Simple songs and first step language skills

How many familiar refrains can you hum? (frère Jacques,London’s Burning, Nice One Cyril, Here we go gathering nuts in May)

How many familiar refrains can the children hum and rememberfrom songs in KS1 and links to traditional songs?

Let’s build on these simple refrains  to support initial languageacquisition of transactional language ( e.g questions and answers in the first and second person singular , numbers and a key question ,colours and a key question etc.

Why? Well a traditional refrain means we don't have to worry about the tune - just the words and we can use the familiar refrains to focus on syllables  , repetition and  putting song (the words ) into memory and then recalling the words when we need them in a different context.I think                                             lots of us already realise this and use these methods!

Here's one way of developing this approach:

• Introduce key simple phrases and add actions in the targetlanguage that generate a dialogue e.g greetings, feelings, a farewell
• The actions can reinforce the number of syllables in theword (e.g. hallo in German is two syllables- so we would shake a handtwice)   or the type of sound we have toproduce (we need to roll our “r” in French words such as “merci” so let’s useor hand to roll up from the bottom of the throat to remind us to try and rollthat “r”) or maybe it’s a question – so let’s use our famous question mark(thanks Amanda Ziebeck one of wonderful former associate language teachers) witha flick at the end when we need our intonation to go up at the end .
• Try this and see how it works. Draw a question mark in theair as you say “Comment ça va?” and add a flick upwards  on the last word….your intonation willautomatically rise!
• Discuss with the children why you have added the actions youhave – can they think of their own too to help them remember the words oraccurately reproduce the sounds?

• Create a song to a familiar refrain of the phrases you havebeen practising with the children. Ask the children to listen to your song andjust do the actions as they hear the words.
• Set the children the task now of putting these phrases tonew music- to a new familiar refrain and listen and watch what they come up with.
• Alternatively before you sing or play your own song, ask thechildren to invent their songs and then see how many of their songs are very similar to yourown.

Simple effective fun! and works every time!  A re-usable teaching and learningtool that involves listening , repetition, responding to spoken language,rhythm and use of sound patterns and a little bit of  creativity!