singing with 4 to 5 years old. brendan dunne

Brendan Dunne Singing with 4 to 5 year olds 1

INTRODUCTION Some years ago, while travelling to give a workshop on singing for teachers of primary age children, I was reminiscing with a colleague about songs from our own childhood. She asked me if I had heard a song which went “En el coche de papa….” I hadn’t, but this song was apparently very popular when she was a child; although she hadn’t heard it for years. I was particularly interested in “singing and memory” at the time as I was conducting a small action research project on the effects of singing on recall of vocabulary items. I decided to conduct a further little experiment. At the workshop, and then in a series of workshops on singing that I gave over the next two years I asked participants if they could continue singing a song after I’d sung them the first line. Without exception I was given a thundering response of “Nos iremos de pasear…” again and again. In fact the teachers often didn’t want to stop singing it. When asked when they had last heard the song the response was usually “about twenty years ago.” This seemed to confirm a belief I already held; that the songs we learn in childhood can often stay with us for life.

THE BENEFITS OF SINGING FOR THE YOUNG LANGUAGE LEARNER

Not only does singing leave a deep trace in the memory but it also has a number of other benefits for the young language learner. Singing allows the children to be actively involved in their learning from a very young age. Singing as an activity can also address the whole child and not just the language learner, as songs often draw on their common experiences outside the language classroom. There are songs for almost every theme or occasion. Not only can we practise common language topics such as numbers, colours, animals, food, actions etc; but we can also explore a range of emotions and situations that are part of the child’s everyday life. Songs linked to calendar events such as festivals may also give the children insights in to their own and other cultures.

The physical benefits of singing should not be underestimated. Singing not only has positive effects on breathing and voice control but also exercises all the muscles of the head and neck. As songs are often combined with action and movement they can also help with developing co-ordination.

Singing is something that many children will already be familiar with from their experiences at home with parents and siblings. Indeed, songs can provide an important bridge between the classroom and home. Parents are often delighted to hear their children singing songs they have learned in class and this can enable them to share in the learning experience too. THE BENEFITS OF SINGING FOR THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Singing as a classroom activity also has a lot to offer the teacher. As mentioned above songs can cover common language themes and topics for this age group and can be used to practise a wide variety of vocabulary and expressions. Songs may contain lots of repetition and can provide enjoyable opportunities to work on pronunciation. They can combine well with other classroom activities such as stories, games, movement and dance; and also paper-based activities such as picture, colour and number dictation.

L’aprenentatge de l’anglès a l’educació infantil


Singing can have beneficial effects on enjoyment and motivation of students and can be an enjoyable way to channel the children’s need to move around and make a noise. It can be useful for varying the pace and energy levels of the class and can be used at any point in the class to calm or stimulate the students. It also allows for whole class involvement; even those who aren’t ready to sing can join in with actions. PERSONAL AND PEDAGOGICAL ISSUES A number of issues need to be considered with singing as a classroom activity: Which songs work best with this age group? There are a number of important considerations when choosing songs for young children: The lyrics must be immediately meaningful or simple enough that the children will understand the song with a little pre-teaching of vocabulary or expressions. Songs that involve a lot of repetition will be easier to learn. The melodies should also be simple and repetitive and avoid any leaps in pitch. Most children at this age will not have enough control to sing in tune and this shouldn’t matter. The simpler the melody, the less important it will be to sing in tune. Simple rhythm and strong rhymes will also make the song easier to sing. Does the teacher need to be musical? Unfortunately for some, classroom singing may not have been a positive experience in the past and this may have led to unwillingness to try singing with students. Others may want to sing but do not feel confident enough because of how they see themselves as musicians. Nevertheless, singing to children seems to be a perfectly natural thing to do and many parents, carers and teachers seem to take to it easily and without concern for any lack of musical training. Singing is used to soothe, stimulate and entertain. Humour is often involved when singing to babies and toddlers and older children and the experience is usually positive for both children and adults. Singing in the classroom, however, is a more public activity and some teachers may feel shy about taking the plunge. Confidence, as in any performance activity is an important part of success. Yet, as with any other teaching technique, ability and confidence will usually improve with practice. If you really don’t want to sing then it is worth considering that talking, (which most language teachers would see themselves as being good at) is itself musical. It also involves control of rhythm and pitch yet to a much higher degree than needed to sing simple songs. Chanting or Rapping are good alternatives to singing. Rapping, which involves a no less sophisticated range of melodic and rhythmic skill has now become a dominant form in popular music and the children may already have heard a great deal of it. Even just using a sing song voice can be as enjoyable and effective as singing.



Is instrumental accompaniment necessary? It can’t be denied that there is something special about having an instrumental accompaniment to singing but it is by no means necessary. In some ways it may even detract from the singing by taking the children’s attention. It would also effectively stop the teacher from reinforcing actions where they are part of the song. Why not just listen to a cassette or CD? If children experience singing as something that only comes from a machine then they may have a more passive approach to it. Children learn a great deal by copying adults, so if they see their teacher apparently enjoying singing then they will be much more likely to do so themselves. What if children don’t want to sing? Some children may also be reluctant to sing. The experience for them should be just as positive. Lots of smiles and encouraging nods from the teacher will help them to feel relaxed enough to join in when they are ready. The grammar of songs The language of songs may differ from Standard English in certain respects. There is a poetic imperative involved here. Rhythm and rhyme can be more important than correctness of form in songs.

There may be some concern about teaching the children what are seen as incorrect forms. However young children are learning that language is used differently in different contexts and are already coping very well with this phenomenon in their mother tongue.

It might be short-sighted to discard songs because of concerns about correctness of form. Songs may be useful for language learning even when the words are complete nonsense; as they may offer a fun way to practice the sounds and rhythm of the language. THE SONGS Most songs for young children can be divided into clear groups such as numbers, animals, food, body parts, actions, story songs etc. Though some will combine two or more of these themes as in the case of Alice the Camel (see below) which is a number song about an animal. The Old Grey Cat is a song about animals but also about actions e.g. sleeping, eating etc. Some songs are specifically about actions e.g. This is the way we brush our teeth. Here the children will mime the action that they are singing about. Many songs, although not specifically about actions will use actions to reinforce the meaning, e.g. Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, and The Old Grey Cat (see below) or to add an element of humour as in Alice the Camel.



1. Alice the Camel

Do - Mi Do Alice the camel’s got, (Bob!) five humps Re - Mi Do Alice the camel’s got, (Bob!) five humps Do - Mi Do Alice the camel’s got, (Bob!) five humps Mi Sol Fa-Re Do So go Al-ice! Go! Sol La Si Bump! bump! bump! (Bob!) (Bob!) (Bob!)

Alice the camel’s got, (Bob!) four humps etc.

Note:

“(Bob!)” means - bend the knees. This helps to fill the gap between “got” and “five humps” and also provides an element of humour, especially for “Bump! bump! Bump!” Teaching Notes It is likely that young children will need to revise and practice numbers throughout a course so this song could be used at any point in the year once numbers 1 to 5 have been established. It could be introduced as part of a topic on Animals where the children will be learning the different English names of animals they are already familiar with in their mother tongue.

• Although the words are very simple, this song is quite challenging for young children as they have to co-ordinate singing and action and remember to count down from five to one. It will need to be practised over several classes before most children will be able to manage it. This shouldn’t be a problem as the song is quite appealing and may often be requested by the children.

• The song can be introduced by drawing a picture of a camel on the board with five humps – you can write the numbers on each hump checking counting from one to five with the children.

• Tell the children that this camel’s name is Alice; or get the children to choose another name, although this may mean that the rhyme between Alice and Camel is lost.

• Get the children to stand in a circle holding up five fingers

• Demonstrate the first verse showing them where to bob

• Encourage the children to join in on the second verse, checking that they are now holding four fingers up.



• Once the song is well established, you may wish to add another humorous element by finishing the song with:

Alice the camel’s got, no humps (etc.) So Alice is a horse!

This will have to be explained and not all children will immediately see the joke.

• If the song is popular it may be further extended by counting down from ten to one.

• Here’s a picture dictation activity which could be used after the song has been introduced;

Give the children a photocopied picture of Alice with her five humps and get the children to draw different characters sitting on each hump: e.g. “Draw a monkey on Hump no.1.” “Draw a spider on hump number 2” etc..

2. The Old Grey Cat

Sol Do Sol Do Re Mi Do Re Si Mi Do The old grey cat is sleep-ing, sleep-ing, sleep-ing Sol Do Sol Do Re Mi Do Mi Si Do The old grey cat is sleep-ing in the house. The little mouse is creeping, creeping, creeping The little mouse is creeping through the house. The little mouse is eating, eating, eating The little mouse is eating in the house. The little mouse is sleeping, sleeping, sleeping The little mouse is sleeping in the house. The old grey cat is creeping, creeping, creeping The old grey cat is creeping through the house. The little mouse is running, running, running The little mouse is running through the house.

(One particularly bloodthirsty five year old boy once suggested that the song should be finished with a verse: The old grey cat is eating – etc.) Teaching Notes This song will also combine well with a topic on animals but could also be used to practice the words for basic actions; eating, sleeping, running etc.

• This song can be introduced with the children sitting on the carpet in front of you. Or if you don’t have a carpet then the children could be seated at desks. Once established it can be performed with the children moving around the class and miming the actions – creeping, running, etc. if space permits.



• The song can either be introduced with toy animals, flash cards or blackboard drawings. The children may already know the words for cat and mouse.

• Each verse is accompanied by actions: Sleeping – rest your face upon joined hands

Creeping – make a tip-toe action with your hands Eating – rub tummies and mime putting something into your mouth

Running – mime running with arms. These actions alone should make the meaning of the song clear for the children.

• The dramatic element of the story can be further enhanced by singing the sleeping and creeping verses quietly. In the creeping verses you can also separate each syllable and sing more slowly to emphasise creeping. The eating verses should sound joyous. And the running should obviously be sung quickly.

• To give further practice with the action words in this song you could play Freeze. This is played by getting the children to do an action together e.g. running, creeping. When you say “FREEZE!” the children have to become statues. If they move they are out and have to go and sit down. This could also be done using music and stopping when you want the children to freeze.

3. Witches of Halloween

Mi La - La Si Do Si La Mi La We’re Witches of Hal- lo- ween ooh! ooh! Mi La Si Do Si La Mi La Our faces are ugly and green ooh! ooh! La Mi Mi Do Re Re Si Do Do La Si We fly through the sky on our broomsticks so high Mi La - La Si Do Si La Mi La We’re Witches of Hal- lo- ween oooooooh! ooh!

Teaching Notes This song could form part of a lesson on Halloween and so would be taught at the end of October.

• The children may already know something about the festival; if not, this should be explained to them in their mother tongue. It may also be introduced with a story about a witch: for example “Room on the Broom” –Donaldson/Scheffler (ISBN 1405035412) or Meg and Mog –Nicoll/Pienkowski (ISBN 0140501177). It may also be necessary to explain some of the vocabulary in mother tongue (ugly, fly, sky), although this could also be done with mimes and pictures.

• To add an element of humour and emphasise the “scariness” of the song, the children could accompany “ooh! ooh!” with an action; raise the arms with fingers pointing down menacingly. You may also vary the length of the penultimate ooh! (See above).




• The song may be further extended by singing at different volumes. Start at a whisper and gradually get louder.

• As a follow up activity you could do a simple colour dictation using pictures of witches and getting the children to colour their faces different colours other than green.

SUGGESTED READING This Little Puffin (Matterson, E. - Puffin Books 1991) The Singing Game (Opie & Opie - OUP 1988) Very Young Learners (Reilly, V./Ward, S. – OUP 1997) Bobby Shaftoe Clap Your Hands (Nicholls, S. - A&C Black 1992) Children’s Songbook (Amery, H. – Usborne 2000) Tinderbox (Barrat, S./Hodge, S. – A&C Black 1982) Useful web-sites with songs for children: http://www.eslkidstuff.com http://www.songsforteaching.com/index.htm Brendan Dunne [email protected]

http://www.eslkidstuff.com/

http://www.songsforteaching.com/index.htm

singing with 4 to 5 years old. brendan dunne

Education