Songs in Action

Published in English Teaching Professional

Charles Goodger shows how songs can be used to present new language.

As long ago as 1968, the language expert and author Julian Dakin wrote: "If songs and rhymes are well taught, they are seldom forgotten. They are particularly useful for practising the sound systems of the language and learning vocabulary. Learners can gain fluency and control over new material which can then be drawn into everyday usage."

I would go even further. The use of music and mime, rhythm and rhyme in the context  of action songs can be one of the fastest and most effective ways of presenting and teaching new language. What makes language-learning action songs such powerful tools? Here are some of their characteristics:

Motivating

Action songs are fun so learners immediately have a motive for taking part whole-heartedly in the activity. Once everyone in the class can sing and mime the song, you can use its language and themes as the starting point of a new module.

Multi-intelligent

Learning through action songs brings several intelligences "on-line" at the same time: musical, linguistic, spatial and visual. This reinforces and accelerates the learning process.

Emotional

Good songs are underpinned by the expressive power of music and verse and produce an emotional charge. This again facilitates learning and guarantees attention.

Mnemonic

Learning new vocabulary in an action song sets up a rich gamut of hooks in the learner’s memory. Since the sound - and meaning - of the words and phrases in the action song is wedded to the melody and rhythm in a dynamic activity, learners experience PMA (Permanent Memory Acquisition).

Phonological

You can’t sing a song unless you pronounce its lyrics properly. With its schwas and accented phonemes, English has a sound system that lends itself particularly well to rhymes, chants and songs. As the sounds that make up an utterance can be compared to the single notes of a melody, singing in English helps students acquire correct pronunciation.

Psychological

The gratifying act of singing and performing a collective action song in English gives children a strong sense of achievement and confidence. It can also help them to associate learning English with having fun and thus boost motivation.

Presentative

Action songs can be used to present new language. Once the children know the song, its language should be recycled in other communicative contexts.

The extent to which learners start to use words and phrases learnt from action songs will determine how effective, from a didactic viewpoint, the music-based activity has actually been.

Which songs?

Here are some points to consider when choosing, writing - and teaching - through language-learning action songs.

Strong tunes and rhythms

Songs and music are nothing special for young learners - thanks to TV, they are bombarded with recorded music from birth! So in order to work, language-learning action songs must stand up as valid and attractive musical creations in themselves, catchy songs that the children want to learn. Banal, recycled tunes and routines may risk alienating some learners.

Language and song theme

The presentative lyrics of the action song should not contain an excessive amount of difficult words and phrases. For example, choreographing and teaching "Jingle Bells" is an utter waste of time as it contains many words you probably won’t be using in your syllabus.

You want to pick songs about aspects of life that are important to and interesting for your students. Obvious themes that come to mind are colours, numbers, the seasons, nature, school, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, food, monsters, animals, family and parts of the body.

Mime and meaning chunks

Action songs should be taught through their meaning gestures, never from a print-out of the lyrics. Your class should not see the lyrics in written form until they know the song by heart. Depending on the competence of your class, limit the use of L1 if possible. The meaning gestures should be simple and direct (such as pointing both fingers upwards in time with the music to indicate "the sky is blue" ). Their value lies in the association each child’s mind makes between the sound of the chunk and its meaning. Action songs should be taught in a sequence of meaning chunks - on a two-steps forward one-step back basis.

Activities and exercises

Rather than simplistic gap-fills, why not do activities that encourage the students to use the song’s content in different ways? One activity that always works is eliciting. Here you invite the children to form pairs. Student A performs a gesture from the action song and Student B must say which meaning chunk of the song it refers to. Reading and writing activities should be based on illustrations, multiple choice answers, crosswords, and for smaller children, drawing, colouring and labelling.

Performances and theatre

One of the great things about action songs is that they will be remembered and can be sung time and time again. Most children love performing - using action songs in a show for parents or other classes in the same school is always worthwhile. Knowing the song is going to be performed will give the child a greater sense of purpose and make teaching - and learning - easier.