ELEMENTS AND BENEFITS OF CHILDREN SONGS AND NURSERY RHYMES IN ESL

CLASSROOM
February 3, 2014
Written by: Nur Azinda Azman, PISMP TESL 2

Taking into considerations that the globe has been taking over with technologies and
economics fastest development, the pace of humans basic life has changed dramatically in
sustaining their needs with their approachable goals. Due to higher demands and higher
expectations in humans capitalism, education system has become a major worldwide issue to
be discussed for its pertinent role in making the society to fully alter the civilization and
embrace the long life learning for their own benefits as well as their countries progression.
As for the development country like Malaysia, education transformation has been seen as an
open-changed alternative for the benefits of its citizen and also for foreign investment on the
sector. Crucial attention is being focussed upon such sector in order to ensure the educations
institutions are able to produce a wholesome of excellent quality of students and not by the
quantity. Thus, progressive actions have been injected into the educations system for the
betterment of the countrys future. Such action is the role of a teacher in developing fun and
interactive learning in the classroom. With the help of new KSSR in introducing new syllabus
of Language Arts, the primary schools students are able to develop their aesthetics skills to a
higher level.
The content standard of Language Arts is focussing on building the students
innovation and creativity to be inculcated in English Languages subject. By using countless
selections of songs, poems and nursery rhymes, the students are able to manipulate the
materials given to have an interactive learning. Thus, it is well understood why it is both
beneficial and entertaining for both educators and the students. One of the major elements
that can be traced down by using songs and nursery rhymes are the moral values that inserted
in it. Taken for example the nursery rhyme of hush little baby, the value of a mothers love
towards her children is well-received by the children all around the globe. With a simple
message of love, the students will be able to learn to appreciate their respective mothers and
family members as a part of characters building. Moreover, the children will enjoy singing
all over and over again, providing the educators with valuable opportunities to discuss about
the pronunciation and utterances. Through the value of repetition they become so familiar
that their mere mention serves as a gentle reminder of any tiny error in judgment.

ELEMENTS AND BENEFITS OF CHILDREN SONGS AND NURSERY RHYMES IN ESL
CLASSROOM
February 3, 2014
Written by: Nur Azinda Azman, PISMP TESL 2

Children songs are an ideal way of conveying truths and teaching character and values
to children, and these songs with morals ethics will enable your children to see and contrast
the good with the bad, and learn to choose the good. Theyll be delighted to learn and put into
practice the lessons learned. Aside than the values and mannerism, children songs acts as
intermediate bridge in teaching adjectives, calculations and nouns to the students. In the song
entitled Number Songs produced by the ABC Kid TV, the children songs is teaching the
children of counting numbers in ascending order and even how to spell those numbers.
Although it is an English Languages subject, it has happened to be that the basic calculation
in Mathematics is widely used in the song. As for other childrens song, it deals exquisitely
with proper nouns and simple adjectives to enhance the students vocabulary and fluency in
in the language matter. Plus, the elements in both children songs and nursery rhymes are
capable to teach both normal students and special students. The auditory discrimination has
given a chance for both groups to enjoy and learn the structure of a song or poem by dancing
and demonstrating some gestures. The presentation of the activities too, are not rigid and
conservatives by merely write and recite for instance, the students will work collaboratively
to use pre-existing nursery rhymes to create addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
word problems. The students will present these nursery rhyme word problems in a
PhotoStory digital presentation. Students must be able to create and solve a word problem
using the accurate operation.
Language developments have its engrossed in teaching the students the correct
structure of a language via songs. Phonics, grammars and punctuation are the major dishes
served in the content songs and rhymes. This is vital and essential for beginner learners to
have a strong and solid foundation in the early years so that they can advances themselves
when they are alone. Over the past two decades, but particularly in the last 10 years, there has
been a burgeoning consensus about the critical importance of phonemic awareness to
beginning reading success and about its role in specific reading disability. Stimulating the
phonemes before reading is crucial because it is the pillar of everything. Hence, educators are
encouraged to come out with materials like this in the future because it generates the

ELEMENTS AND BENEFITS OF CHILDREN SONGS AND NURSERY RHYMES IN ESL
CLASSROOM
February 3, 2014
Written by: Nur Azinda Azman, PISMP TESL 2

students confidence in mastering the target language. With the internets zooming out vastly,
educators can easily access to any website like songsforteaching.com to look out for proper
material to improvise the learning and teaching session.
Thousands of benefits can be found from the permanent usage of nursery rhymes and
children songs. Firstly, they are good for the brain. Not only does the repetition of rhymes
and stories teach children how language works, it also builds memory capabilities that can be
applied to all sorts of activities. Furthermore, as Vandergrift points out, nursery rhyme books
are often a child's first experience with literacy: "Even before they can read, children can sit
and learn how a book works." This extends to the pictures and music associated with nursery
rhymes: it is a full visual and oral experience. On the other hand, both nursery rhymes and
children songs preserve a culture that spans generations, providing something in common
among parents, grandparents and kidsand also between people who do not know each
other. Seth Lerer, Humanities Professor at the University of California San Diego and expert
in the history of children's literature, says that reading nursery rhymes to kids is, in part, "to
participate in a long tradition ... it's a shared ritual, there's almost a religious quality to it."
They are a great group activity. Susie Tallman, who has put out several award-
winning nursery rhymes CDs, and is also a nursery school music teacher, describes how
singing children songs allows all kidseven shy onesto feel confident about singing,
dancing and performing because they are so easy to grasp and fun: "It builds confidence right
in front of my eyes," she says. "They really see the connection between movement, rhythm
and words." She has also had kids of different ages collaborate on making music videos for
their favourite nursery rhymes.
Educationist always seems to think about this quote; how are these poemsinhabited
by kings, queens and peasants of a rural past predating electricity, television and computers
still relevant to twenty-first-century kids and parents? If we are so far removed from the
world that hatched these rhymes, why should we still read them? Nobody knows the exact
answer for it if we never treasure the rhythms of real music like the children do.