1. INTRODUCTION
English is an important language for the purposes of giving or receiving information and for the development of education, technology, and arts. Nowadays, learning English for young learners becomes a new trend in Indonesia. Many kindergartens and playgroups have started to give English lessons to young learners. It is because in new curriculum, English have to be introduced to young learners (Artini, 2010). In teaching young learners is not like teaching adults, children have their own way of learning. Since children like to play and have fun, the learning and teaching process should be suited with the nature of the children themselves (Yuliana, 2003). One of the forms of fun activities for children is through music, and songs are the common form of music that children know. Through this paper, the writer wants to show that through songs, children could enhance their language skills, such as speaking, listening and writing.
The definition of Young Learners is the children between the ages of about 5 years old to 12 years old (Rixon, 1999 ). Moreover, the definition of young learners is mainly based on the years spent in the primary or elementary stages of formal education before the transition to secondary school (Yuliana, 2003). Some psycholinguists say that one of the factors to be successful in language learning is young age. There are some explanations for better learning at young age. First, the brain is more adaptable before puberty than after, and that acquisition of languages is possible without self-consciousness at an early age and also because young children have more opportunities than adults. The children are learning all the time without having the worries and responsibility of adults (Brumfit, 1994).
“Children learn by playing” is a key sentence that has guided early childhood educators for decades. The nature of children is that they like to play and have fun than studying. Isenberg (in Yuliana, 2003) also stated that playing is a need of every child and it is an important childhood activity that helps children to master all developmental needs. Playing is the work of childhood and it is important for a child’s learning and development. One of the forms of play that children are familiar with is song. Thus, through this paper, the writer wants to explain how teachers can use songs to enhance skills to young learners, such as listening, speaking and writing skills.
2. THE IMPORTANCE OF SONGS IN TEACHING ENGLISH FOR YOUNG LEARNER
Song being a source of motivation, interest and enjoyment, it is much easier for children to imitate and remember language than words which are just ‘spoken’. Again, a song or a chant can be used very effectively to teach children the sounds and rhythm of the language and to reinforce structures and vocabulary. Moreover songs contain words and expressions of high frequency and offer repetition. (Cakir,1999)
The action rhymes of songs captivate young learners and help teacher to convert children’s natural energy and enthusiasm into meaningful learning experiences. Action rhymes also help the young learners to associate words and phrases with meanings. Although these young learners can initially find it very difficult to remember how to say complete phrases in a foreign language, they remember whole rhymes with ease. For example the rhythm and physical action involved in action rhymes like ‘Head, shoulders, knees and toes’ provide fun drills of vocabulary for parts of the body. This kind of rhymes also involves lots of repetition which is very effective in children’s language class as children love to repeat and mimic words and sounds. Thus, through this kind of activity they naturally pick up the language with its accurate sound, words and sentences (Ara, 2009).
3. THE ACTIVITIES OF TEACHING ENGLISH FOR YOUNG LEARNERS THROUGH SONGS
Griffee (in Yuliana, 2003) states that in teaching English for young learners, there are three skills of language that can be learnt through songs. They are listening, speaking, and writing skills. Thus, there are many kinds of activity that can be conducted to develop children skill in listening, speaking, and writing through songs. The following explanation will display about the activities that can be conducted in teaching English for young learners through songs.
Ø Listening Activities of Teaching English for Young Learners through Songs
When the songs are introduced, the first skill that the children learn is listening. This section will focus on activities which will practice the skills of listening. The activities include detailed listening comprehension, listening for summarizing or writing, listening to isolated vocabulary and listening for word order.
The first activity that can be done is listening to isolated vocabularies; the teachers give the children two lists of words. The first list is indicated by using numbers and the other one by using the alphabet. The teachers play the song and ask the children to draw a line from a word on the first list to a word on the second list. The two words or phrases should follow each other on the same line in the song.
This is the example from the song entitled “Twinkle-twinkle Little Star”:
1. Silent a. Star 2. Little b. Pig
3. Ten c. Monkeys
The second activity is listening to word order, the song that can be used is Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star. The teachers prepare a hand-out where all the words are from the songs, the handout is as the example below.Twinkle diamond wonder little star,
How I what How are.
twinkle above the so twinkle high,
Like a what in Up are the you sky.
Twinkle little star I wonder world you
How I what How are.
twinkle above the so twinkle high,
Like a what in Up are the you sky.
Twinkle little star I wonder world you
The teacher then plays the song, as the children listen, they are asked to circle any words that they do not understand, and they also write the well-ordered lyrics of the song. Those are some of the example of using songs to teach the children listening skills. Through the songs the children can enhance their listening skills.
Ø Speaking Activity of Teaching English for Young Learners through Songs
The second skill that the children can learn through songs is speaking skills. After the children listen to the song, they would attempt to sing it. Moreover, since the words in the refrain are repeated several times, they are easily memorized. Rixon (1999) says that one of the most popular formats for songs is that the refrain (a rhythmic section) is repeated many times, and has often been observed to result in spontaneous ‘joining in’ by the young audience. Moreover, Griffee in Yuliana (2003) also states that the children practice saying the words in the same way they sing the songs, the children can repeat the words in rhythmic word groups. Thus, the exposure and the repeated words from the songs make it easier for the children to remember the words as a result the children can produce or utter the words.
Griffee Yuliana (2003) gives an activity that can be used to enhance the children speaking skills. The activity is called rhyme after rhyme. This activity practices rhyme and gives the children a chance to make up rhymes of their own. These are the steps of doing this activity:
(1) The teacher helps the children by writing down several vocabulary items to match with the rhyme. For example
 |
read crack singing
falling down sitting run
(2) The teacher gives the children every other line and ask them to fill in the missing line.
original lyric : Are you sleeping?
make up lyric : Am I ?
(3) Then the teacher asks the children to read their new lyrics.
(4) Finally, the children listen to the original lyrics to compare, for example:
original song : Are you sleeping?
make up lyric : Am I sitting?
Ø Writing Activity of Teaching English for Young Learners through Songs
After the children learn to listen and speak the words, it is now the time for the children to learn to write. Apart from writing down the lyrics there are many ways to exploit songs for writing practice.
There are several activities that suggest various way of getting the children to write, inspired by songs and music. One of the activities that can be used to enhance the children writing skills is dictation. Dictation is a good way to introduce a song, especially for singing. After listening to the song many times, children will have not only the words but also the melody. The children are given short and slow songs, and then the teachers ask the children to write down the lyrics. The teachers play the tape until most of the children can complete the lyrics of the songs. When using dictation, any data that are given to the children helps them and makes their job easier – the trick is to give enough information while still challenging them. These are the steps of giving dictation for writing activity through songs given by Ken Wilson (in Yuliana, 2003).
a. Step 1
The teachers give the children very little help, only the title of the song. For example : “The More We Get Together” song. Then play the song for the first time.
b. Step 2
The teachers write a blank outline of the song on the board. Then, play the song for the second time. This blank outline tells the students the number of words pre line. Draw a line for every word. For example, the song “The More We Get Together”” would look like this:
1)___ ___ ___ ___ ___
2)___ ___
3)___ ___ ___ ___ ___
4)___ ___ ___ ___
5)___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
6)___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
7)___ ___ ___ ___ ___
8)___ ___ ___ ___
c. Step 3
This is the same as number 2, but includes some of the words. The song is played for the third time.
Example:
1)The ___ we ___ ___
2)___ together
3)___ ___ ___ get ___
4)___ happier ___ ___
5)Cause ___ ___ are ___ ___
6)___ my ___ ___ ___ friends
7)___ more ___ ___ ___
8)___ ___ will ___
4. CONCLUSION
Through fun activities children can learn a language better as learning becomes natural for them since these activities do not make them conscious that they are learning a language. One form of fun activities that the children know and familiar is music, and the simple form of music is song. By using songs in language teaching, the children can enhance their language skills such as listening, speaking and writing. These three skills are put in order, since the first skills that the children learn is listening the songs, and after that the children learn to speak or sing the song, the last thing, the children learn to write the lyrics of the songs. The activity is not only lead to the fun activity of the children but also the skills’ development of the students.
REFERENCES
Ara, Shaheen. 2009. Use of Songs, Rhymes and Games in Teaching English to Young Learners in Bangladesh. The Dhaka University Journal of Linguistics, Vol. 2 No.3 February, 2009. Retrieved on November 26, 2010, from www.banglajol.info/index.php/DUJL/article/download/4150/3439
Artini, L.P. 2010. Pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris di Sekolah Dasar melalui Cerita. Presented in the Workshop of Teaching English for Young Learner Through Stories in Undiksha, Singaraja.
Brumfit,C., J. Moon, and R. Tongue (1994). Teaching English to children. London:Longman.
Cakir, A. 1999. Musical activities for young learners of EFL. The Internet TESL Journal, 5. Retrieved on November 26, 2010, from http://www.iteslj.org/Lessons/Cakir-MusicalActivities.html
Yuliana. 2003. Teaching English to Young Learners through Songs. The Internet TEYL Journal, Volume 5, Number 1, June 2003: 62– 66. Retrieved on November, 26, 2010, from http://puslit2.petra.ac.id/ejournal/index.php/ing/article/viewPDFInterstitial/15498/15
Rixon, Shelagh.(1999). Young learners of English: some research perspectives. Longman: London.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar