out and remember”, “what and where” or “matching” or using songs I mainly focused on using songs when I wanted to use the easy melody with lots of fun to energize my students Another fact is that there are a lot of vocabularies that the teacher can use her/his own sound to help children realize and remember new words in every unit of the textbook But these techniques of using song often have at every part of the lessons and many teachers usually omit the activities because they feel using songs is difficult and they are not allowed to so if the time for the lesson is limited Most of the teachers think that music or singing songs is not important and they have no reason to study more about these techniques to apply them into their real teaching As a result, using is often ignored or ineffectively taught despite its great benefits Why not using songs to teach vocabulary, especially to improve children’s excitement about studying English and help them remember new words easily and actively? For the main benefits of using songs in teaching as above, I tried on using easy and funny songs to teach vocabulary and I have found that singing songs can be really useful, and the kids enjoy them too Here is the survey I take place at grade of my primary school before using songs in teaching vocabulary: SURVEY TABLE BEFORE USING SONGS AT CLASS Content survey of Class Completed well Numbers of students Rate Completed Numbers of Not completed Rate Numbers of Rate students Students’ 1A understanding (32 and sts) remembering before using songs 1B (32 sts) 1C (32 sts) students 3.1 % 10 31.2% 21 65.7% 12.5% 0% 13 40.6% 25% 15 24 46.9% 75% Based on the survey results I see that most students are not good at learning English because of the specificity of the subject and because they cannot learn at home, outside of school Moreover , this is a new subject, the fresh students have accessed to and become familiar with a new language The students think that learning English is very difficult so they are not passionate about learning a new language They don’t find very interesting when studying this subject 2.3 Solution to the problem: using songs related to the themes in teaching vocabulary for young leaners From that fact above, as a person directly teaching English, I have tried to think and find ways to improve the quality of teaching the subject Understanding students' minds and physiology, I have changed my teaching and their learning methods I realize that while singing aloud with learning, giving students a gentle and comfortable atmosphere, the students are more enthusitic to study These language songs are actually language competitions, always asking them to decide: How to act out? Say what next ? How to remember without looking at the screen ? The desire to solve those questions will make the children's thinking activities more refined and sensitive because they will mobilize their full energy, trying to apply the knowledge that the teachers expect without force - something that they have been concerned about for a long time This also creates a happy, open, exciting atmosphere And like that, all of the students are naturally drawn to learning This method I have used in my teaching process and got very positive results So I boldly present my practical experience to colleagues to exchange learning in order to continuously improve skills, with the ultimate goal of making students more passionate about the subject of language 2.3.1 Some general suggestions for using songs: At the very first step, because there is not any ready funny vocabulary songs in the textbook, the teacher must look for an appropriate song, of which the topic and words have just been taught by the teacher, from different sources such as on the internet or in some channels about activities by Nursery Rhymes or English Singing for examples If no suitable vocabulary song related to the themes is found out, it’s time for the teacher to create his or her own vocabulary songs Basing on an original song, the teacher can keep the rhythm and choose to change words of acting out to make it suited to the new words students have just learnt Or the teacher may have to create a completely new songs based on some magic guiding steps as bellows Because the aim of using songs is helping children remember new words, it should be taught right after the teacher has just presented vocabulary to check students’ rememberance of new words And this teaching part must take such a short time as about or minutes, so the teacher must be quick, flexible, clever and really skillful in using the songs The words of using songs must be wellprepared before the class as well (the teacher may need to draw it down on a subordinate board ) Then, in the following periods, remember to review or let the children act out the words by playing role together or even singing out aloud without music regularly to help children remember better and longer They can make great warm-ups At last but not at least, be dramatic and make it fun Use as much songs as possible to illustrate new words through actions What a good idea to combine music or chanting and total physical responses Learners will love this a lot 2.3.2 Steps to prepare for teaching vocabulary through songs related to the themes: Once you feel comfortable using songs and once you can find many appropriate ways to teach the vocabulary in the textbook, on the internet or from other sources which is suited to your objectives in a specific lesson, you can choose one or more from them Start by watching the songs that native speakers use And to make the vocabulary songs suitable to your students, the very first thing you must keep in your mind is that the language should be real, useful, appropriate for the level and just remember to make it simple Remember that singing songs has many ways to express and each way will have its special effects Teaching vocabulary through songs is a lot easier than you think and be confident to it yourself by preparing carefully *** Steps to prepare for teaching vocabulary through a song: Step 1: Choose a suitable key and use it to search for what you need Step 2: Find a simple original song related to the theme Identify its topic and number of syllables each word has Now you know how the song is organised Step 3: Identify your topic and the new words need checking up : Choose some words which have the same number of syllables as the words of the original chant to replace Keep the rhythm and now you have your own song Step 4: Make a new song For example: Step 1: When you want to teach about animal theme, you can search “ animal song”, there will have a lot of songs related to this theme, and you can choose this one: [4] Original song : What you see? What you see? What you see? I can see a snake I can see a snake What you see? What you see? I can see a monkey I can see a monkey [4] Step 2: - Finding a simple original song : What you see? - Topic: animals - Number of syllables: monkey, zebra , tiger : syllables : see , snake : syllable Step 3: - New words need checking up: like, dog, cat, bird - Two - syllable words: no words One – syllable words: like , cat, dog, bird Step 4: Make a new song Title: What you like? What you like? What you like? 10 I like a cat I like a cat What you like? What you like? I like a dog I like a dog What you like? What you like? I like a bird I like a bird Here are some more examples: Example : (We can make the song like above to teach unit 3: Colors ; Lesson 1( part A, B, C ) in Smart Start [4] Step 1: Choose the key : “ color songs” [3] You can find many color songs available, and I choose this one: [6] 11 Original song : Learn colors Red, red, red balloon Yellow, yellow , yellow balloon Pink, pink, pink balloon Bye, bye, pink balloon [6] Step 2: - Finding a simple original song : Learn colours - Topic: colors - Number of syllables: + syllables : balloon, yellow, orange, purple + syllables : red , blue, pink , black Step 3: - To teach Unit 3: Colors - Lesson 1-3 in Smart Start 1[5] - Topic: Colors - New words need checking up: flower ,red , yellow, blue, pink, white -Number of syllables: + Two - syllable words: flower , yellow, orange + One – syllable words: red, blue, pink, white Step 4: Make a new song Title: Colors Red , red , red flower Yellow, yellow, yellow flower Blue, blue, blue flower Bye, bye, blue flower Pink , pink, pink flower Orange , orange, orange flower White, white, white flower Bye, bye, bye white flower Example : (We can make the song like above to teach unit 6: Activities ; Lesson 1( part A, B, C ) in Smart Start [5] Step 1: Choose the key : “ action song” [3] You can find many action songs available as above, and I choose this one: 12 [7] Original song : What can you do? How about you? How about you? What can you Jump, I can jump Jump, I can jump Jump,jump,jump-jump, jump,jump Jump, jump, I can jump [7] Step 2: - Finding a simple original song : What can you do? - Topic: activities - Number of syllables: + syllables : no words + syllables : can, do, jump Step 3: - To teach Unit 6: activities - Lesson in Smart Start 1[5] - Topic: Activities - New words need checking up: swim , sing, run - Number of syllables: + Two - syllable words: no words + One – syllable words: swim, sing , run Step 4: Make a new song Title: What can you do? How about you? How about you? What can you do? 13 Swim, I can swim Swim, I can swim Swim swim swim, swim swim swim Swim swim , I can swim Sing, I can sing Sing , I can sing Sing sing sing , sing sing sing Sing sing, I can sing How about you? How about you? What can you do? Example : We can make the song ourselves to teach unit 8: Food ; Lesson 1( part A, B, C ) in Smart Start [5] Step 1: Choose the key : “ Food songs” [3] 14 You can find many food songs available as above such as “Do you like ?” ; “What you want to eat _?” or “Goods food”, so on, and I choose this one: [8] Original song : Do you like _? Do you like broccoli? Yes ,I Yes, I Do you like ice-cream? Yes , I Yes, I Do you like broccoli ice-cream? No,I don’t No, I don’t Yucky Do you like donut? Yes ,I Yes, I Do you like pizza ? Yes , I Yes, I Do you like donut pizza ? No,I don’t No, I don’t Yucky [8] Step 2: - Finding a simple original song : Do you like? - Topic: food - Number of syllables: + syllables: broccoli + syllables : ice-cream , donut , pizza, yucky + syllables : like , , don’t Step 3: - To teach Unit 8: Food - Lesson in Smart Start 1[4] - Topic: Food - New words need checking up: banana , cookie , sandwich ,want 15 - Number of syllables: + syllables: banana + syllables : cookie , donut , sandwich + syllables : want Step 4: Make a new song Title: Do you want _? Do you want banana? Yes ,I Yes, I Do you want cookie ? Yes , I Yes, I Do you want babana cookie ? No, I don’t No, I don’t Yucky Do you want sandwich? Yes ,I Yes, I Do you want banana ? Yes , I Yes, I Do you want sandwich banana? No,I don’t No, I don’t Yucky 2.3.3 Steps to present songs: Step 1: Preview: Talk about the title of the song , what the students think it is about, explain connection to cultural context With young learners use about their mother tongue, with older ones simple English can be used Explain any new words if necessary Step 2: Listen: Familiarize students with the song, sing it or play on a CD player, stress the rhythm of the songs by using different rhythmic instruments (drums, tambourines or just hands, pencils or feet) Step 3: Choral singing songs: Say one line at a time and ask students to repeat after you several times Then say the line again, clapping or snapping your fingers where the language is stressed as indicated by the asterisks or underlines After that, have students repeat the song several times with clapping or snapping of fingers Then the teacher may combine actions or flashcards to illustrate the words’ meaning while singing and ask students to so Children love this a lot and they will memorize new words’ meaning better by this way After that, students open their books or teacher writes the text of the song on the board so they can read it and repeat it after the teacher or recording Step 4: Group/ individual singing: First of all students try the song as a whole class, then the teacher can divide them into several groups in order to practice different parts of it Students can also pantomime or act the song out while singing Then children 16 may get into pairs and sing for the class in turns After the students know the songs by heart, an excellent method how to acquire naturally the language is to personalize it This could be done in many ways One possible method is role playing or moving the song language into situational context Finally, the teacher can create variety of exercises which would follow what the students have learned such as asking them to write their own similar song Get your students to make up their own songs and then teach the rest of the class Just give them the language to play with and enjoy by the following way: - Have students make a list of vocabulary words from a lesson you’ve done - Ask students to arrange them according to the number of syllables per word - Choose a two syllable, a three syllable and a one syllable word to make a song 2.4 Effectiveness of the study After a short period of time applying vocabulary songs to help grade students remember new words, my students have changed a lot their attitude towards learning vocabulary Most of them find learning new words amusing and as not difficult as before They are eager for every song after the teacher’s presenting vocabulary They even suggest their own songs for the class to learn altogether It’s much easier for them to memorize the meaning of new words through songs because it’s easy to combine songs or pictures or realia to illustrate new words’ meaning while singing With singing, their pronunciation of new words has also been much improved They can now pronounce a new word correctly and naturally with its stress And after all, they are willing to memorize the new words’ spelling to be able to create their own songs Therefore, students can remember all main aspects of a new word after singing naturally and eagerly without their recognition And here is the result taken place after a period of time I myself have taught the students by applying to use body language in teaching vocabulary: SURVEY TABLE AFTER USING BODY LANGUAGE AT CLASS Content survey of Class Students’ 1A understanding (32 and sts) remembering before using songs Completed well Completed Numbers of students Rate Numbers of students 17 53 % 13 Not completed Rate 40.5% Numbers of students Rate 6,5 % 17 1B (32 sts) 1C (32 sts) 18 56 % 13 40.6% 3.4 % 16 50 % 14 43.5% 6.5 % And here are some photos taken in my English classes, the students are not only eager with their lessons, but also hope to study more 18 Conclusion and suggestion: 3.1 Conclusion In short, vocabulary songs are really helping children remember new words much better considering pronunciation, meaning and spelling of each word Music and rhymes are very entertaining and children love them As an additional material it’s a perfect teaching tool to make children motivated and involved in language lessons, especially the little children, slower students or students with some learning difficulties They are helping the students understand and memorize easily, making the students relax, making the class more productive, and helping the teacher to handle the class It’s high time English teachers in general and English primary teachers in particular applied singing songs in their teaching not only vocabulary but also other aspects of language However, it’s not easy at all to master all singing techniques But due to its great benefits as presented above, I hope that many English teachers will like it and spend their time more on researching and applying singing techniques into their real teaching effectively As I presented before, “let’s sing” part in the textbook is optional and the teacher can omit if the lesson lacks of time to complete main contents This part seems to be unimportant at first but it is surprisingly benifical for both teaching and learning English Therefore, I suggest this part should be compulsory to teach in order that all the English teachers can realize its importance and find their best ways to exploit its advantages In fact, all the songs in the textbook now are grammar songs where as teaching is such a busy and hard kind of job that the teachers for the most part don’t have much time left after school to study more and create their own vocabulary songs to apply in teaching Thus, I strongly suggest composing and printing vocabulary songs in the textbook for the teachers to use The last but very far from the least suggestion is holding some seminars about singing techniques so that many English teachers can have a chance to meet, learn and share experiences on teaching songs together By this way, singing will become popular and will be widely used in teaching English And the teachers will have one more effective choice to make their lessons more vividly and attractively Of course students’ love for English will increase more and more day by day and chant by singing Under the limitation of time, I have just presented here only a few of my experiences on helping grade students remember new words through singing vocabulary songs related to the topic of the lessons and I’m really looking forward to receiving sincerely contributive ideas 3.2 Suggestion The last but very far from the least suggestion is holding some seminars about using song techniques so that many English teachers can have a chance to meet, learn and share experiences on teaching by using songs together By this way, using songs will become popular and will be widely used in teaching English And the teachers will have one more effective choice to make their 19 lessons more vividly and attractively Of course students’ love for English will increase more and more day by day and singing out by singing out aloud Under the limitation of time, I have just presented here only a few of my experiences on helping grade students remember new words through “Choosing songs related to the themes to motivate young learners to study English"and I’m really looking forward to receiving sincerely contributive ideas XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ Thanh Hóa, ngày 10 tháng 04 năm 2021 Tơi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, không chép nội dung người khác (Ký ghi rõ họ Lê Thị Thủy 20 References: [1] (wikipedia.org/wiki/songs) [2] ( google.com) [3] (youtube.com) [4] ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CQ_K9W6vEQ) [5] textbook gade 1- Smart Start [6] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0HZNaM7gTg) [7] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MKmbyfhkkE) [8] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frN3nvhIHUk) 21 DANH MỤC CÁC ĐỀ TÀI SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ĐÃ ĐƯỢC HỘI ĐỒNG ĐÁNH GIÁ XẾP LOẠI CẤP PHÒNG GD&ĐT, CẤP SỞ GD&ĐT VÀ CÁC CẤP CAO HƠN XẾP LOẠI TỪ C TRỞ LÊN Họ tên tác giả: Lê Thủy Chức vụ đơn vị công tác: giáo viên tiếng Anh, trường tiểu học Quảng Văn TT Tên đề tài SKKN Using body language in teaching vocabulary Cấp đánh giá xếp loại (Ngành GD cấp huyện/tỉnh; Tỉnh ) Phòng GD Kết đánh giá xếp loại (A, B, C) C Năm học đánh giá xếp loại 2019-2020 22 ... for the main reasons as above, I decided to carry out this study and present here "Choosing songs related to the themes to motivate young learners to study English" 1.2 Objectives of the study: ... have just presented here only a few of my experiences on helping grade students remember new words through ? ?Choosing songs related to the themes to motivate young learners to study English" and I’m... both benefits and the way of using these songs to teach children English vocabulary However, teaching English through singing song in general and choosing songs related to the themes in particular