LGA3102 Songs and Poetry for Young Learners

PEDAGOGICAL PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING SONGS AND POETRY TO YOUNG LEARNERS

SONGS
A short poem or other set of words set to music or meant to be sung. Music is highly memorable and motivating. Songs, rhymes and chants are ideal tools to be used in the language classroom. It can develop all skills in an integrated way and encourage physical involvement.

POETRY
writing which gives children the opportunity to explore the power of words and to play with the rhythms and patterns of language. Children need a stimulus, model or framework to support their writing. It often works well to create a poem collaboratively with the whole class first before children work on their own poems individually, or in pairs or groups.

Pedagogical principles of teaching songs and poetry to young learners

culture content interest values age resources proficiency level

CULTURE
Learning this authentic material pupils get to know parts of a foreign culture. It satisfies childrens natural curiosity about everything new. Create a suitable context for learning this needs to be natural, real and make sense to the child. It also needs to allow for the active discovery and construction of meaning, and lead to the use of language as a vehicle to do things which are relevant and purposeful.

 Being familiar with songs and rhymes in a foreign language pupils feel closer to the foreign culture and its language. If the pupils hear the same melodies or similar rhymes they are astonished at the parallels between their own culture and the foreign one. So the foreign cultures arent alarming and

CONTENT
We need to think about the status of the vocabulary in our lessons. We need to make sure that the meaning is clear. We need to encourage children to notice the form. We need to provide a variety of opportunities for recognising, practising and using the songs and poems.

INTEREST
We need to create opportunities for children to extend and develop their skills according to their personal interests and abilities. The songs and poems need to have the motivation, develop imagination, stimulate curiosity, draw on personal experience, encourage participation and create a desire to continue learning

VALUES
Relate learning to personal experiences whenever possible, provide opportunities for children to make connections between their understanding of lesson themes and their own personal experiences. This consolidates understanding and promotes ownership of learning.

 Model behaviour that you would also like the children to adopt. For example, be polite and well-mannered, use please and thank you when you ask them to do things, smile and greet them whether in or out of the classroom.

AGE
Teachers are offered a great variety of stories, which are appropriate for the age group they teach and the level of the language their children have a grasp of. Too complicated and difficult stories may have discouraging affects on children. Children can understand literature in simple words and teacher should use materials that are easy to explain about. The songs and poetry needs to be related to their lives and fantasy as children in their ages have their own imagination.

RESOURCES
When selecting songs and poems: Include different poets, genres, topics, and themes. Cover multiple time periods (historical past, present, future). Include literature with a collection of unforgettable characters. Teacher can select their own collection of literature materials. The materials also can be found in the text book or you can make different by choosing the materials from other colleague.

PROFICIENCY LEVEL
Use speech appropriate to childrens proficiency level take a leaf out of the book of parents and careers and adapt the speech you use to make it comprehensible, especially to very young children. This may mean, for example, simplifying the sentence you use, using repetition and speaking at a slower pace.

REFERENCE
Peter Edelenbos. (2006). The Main Pedagogical Principles Underlying The Teaching Of Languages To Very Young Learners. Retrieved at http://ec.europa.eu/languages/documents/do c427_en.pdf

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