[ ] 2012

Justification for the chosen songs and poem

By :

1) Santha Nair d/o Chandran ( 890710-43-5074)2) Nor Emillia bt Redzuan (910312-07-5136 )

Language is always fun to learn but children these days are afraid to enter

language classes especially the English class due to poor command or formality basis.

Teachers should be creative enough to attract young learners to learn language by

providing a non-threatening atmosphere, likewise said by Lo and Fai Li (1998).

Language arts through songs and poetry are a dynamic platform to learn language as it

helps children to express themselves by not only moving their body and clapping hands

but by learning English as an entertainment rather than fleeing away from the class.

Choosing the correct songs and poems can be challenging but when a teacher focuses

on the correct pedagogical principle and purposes, there is no option for diverting form

the path. Different genres and types allow a teacher to be talented to use songs and

poems in English classrooms.

Based on the Malaysian Curriculum Specifications of English for Year 3, one of

the most important aspects that a teacher should consider is integrations. The song

entitled The Family Song (Youtube.com, 2012) allows a teacher to integrate daily life

happenings with the children. The content of the song reveals the world of self, family

and friends which is one of the themes in the curriculum, whereby it allows the young

learners to differentiate members by relating to their own family. Even though being a

blues genre song, the word choices in the lyrics like mother, father, brother, sister,

uncle, aunt, grandma and grandpa repetitively, allows the learner to develop intra-

personal qualities. As they would know the people around them, like in the song which

consists of the family tree, it helps them to realise the relationships among family

members and coherently develops inter personal traits for instance respect to the

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elders. By all means, this song allows the children’s intra and inters personal

development contently.

R&B songs are very catchy as it is the combination of rhythm and blues. Groups

like the High School Musical, S Club 7, Glee and not forgetting the Asia’s Best Musical

Show, The Kitchen Musical, creates and uses R&B songs for their show but teachers

can use the songs to teach high level proficiency level students like Year 5 and Year 6.

Reach for the Stars by S Club 7, is one prominent song used in English language

learning classrooms overseas where this particular song gives motivation for one

student to reach their goal and dreams. As this song gives motivation to learn English

with the peers in terms of helping each other, it also prepares them for the real world in

terms of using the language as stated as one of the educational emphasis in the year 5

Malaysian Curriculum Specifications. Beyond that, teachers can seek language learning

potentials as the standard of words used is high (Lyrics, appendix) and it equips the

student of frequent usage of English in secondary school. Famous R&B songs can be

used for high proficiency level students to encourage language learning potentials.

Moving on for our next selection of songs for young learners for use in the

primary English as Second Language (ESL) classroom is from the lullabies genre. This

is because in this song that we chose which entitle Teddy Bear from Star Media

Distribution Sdn. Bhd (In the English Kid Songs CD) will help us a long during teaching

and learning process. We can teach them as the lullabies are one of the way to teach

children about the culture an ethics before sleeping which some of them are not being

taught by their parents as we know parents nowadays are busy with their careers. The

main purpose of using this song in the primary school are we can integrated the moral

values in our lesson. From Teddy Bear song (English Kid Songs CD, Number 6) we can

teach them the values before they are sleeping, that they have to say prayers, wish

goodnight and switch off the lights. Songs can truly cultivate the purpose of teaching

moral values.

The other song that we chose for our students in the primary ESL classroom is

Do-Re-Mi (Sound of Music, Youtube.com, 2012). This is the song where most of the

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people of various ages are familiar with it because of its pedagogical principle of

teaching this song to the children which is the resources of this song is a lot. Although it

may be different in the lyrics or rhythm but the basic is there. We also can use this song

to develop the children’s linguistic where the lyrics in Do-Re-Mi (lyrics , appendix) is

mostly an unfamiliar words such as doe, ray and sew. Moreover, from this song, we can

teach the pronunciation as students always having difficulties in pronouncing word

which is unfamiliar but this song really can help them. As example, they do not know

how to pronounce the word sew but if they pronounce the music notes, they know the

pronunciation of ‘sew’ and ‘so’ is the same that is /səʊ/.

As teachers , we cannot rigid ourselves with one kind of materials only while

teaching a language like only use songs during class, but we have different options

when it comes to language arts integration in classrooms and undoubtedly using poems

from different genres and types definitely can be done.

Limerick is one of the most popular poems among children. The fun of the

limerick lies in its rhythm and its broad humour which are the main reasons we decided

to use in the primary ESL classroom with the student. we hope that this type of poem is

suitable for Malaysian primary school students and it will attract children’s interest in

learning English and can build a reading culture among them. The limerick entitle Parrot

named Jack can really help children in language learning potential whereby, we as an

ESL teacher have to teach them all the word that they do not understand, then they will

understand the fun which is inserted in the poem itself. This will help them to add their

vocabulary and knowledge.

From narrative poetry, we have discovered a poem which it really attract students

by the arrangement of words. The aesthetic values which is integrated in the poem that

is from the word by word we can imagined the beauty of a butterfly in a poem title

Lovely Butterfly (Early Leaners Poems for Children, Book 1, 2005). This poem allows us

to make sure the aesthetic development of an art is nurtured in students’ mind. Of

course, the students by aged 7 to 10 would be touched by this poem which is the

butterfly is actually a something near to their interest. So they would give more attention

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to the lesson and with the help of the teacher, they maybe want to memorize it and tell

others about the butterfly by using the Lovely Butterfly poem.

Coherently, poem selections are easy for a teacher, but a haiku truly helps a

teacher to use it in the English language classroom. For instance, a haiku by Paul

Brown (Poem, appendix) about cherry, apple and rose is a simple poem which reveals

the characteristics of a haiku itself, where it is short and develops language arts skill. In

our new Malaysian Curriculum, KSSR, language art is very vital not only in the sense of

choosing materials to teach but in the purpose of developing aesthetic values among

children. Haiku is not only appropriate for young kids and suitable for their age due to its

length, but haiku encourages the value of appreciating art by itself. Since it is a very

famous Japanese poem, favouritism, beauty, realism, expressiveness, style and form

and even the anatomy of the poem itself spell bounds a child to value and appreciate it.

The lines like “blossoms in countless colours” describe the aesthetic element of

appreciating the cherry, apple and rose.

(fourth poem)

Young learners are like a cube of sponge, where they absorb everything when a

teacher teachers them. In coherent with that songs and poetry can be very essential in

teaching and learning a language as children loves to move around, clap their hands

and even induce themselves in the world of imaginations. Therefore, teachers should

use language art in their lessons to make it interesting and help plus encourage young

learners to use the English language as fully as possible so that they would be proficient

in the language not only when they are young but for the future benefits also.

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