Teaching English through songs

By: Eviyana Rismawati

       First of all, in this article I would like to share my experience in learning English through song. I started to learn English from the 3rd grade in elementary school. At that time there was no English subject in the curriculum so I was taking an English course at school. I was excited to be in thursday because once a week I met Mrs. Lis, an English tutor. She taught me the basic of vocabularies such as greeting and grammar rules. Her personality who was always smiling to everyone made me enjoy the material. I really loved the method taught. I was like a student in the kindergarten. Playing, singing and clapping. When I got new song from Mrs. Lis, I always sang it at home. Now, as a student of English education I can say that the method and strategies used by Mr. Lis are appropriate for children. The song which Mrs. Lis taught even still in my mind until now. I believe that song is effective for teaching children the second language. In ESL classroom, the teacher can turn on the music, sit down in front of students and sing the song while doing hand motions. Maybe about ten seconds later, the kids will follow the movements and  join in singing. The third time teacher play the song, they will be standing up and dancing and grooving to the song. They will chant it like experts and have a great time. However, almost the list of musics in my phone is English now. I just think that English words have deep meaning and beautiful.

        Teaching English to young students can't be seen merely as language teaching. This is challenging. The process needs to consider the social and cognitive development of students.  To do this, it is necessary  to create an atmosphere that is natural for children.  One of the best ways to make  the natural environment and free from anxiety is through interesting activities.  The song of course belongs to a group of fun activities that serve as useful tools for learning languages ​​and which are not stressful in students to produce language immediately but start only when they are in mood to do it.

       Music and songs are important parts of growing and learning. Children love to sing and teachers naturally use songs to teach them concepts of language in a fun way.  Some important characteristics of a song are that it is fun and can be saved  the students who are excited. However, the most important song feature is repetition.  It doesn't only contain language  pattern, but also develops listening, pronunciation and rhythm skills, and provides a pleasant atmosphere.  Even  if the teacher plays the song several times a day, most students may not be bored.

    Children in general like song, and if the song is used to learn languages, then the children are enthusiastic accept them. One key factor is that children are not aware of the fact that they learn through songs, and because of that they see it as a fun and enjoyable part of English lessons. Apart from this, the song not only functions as good source for pronunciation, intonation, and accent practice, but also as a practice of listening skills and  vocabulary development.

       Understanding the song is accompanied by activities while listening. At this stage, students  necessary to actively participate when they listen to songs.  However, the song must be multiplied times so students can learn the songs and movements that accompany them.

  · Children do nothing but listen to music  and words in the first step.

  · They watch the teacher sing and take action while listening the music for the second time. The children are still not singing, but just doing the action.

  · The third time they listen to a song, the children try to sing along with the recording or the teacher.

  · In the end, when listening to the song the fourth time, the children sing along with the recording or  teacher and take action.  This stage can be repeated several times.

        The last part of the listening process usually leads to communicative activities.  At this stage, it is a good idea to prepare for activities where students compete, play or act.  The teacher needs to prepare appropriate follow-up activities such as giving exercises, leaflets with vocabulary pictures from songs and fill on the blank for students to write corrective words or a series of flash cards with keywords for individual,  work in pair, or in group to listen carefully and arrange the flash cards.

        The important thing about a song in the learning context is the ability to effect and change students' moods. This might have a positive or negative impact on motivation. The feeling that songs raised on students might be transferred to motivation, creates a stronger bond with language and hence the desire to learn.  Students first ask for a new form of language, and then they want to learn it because they need it for activities they enjoy.  So, out of curiosity with their words, they find out the meaning.  After that, they use this new language and connect with other words from the song. In this step learners develop positive attitudes and willingness to learn. Repetition and easy language structure are other reasons why students are motivated by songs rather than other types of text and are stimulated to find out the contents of the song.

   Dzanic, N. D. (2016). The Effect of Using Songs On Young Learners and  Their Motivation for Learning English. An Interdisciplinary Journal, (1), 40-54. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312054146_The_Effect_of_Using_Songs_On_Young_Learners_and_Their_Motivation_for_Learning_English