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

However, teaching English through singing song in generaland choosing songs related to the themes in particular are something verybeneficial and brand new in teaching vocabulary in Vietn

1 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

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

3 Conclusion and suggestion

3.1 Conclusion

3.2 Suggestion

3 3 4 4 4

5 5 5

5 7 9

10 10 17 17 18 18 18 18

21 21 21

1 Introduction

1.1 Rationale for choosing the topic:

In fact, English is not only a quite difficult subject to teach and also quitedifficult 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 foreignlanguage teachers who have difficulties in their teaching path Many studentsare scared and bored to learn Therefore, how to teach and learn to get the mostout of this important subject? That is a very big question posed to both Englishlearners and teachers

Everybody knows that it’s much easier for a child to pick up andremember 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 andwell So all you really need to do when you want to increase a child’svocabularies is to simply create the right environment for learning the language.Young children love anything funny or something else like that so why not takeadvantage of this to teach them vocabulary items?

Singing lovely and funny songs has long been recognized as fun andchild-friendly tools in both First and Second Language Acquisition We are allaware of both benefits and the way of using these songs to teach childrenEnglish vocabulary However, teaching English through singing song in generaland choosing songs related to the themes in particular are something verybeneficial and brand new in teaching vocabulary in Vietnam Being aware of theessential role of choosing suitable songs in teaching children vocabulary is thefirst reason why I do this study

Children love funny songs or singing out aloud very much but it is alsovery difficult for Vietnamese primary teachers to master and apply it into theirteaching English effectively Besides, using suitable songs is also a certain part

of every unit in the English textbook nowadays Therefore, in this study I alsoprovide teachers of English with steps of using suitable songs related to eachlessons and even the way of making up their own songs to teach with the hopethat they can create more effective lessons and help their children remembernew words better through the songs

While teaching English at Primary School, I have paid attention toresearch and explore how to apply new methods to create interest in learning,promote positivity and initiative students There are many ways to achieve thesegoals, but adopting a “Learning songs” is an activity that students are mostexcited about The songs have rich content, using interesting and usefullanguage in accordance with their perception Through the song, students willacquire 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 aregular 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 beused 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 1 students,who are mostly in the first year of learning English and find remembering newwords difficult because their methods of learning vocabulary haven’t beenformed 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 toteach very young children to learn English vocabulary and suggesting the waythe 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 Andsinging 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 theways how the songs should be used to help children in general and grade 1students in particular remember new words

1.4 Methodology of the study:

To attain the mentioned objectives, a number of techniques will be usedduring the process of carrying out the study Theoretical background of the study

is based on watching, reading, analyzing and synthesizing of the materials andrelevant books Investigating the reality and collecting the data of grade 1students’ remembering new words before and after using songs to teachvocabularies are also applied And according to applicative approach, some

funny songs for some units in the textbooks Smart Start 1 are also applied in

teaching practice

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 andlearning English

Singing and making music are among the most enjoyable learningactivities for children Because they have both elements - enjoyment andlearning - I consider them to be essential methods of reinforcing basic skills innumeracy 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 childrenwith learning difficulties

One of the most important abilities music and singing stimulate isauditory discrimination This is important for all children, and vital for childrenwith learning difficulties such as Down syndrome I also think singing andmusic are essential to the development of children's imaginations and theirability to express ideas in words, music, dance and gesture

Taking singing first, there are several ways in which the reinforcement ofacademic 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 enjoyableway than just speech alone can provide Indeed, singing can be so much fun thatthey are probably unaware that they are repeating (and thus learning) the samewords over and over again

Repetition is also important for learning the songs by heart, somethingthat pre-reading children have to do This is why so many nursery rhymes and

children's songs have very simple words which are frequently repeated Becausechildren with learning difficulties struggle with reading for longer than theaverage child, learning songs by heart assumes greater importance in theiracademic spectrum.

Songs can also provide good language models which are easy to follow asthe flow of the words is often enhanced by the flow of the music Singingprovides an added advantage for these children too: it requires greater mouthmovement and better articulation on the part of both the teacher and the pupil Agood illustration of this advantage is the ease with which we can sing in aforeign language without being able to talk in the same language

Songs also provide an enjoyable way to develop memory There arecounting songs, action songs, finger movement songs, songs which get longerwith each verse, alphabet songs and story songs I am sure that most of us canrecall 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 encouragechildren to sequence events, actions, ideas etc, especially in songs that getlonger 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 laythe foundations for future team work, it also encourages children to listen toeach 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 forteachers 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 forkids” on Google or Youtube like this:

[2]

of their friends and follow exactly Many of them are afraid of practising outaloud in front of the class, afraid of saying because they think that it will bewrong They do not even take notes in class, do not do homework.This factshows that these students have not liked the subject yet.

Some students, especially weak students, lack of sense of learning, lack ofpatience in learning, have not kept up with new learning methods,they are stillconfused in acquiring and applying knowledge, practice skills Some only studyout 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 noteven learn and read Vietnamese well , therefore they are not able to learn orspeak English

I have been teaching English in a primary school in the countryside, so thedifficulties above are the facts that I have to face every day However, Mystudents love English, they have only a little of time and opportunity to hearnative 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 aresult, my students often have difficulty in pronouncing an English wordcorrectly and they have great fear of vocabulary checking from the teacher It’sreally a big challenge for me as a teacher to help my students learn new wordsand remember them long after

During my career of teaching English as a second language, some techniqueshave 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 toenergize my students

Another fact is that there are a lot of vocabularies that the teacher can useher/his own sound to help children realize and remember new words in everyunit 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 feelusing songs is difficult and they are not allowed to do so if the time for thelesson is limited Most of the teachers think that music or singing songs is notimportant and they have no reason to study more about these techniques to applythem into their real teaching As a result, using is often ignored or ineffectivelytaught despite its great benefits

Why not using songs to teach vocabulary, especially to improve children’sexcitement about studying English and help them remember new words easilyand 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 singingsongs can be really useful, and the kids enjoy them too

Here is the survey I take place at grade 1 of my primary school before usingsongs in teaching vocabulary:

SURVEY TABLE BEFORE USING SONGS AT CLASS

Content of

survey Class Completed well Completed Not completed

Numbers of students Rate Numbers of Rate Numbers of Rate

1B (32

1C (32 sts)

Based on the survey results I see that most students are not good atlearning English because of the specificity of the subject and because theycannot learn at home, outside of school Moreover , this is a new subject, thefresh students have accessed to and become familiar with a new language Thestudents think that learning English is very difficult so they are not passionateabout learning a new language They don’t find very interesting when studyingthis 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 tothink and find ways to improve the quality of teaching the subject.Understanding students' minds and physiology, I have changed my teaching andtheir learning methods I realize that while singing aloud with learning, givingstudents a gentle and comfortable atmosphere, the students are more enthusitic

to study These language songs are actually language competitions, alwaysasking them to decide: How to act out? Say what next ? How to rememberwithout looking at the screen ? The desire to solve those questions will make thechildren's thinking activities more refined and sensitive because they willmobilize their full energy, trying to apply the knowledge that the teachers expectwithout 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 thestudents are naturally drawn to learning

This method I have used in my teaching process and got very positiveresults So I boldly present my practical experience to colleagues to exchangelearning in order to continuously improve skills, with the ultimate goal ofmaking 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 vocabularysongs 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 havejust learnt Or the teacher may have to create a completely new songs based onsome magic guiding steps as bellows

Because the aim of using songs is helping children remember new words, itshould be taught right after the teacher has just presented vocabulary to checkstudents’ rememberance of new words And this teaching part must take such ashort time as about 3 or 5 minutes, so the teacher must be quick, flexible, cleverand really skillful in using the songs The words of using songs must be well-prepared before the class as well (the teacher may need to draw it down on asubordinate board ) Then, in the following periods, remember to review or letthe children act out the words by playing role together or even singing out aloudwithout music regularly to help children remember better and longer They canmake great warm-ups

At last but not at least, be dramatic and make it fun Use as much songs aspossible to illustrate new words through actions What a good idea to combinemusic 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 manyappropriate ways to teach the vocabulary in the textbook, on the internet or fromother sources which is suited to your objectives in a specific lesson, you canchoose 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 thatsinging songs has many ways to express and each way will have its specialeffects

Teaching vocabulary through songs is a lot easier than you think and beconfident to do 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 yourown 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 canchoose this one:

[4]

Original song : What do you see?

What do you see?

What do you see?

I can see a snake

I can see a snake.

What do you see?

What do you see?

I can see a monkey

I can see a monkey. [4]

Step 2:

- Finding a simple original song : What do you see?

- Topic: animals

- Number of syllables: monkey, zebra , tiger : 2 syllables

: see , snake : 1 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 do you like?

What do you like?

What do you like?

I like a cat.

I like a cat.

What do you like?

What do you like?

I like a dog.

I like a dog.

What do you like?

What do you like?

I like a bird.

I like a bird.

Here are some more examples:

Example 1 : (We can make the song like above to teach unit 3: Colors ; Lesson

1( part A, B, C ) in Smart Start 1 [4]

Step 1: Choose the key : “ color songs”

[3]

You can find many color songs available, and I choose this one:

[6]