TEACHING ENGLISH
USING SONG
By: Peter Chan
Boring,
unmotivated, frustrated and even sleepy are the most common problems that
happen when we teach our students. Yet, at the same time we need them to get
interested in English learning. So, rather than being frustrated with our
boring teaching method, today I’m going to share you one of the most powerful
tool to kill those evils that prevent us to motivate our students in learning English.
Now please figure it out what is that powerful tool. Please listen
carefully. [Alphabet rap song]....
Are you having
fun? Yeah, thanks for that. So, it was a rap song of one YouTube channels
called Fluency MC, by using that rap song we can teach English alphabet and
also some vocabulary in a fun way.
Alright, now I’m getting serious. Listen
carefully; there are three main benefits of using song for English teaching.
1. Improving
Listening skill
Purcell (1992) states
that students can become bored by repeatedly listening to a
Narration or dialog as
they attempt to understand the meaning of new words or phrases in
Context. In contrast,
listening to a song over and over again can seem less monotonous
Because of the rhythm
and melody. We often feel bored when listen to monotonous listening but we can
solve this by using song.
2. Improving
pronunciation
Moriya (1988)
emphasizes the value of using songs for pronunciation practice with Asian
Learners of English due
to the phonemic differences between Asian languages and English.
For
example, there are several problematic areas for Japanese students learning
English. It’s absolutely true that between English and bahasa has different
sound. But we still can pronounce English word as similar as possible toward English
sounds, but what about Japanese or Javanese medok. I have a lecture and his
accent is very good and it would be better if he did not say anything. Lol....
he said, today I want to talk abot...bla, bla, bla....but, by using song we can
improve our pronunciation becomes similar to American or British or Australian
accent.
3. Improving
vocabulary
Songs can provide the opportunity for
vocabulary practice. Moreover, we can teach vocabulary in a fun way but not
only that ladies and gentleman, song is extremely good for long term memory. It
means, once the students have mastered the song they will remember it for a
long time. For example this song:
Head,
Shoulders, Knees and Toes 2 X. This is so fun for
kids and they will learn faster as well.
In conclusion, Songs can help young
learners to improve their listening skills and
Pronunciation,
therefore potentially helping them to improve their speaking skills (Murphey, 1992).
And the most important one, we teach them in a fun way for a long term memory. So,
if you feel that your teaching method is old-fashioned and so boring why don’t
you try this very powerful method?
Alright,
thank you very much to appreciate; I do hope this method would be great. Wassalamualaikum
and good morning.
Source:
http://camtesol.org/
