unit 14 teaching through songs and chants-may-2009-b

1 Teaching through Songs and Chants

TEACHING THROUGH SONGS AND CHANTS

Introduction

The use of songs and chants in language teaching has a long history.

Extensive research has focused on how memory is affected by

simultaneous activity in other parts of the brain. For example, you

remember words that you have spoken better than words you have only

read or heard. Music also aids memory because rhythm helps learners to

remember otherwise unconnected words or ideas. Oral traditions and

rules of folk wisdom from many cultures are often rhythmic, rhyming, or

musical ("Red sky at night, sailor's delight ..." "A stitch in time saves

nine." etc.) Rhythm speaks to a very basic part of our emotional selves,

so musical or rhythmic content may enter memory with fewer

distractions.

Songs can be adapted for language teaching purposes from the most

basic or elementary level to a much higher proficiency level based on

either the content of the lyrics or how the words are put into practice or

discussed afterward. Most teachers and adult students of language know

the benefits of learning a language through songs. We even experience

this in our first language. Consider how many songs (from your first

language) you can sing along with when you hear them on the radio.

There are probably hundreds. Embedding the language of our lessons

into songs and chants can really strengthen language acquisition if

teachers use communicatively appropriate songs.

This unit will focus on some of the theory and research related to the

use of songs and chants in teaching English as a Foreign Language

(EFL). We will then turn our attention to how to choose appropriate

EFL songs or chants. We will also discover how to write our own

language teaching songs and chants. We will follow up with a number of

EFL song activities involving movement, drama, and fun. Finally we

will turn our attention to activities that apply specifically to chants.


Applicable Theories and Approaches

Let us revisit some of the major research about childhood learning

and language acquisition, and see how these theories relate to presenting

songs and chants in the classroom. In particular, we will discuss Howard

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory, Experiential Learning Theory,

the Direct Approach and Total Physical Response (TPR), the Aural–Oral

Approach, Stephen Krashen’s and Tracy Terrell’s Natural Approach, and

the Communicative Approach.

Howard Gardner's research on Multiple Intelligences supports the

use of songs and chants in the classroom. As is discussed in greater detail

in the unit entitled Multiple Intelligences Theory, Gardner describes how

people use a variety of mental processes while thinking. Therefore, the

most successful classrooms provide different approaches to meet

individual students’ areas of strength. For example, students who have a

strong musical intelligence are sensitive to nonverbal sounds and are

very much aware of tone, pitch, and timbre. Musically intelligent

students have the ability to produce and appreciate music. These

learners think in sounds, rhythms, and patterns. They often respond to

music by tapping their feet, tapping a pencil, or complimenting or

criticizing what they hear. Many of these learners are also extremely

sensitive to environmental sounds (e.g., crickets, running water, bells,

horns). Using rhythm, chanting, and songs with these students can

increase their attention and interest while motivating them to learn.

The musical intelligence is not the only one recognized by Gardner

that can be appealed to by teaching through songs and chants. For

example, focusing on the lyrics of a song can appeal to a child’s linguistic

intelligence. Incorporating choreographed movements that represent

the meaning of the lyrics can help to appeal to the bodily-kinesthetic

intelligence, and so on (Gardner, 1983).

Experiential Learning Theory also advocates the use of

representative movements and drama when songs and chants are

适用理论和方法

Multiple IntelligencesTheory(多元智能理论)

Experiential LearningTheory(经验学习理论)

taught. Of course performing an EFL song or chant can already be

considered “learning by doing” (Dewey, 1933), but adding an element

Di(直

ToRe(整

AuAp(听

Na(自


of movement or drama can turn performing a song or chant into a

physical experience. The Direct Approach would advocate having

children manipulate realia or props to illustrate the lyrics they are

singing or chanting. If such realia or props are unavailable, however,

children can still “manipulate” imaginary objects as is sometimes done

using James Asher’s Total Physical Response (TPR) methods. In fact,

rect Approach接法)

)
realia(实物教具 both the Direct Approach and TPR give us a way to allow students to
show they understand the meaning of a song’s or chant’s lyrics (by

doing physical actions that show the meaning as they hear the words)

long before they are able to produce the language or perform the song or

chant themselves.

Songs and chants are even effective tools for teachers who choose to

incorporate elements of the behaviorist Aural–Oral Approach (or

Audio–Lingual Method) into their language lessons. Following this

approach, children must somehow be motivated to repeat certain

vocabulary, phrases, and sentence structures again and again, often

chorally. Singing and chanting is a natural way to provide this

motivation. Children are far more likely to sing a favorite song over and

over, both within and outside the classroom, than they are to repeat a list

of sentence patterns or a dialogue on their own volition. Also, songs and

chants are often written with certain lines or a chorus that repeats often

within a single performance. Many traditional children’s songs and EFL

songs alike also repeat basic structures with single-slot or even

double-slot vocabulary substitutions in the various verses. Practice with

such vocabulary substitutions is another hallmark of the Aural–Oral

Approach.

The Input Hypothesis, which is discussed in the unit of this course

on the Natural Approach, was proposed by Krashen and Terrell (1983)

and detailed by Terrell, Rogers, Barnes, and Spielmann (1997) and can

help us to choose or to write effective EFL songs and chants for our

students. This part of the theory proposes that comprehension of a

language (or in this case, the lyrics of a song) precedes production and

that production “emerges” later. The researchers caution us, however,

that in order for this to happen, the learners must be exposed to

tal Physicalsponse (TPR)体动作反应法)

ral–Oralproach说法)

tural Approach然法)


comprehensible input that is still slightly challenging for them (a

concept that Krashen and Terrell expressed with the formula i + 1,

where i represents the students’ current level of language proficiency

and +1 represents one step up from that level). When students listen to

a comprehensible song or chant several times, they begin to understand

new words and internalize their meaning, even before they are able to

say the words themselves or use them in context. Oral production of the

words by the students will come later as the songs and other activities

continue to recycle them. Unlike learning by rote memorization,

allowing delayed production in this way facilitates true language

acquisition, according to Krashen and Terrell.

Another hypothesis of the Natural Approach says that any strategy

that can lower the students’ affective filter1, such as using music or song

and chant games and activities in the classroom, is worthwhile. The

affective filter refers to anything, such as boredom or difficult material

that may become a mental barrier to a child’s language learning. Music

enables students to become more open to “playing” with the language

because they feel more relaxed. That is, using songs and chants in the

classroom can help to lower the affective filter.

Finally, the Communicative Approach suggests teaching students

language that they are likely to use in real life situations in their

day-to-day lives. That is, only authentic language should be taught.

Following this guideline, then, songs and chants that include a great deal

of language that is not useful for true communication should be avoided,

and the lyrics of the ideal EFL song or chant will be in dialogue form or

in some other way represent realistic communicative events.

Choosing Appropriate Songs and Chants

Here, we will consider what to look for when choosing a song, chant,

or rhyme to teach to English as a foreign language students. We will also

see examples of songs that should be avoided and discuss why.

What are the main reasons for choosing to teach a particular song or

CommunicativeApproach(交际法)

affective filter(情绪障碍)

选歌原则

-有意义、与教学相关、生动有趣

- 便于理解的小故事- 旋律动听、便于记忆- 为今后学习打基础- 复习已学知识和技能

- 难度适当
chant? First, the song or chant should be relevant, meaningful, and


interesting to the children. Second, it should tell a simple story and be

comprehensible. Third, it should have a simple, memorable melody.

Fourth, the song should build a base for future learning. Fifth, it should

review past learning and practice language skills. Finally, it should be

age appropriate (MacDonald, n.d.)

In practice, it is very difficult to find any song that fulfills all six of

these standards. This is especially true in an EFL context, since a large

catalog of English music is not readily available in non-English speaking

countries. Most importantly, then, when you select a song, chant, or

rhyme to teach, choose one that provides comprehensible input and

useful, conversational language. Consider the following English folk

song, for example. Is the language in it comprehensible and useful to

young learners who are new to English?

London Bridge

London Bridge is falling down,

Falling down, falling down,

London Bridge is falling down,

My fair lady.

Additional Verses:

2. Take the key and lock her up ...

3. Build it up with iron bars ...

4. Iron bars will bend and break ...

5. Build it up with silver and gold ...

Although this is a popular song for young children who are native

speakers of English, it is neither comprehensible nor conversationally

useful for limited English proficient (LEP) students. LEP learners

cannot comprehend the meaning of the lyrics, and most EFL students

will never need to use such expressions in their day-to-day lives. Besides,

does any of the language in this song resemble the language they are

learning in class? Learning this song is quite a challenge for young LEP

learners because they have never seen most of the words before, nor are

the words related directly to any of their lessons.

Another example of a popular song for native English speaking


children is “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.”

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

The itsy bitsy spider crawled up the waterspout.

Down came the rain and washed the spider out.

Out came the sun and dried up all the rain.

The itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

This song is one of the most popular kindergarten and preschool

songs for native speakers of English, and it has been exported to

countries where children are learning English as a foreign language.

Well-intentioned English teachers feel that since it is appropriate for

native English speaking children, it would also be appropriate for LEP

young learners. Sadly, not only does this song not build communicative

competence, it could have a negative impact on students’ language

learning experience. A song that is full of new words and grammar

structures and that differs markedly from the language children are

learning in their English class is a major challenge for them. To teach

such a difficult song to young children weakens their newly emerging

speaking confidence (or, as Krashen and Terrell would put it, it raises the

learners’ affective filter).

The song also includes inverted word order, which would not be

used in conversational English. That is, native speakers of English

rarely, if ever, say, “Down came the rain.” Rather, they would say, “The

rain came down,” or simply, “It rained.” The same is true for, “Out

came the sun.” A native speaker would almost always say, “The sun

came out.”

Some traditional songs and nursery rhymes are also full of archaic

English or even nonsense English. Teaching these songs, chants, or

rhymes may also prove damaging to an LEP learner’s progress. For

example, native English speakers no longer use the phrase fair lady to

mean a pretty woman as it is used in the song “London Bridge.” A good

example of nonsense English can be seen in the popular traditional

children’s song, “This Old Man.” Read the following lyrics to this song

and pay attention to how much nonsense English is included:


This Old Man

This old man, he played one.

He played knick-knack on my thumb,

With a knick-knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone.

This old man came rolling home.

Additional Verses:

2. This old man, he played two.

He played knick-knack on my shoe ...

3. This old man, he played three.

He played knick-knack on my knee ...

4. This old man, he played four.

He played knick-knack on my door ...

5. This old man, he played five.

He played knick-knack on my hive ...

6. This old man, he played six.

He played knick-knack on my sticks ...

7. This old man, he played seven.

He played knick-knack up in Heaven ...

8. This old man, he played eight.

He played knick-knack on my gate ...

9. This old man, he played nine.

He played knick-knack on my spine ...

10. This old man, he played ten.

He played knick-knack once again ...

Now let us turn to the topic of choosing a good song or chant. The

first key to using songs and chants successfully is to choose the right

ones. Most modern EFL textbooks include appropriate songs written

specifically for LEP learners and the target language of the course, but

teachers may still want to use some traditional songs, chants, or rhymes.

We want to choose tunes that are easy and catchy (that is, easily

remembered and fun to sing), as well as songs that build our students’

confidence. Ideally, we also want to choose songs that enable our

children to walk out of class with a few new useful words or expressions

to use in the “real world.”


There are numerous sources of traditional children’s songs. You will

soon find, however, that the vast majority of them are unsuitable for

EFL students due to the previously mentioned concerns. There are,

however, a number of suitable, very simple ones. The simplest of these

have the children sing vocabulary words to a tune. For example,

practically every child who learns English, whether it is their native

language or a second language, learns the alphabet song. This

traditional children’s song is a valuable way to help true beginners to

learn the alphabet.

Another simple traditional children’s song is “Head and Shoulders,

Knees and Toes.” The song lyrics are as follows:

Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Head and shoulders, knees and toes,

Knees and toes, knees and toes.

Head and shoulders, knees and toes.

It's my body!

Eyes and ears and mouth and nose,

Mouth and nose, mouth and nose.

Eyes and ears and mouth and nose.

It's my body!

This song is valuable for teaching vocabulary for parts of the body. It

also introduces the conjunction and in a very simple context. Finally, the

song introduces the structure It’s my (body). This is a structure that

children are likely to use very often in conversations (e.g., It’s my book.

It’s my picture. It’s my cookie.) Although almost all native speakers and

teachers of English know “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes” as a

traditional children’s song, many may not be aware that it is sung to the

tune of one of the songs we previously identified as inappropriate for

LEP students—“London Bridge.” This brings us to our next

topic—writing new EFL songs using familiar tunes from traditional

children’s music.


Procedures for Writing EFL Songs

You may feel that in the future, you will always use existing song and

chant materials, but song and chant writing should be among your

many skills as a language teacher. This skill is one that you can use again

and again as a sort of mnemonic (memory-enhancing) technique when

you need to teach new language or content. Since you may not always

have access to an existing song to get your lesson targets across, learning

to create your own music will actually make your job easier. Though

English may not be your native language, you can definitely write songs

if you follow some simple rules that work for EFL teachers of all levels.

In this section, we will explore how we can do this most effectively. The

next section will focus on how to write your own chants.

Because the melody of “London Bridge” is easy and catchy, let’s use

it as an example of how an existing familiar melody can be used to write

a new EFL song. To do this, simply change the lyrics to language

students are learning in their classes, as is done in the following

examples:

[Melody: London Bridge]

Hello, hello, how are you?

How are you? How are you?

Hello, hello, how are you?

I’m fine, thank you.

or …

What time do you wake up?

You wake up ... You wake up ...

What time do you wake up?

I wake up at seven.

[Melody: This Old Man]

What’s your name? What’s your name?

My name is (Andy); What’s your name?



(Children substitute their own name into the parentheses when they sing.)

歌词编写原则

- 选用已学词语- 选用会话语言- 与课堂教学内容相配


or …

I like red. I like red.

I don’t like orange; I like red.



Additional Verses:

1. I like blue. I like blue.

I don’t like purple; I like blue ...

2. I like green. I like green.

I don’t like yellow; I like green ...

These lyrics are much more appropriate because the words are

among the first learned by EFL students, the language is

conversational, and they have been customized to match the patterns

being taught in the class. You can just as easily create your own songs in

this way. To do so, follow these steps:

Step 1—Brainstorm a list of catchy melodies that you know well.

These melodies need not be from English songs. It is even better if the

melodies are ones that your students may have been exposed to in their

native language. If the children already know the melodies, it makes it

much easier for them to learn the songs. Choose melodies that are short

and easy. Remember, our goal is to make our students feel confident and

joyful while singing, not overly challenged.

Step 2—Choose the target language you want to teach. If you are

using a course book, pull out some phrases or expressions you would like

to help your students remember. In this way you do not need to create

your own sentences. This target language becomes your song lyrics.

Step 3—After you have lyrics and a list of melodies, insert the words

into various songs until you find the melody that best matches them. For

example, imagine that the target lesson focuses on the expressions What

time is it? and It’s six o’clock. First try embedding these structures into

the melody of “London Bridge.”

What time is it? It’s six o’clock.

It’s six o’clock. It’s six o’clock.

歌词编写三步骤

- 讨论制定常见乐曲的目录

- 选择英语歌词- 将英语歌词填入乐曲目录中的不同曲调，直至满意


What time is it? Six o’clock.

It’s six o’clock now.

It doesn’t quite seem to work, does it? When we analyze the song a

bit more, we realize that there are too many syllables in the sentence

“It’s six o’clock.” The original lyrics repeat three syllables

(falling-down). On the other hand, the target sentence has four syllables

(It’s-six-o’-clock). We might try to make this song better by changing

the lyrics as follows:


Six o’clock. Six o’clock.


It’s six o’clock now.

This adaptation of the target sentence pattern is probably still

acceptable because the word it’s is often dropped in conversational

English when someone gives the short answer to the question What time

is it? If making such slight changes to the structure makes it unnatural or

if it still doesn’t seem to work within the melody you’re working with, try

another of the melodies from your list. For example, the famous

children’s song, “The Wheels on the Bus” may have been included on

your list.

The Wheels on the Bus

The wheels on the bus go round and round.

Round and round. Round and round.

The wheels on the bus go round and round,

All through the town.

This melody may work better for our chosen target structures:

What time is it now? It’s six o’clock.

Six o’clock. Six o’clock.

What time is it now? It’s six o’clock.

Six o’clock now.

Working target English structures into familiar melodies in this way

may be a bit challenging at first, but the more you do it, the easier it

becomes. Soon you will find yourself using some melodies over and over


and even adding new melodies to your list as you think of them. If all else

fails, however, it is almost always possible to write an original chant for a

given English sentence pattern.

Procedures for Writing EFL Chants

The real pioneer in using chants to teach English is Carolyn

Graham, an EFL teacher and jazz musician. About thirty years ago,

Graham noticed that when native speakers of English talk, they tend to

say the stressed syllables on a regular, rhythmic beat, just like the

underlying beat of jazz music (C. Graham, personal communication,

November, 1997). She then introduced the concept of “jazz chants” to

teach EFL students to produce the same sort of rhythmic or

stress-timed speech. Graham’s jazz chants are especially helpful to

students whose native language does not use stress-timing, as is the case

with most languages in Asia.

Most of Graham’s chants are presented in a dialogue format either

as a question and response, a command and response, or a statement

and response. Students are encouraged to chant either individually, in

pairs, in groups, or chorally, allowing for a variety of interactions. In

some cases, the words to the chants can be adapted by either the teacher

or the students to echo the discussion topic or the grammar focus of a

given class (Richard-Amato, 1996). A short excerpt from one of Carolyn

Graham’s jazz chants follows (Graham, 1978), with the syllables that

fall on the beat appearing in bold print:

Where were you born?

I’d rather not say.

Where are you from?


How tall are you?

How old are you?

How much do you weigh?


Carolyn Graham went on to write jazz chants for children,

编写儿歌的节奏原则和重音分布

- 功能词（冠词、代词等）通常不重读

- 重读音节多在实义词（如名词、动词、副词和形容词）中

- 特殊问句的疑问词(when, where, why)通常重读，be动词通常不重读

- 重读音节分布的不连续性


“grammar chants,” and the EFL songs and chants for some of the most

popular EFL courses in the world, but you do not really need to be a

jazz musician to write your own EFL chants. They are usually easier to

write than songs because chants do not require a melody, only a beat.

You do, however, have to pay attention to which syllables in a given

sentence native speakers are likely to stress on a beat. This is a little

harder than it sounds because non-native speakers usually do not

stress-time their speech, even when they are speaking in English. Also,

although native speakers do tend to stress-time their speech, they do it

so subconsciously that it is often difficult for them to identify which

syllables they are stressing when called upon to do so.

There are some rough guidelines that will, however, help you to

know which syllables in a given sentence are likely to receive stress on

the beat. Firstly, function words, such as articles and pronouns usually

are not stressed. Stressed syllables are more likely to occur in content

words such as nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives. Also the wh-

question words when, where, and why usually are stressed, while be

verbs usually are not. Finally, remember that often two, three, or even

four syllables in a row may fall on an offbeat before another syllable is

stressed. For example, consider the line Where were you born? The wh-

question word is stressed followed by two unstressed syllables before

another syllable is stressed, falling on the next beat. To get a better sense

of this, read the excerpt on the previous page again, snapping your

fingers to a rhythm and trying to place the syllables in bold on the beat

established by your snaps.

Let’s again consider the target language structures used in the

examples in the previous section—What time is it? and It’s six o’clock.

Can you predict where native speakers are likely to place stress on a

beat? In most cases, the stress-timing pattern of these sentences would

be as follows:

What time is it?

It’s six o’clock.

Just as with writing EFL songs, producing your own EFL chants


may seem difficult at first, but the more you do it, the easier it will be. To

get started, you may want to purchase some of Carolyn Graham’s chant

books and CD’s to give you a better feel for how EFL chants look and

sound (see, for example, Jazz Chants, Jazz Chants for Children, Small

Talk: More Jazz Chants, Jazz Chant Fairy Tales, Grammar Chants, and

the Let’s Chant; Let’s Sing series, all from Oxford University Press).

Applications

In our native language, teachers of young learners are successful

when they simply do a sing-along or combine music with dance

movements. But for the purpose of EFL, we should try to use songs in a

more communicative way. Just because our students can sing a song

beautifully, it does not mean that they can use the language contained in

the song to communicate. If we sing a song without providing a

meaningful context or purpose, the song will not be an effective tool for

teaching our students to use the language. We must help them make the

transition from singing the target language to actively using it in

meaningful conversations.

There are several strategies to make songs and chants more effective

in the EFL classroom. These include using movements that represent

the language used in the song, combining drama and music, and using

motivational games and activities that make singing and chanting more

fun for children. The first two strategies are most valuable because they

can help the learners to understand the meaning of the lyrics and how

the embedded structures can be used in a communicative context. The

third strategy simply makes language learning more enjoyable to young

learners, lowering their affective filter.

Songs and Movement

三个应用策略

- 唱歌做动作- 唱歌和戏剧表演- 激励性唱歌/儿歌活动

唱歌做动作

One classic activity that combines music and movement is Musical

Chairs. The activity can be adapted as follows:

Musical Chairs—Set up a circle of chairs with one chair fewer than
- 听音乐抢位子
there are students. Play a song the children are learning and have them


walk in circles in one direction around the chairs as they sing along. At

some random point, switch the music off. When the music stops, the

students should quickly sit in a chair. The student left without a chair

must perform a verse solo. Play then resumes. Traditionally, musical

chairs is played as an elimination game in which the losing student in

each round is eliminated from play and another chair is removed until

only one student is remaining. When the game is being played in a

classroom with an educational purpose, however, it does not make sense

to eliminate students. To do so would exclude them from the learning

process.

Although Musical Chairs is fun and can be used with any song, it

does not help the students to comprehend the meaning or

communicative purpose of the language in the lyrics. This is because

there is no connection between the action of walking around in circles

and sitting down to the words in the song (unless, of course, the song

happens to be about walking or sitting down). In order for a song or

chant activity to help students understand the communicative function

of the lyrics, the movements in the activity should help to illustrate the

meaning or usage of the structures. Thus the value of Musical Chairs is

limited to supporting our third strategy of making singing or chanting

more fun for students.

The following are good examples of interplay between songs,

movement, and communicative activities. They are adapted from a

preschool EFL series entitled World Kinder Kids and the book Longman

Songs and Chants. These examples will give you a sense of how you can

design your own communicative song activities.

歌曲、动作和交际相结合的活动

The Hello Song

Hello, Tim, hello.

Hello, Tim, hello.

Hello, my friend.

Hello, my friend.

Hello, Tim, hello.

Hello, Amani, hello.

- Hello 歌



Hello, my friend.

Hello, my friend.


Activity 1—Have each pair of children set up a pretend a door (two
- 双人门前打招呼 chairs set back to back). The pairs practice ringing the bell or knocking
on the door and answering. Once they are familiar with the song, have

them sing the song, substituting in their own names, as they role-play

greeting their friend at the “door.”

Activity 2—The teacher stands inside the actual classroom door, and
- 轮流招呼进教室 the class lines up in the hall. The first child knocks on the door and the
teacher opens it. The class then sings a verse, inserting the teacher’s

name. The teacher answers by singing the second verse, inserting the

first child’s name, and the child enters. Then the second child knocks on

the door, and it is opened by the first child. The students remaining

outside the door sing another verse, inserting the name of the child who

answered the door. The first child solos a verse inserting the name of the

second, and that child enters. Then the third child knocks, and the

second child answers and so on. Each time, all the students in the hall

sing to greet the person who answers the door, and all the children in the

room sing to greet the child who knocked.

Animal Riddle Rap

What is it? What is it?


Ruff, ruff, ruff,

Ruff, ruff, ruff.

It’s a dog! It’s a dog!



Oink, oink, oink,

Oink, oink, oink.

It’s a pig! It’s a pig!


- 动物叫声谜语歌

- 摸

- 数

- 听

- 猜

- 看



Meow, meow, meow,

Meow, meow, meow.

It’s a cat! It’s a cat!

Activity—Students bring in their stuffed toys and gives them to the

teacher. The teacher makes sure the students know the English version

of the sound each animal makes. The teacher then secretly puts one of

the stuffed toys into an opaque bag and hands the bag to one child. That

child reaches one hand into the bag, feeling the toy without looking and

trying to determine which animal it is while the class chants, “What is it?

What is it?” The child answers by chanting the sound made by the

animal he or she believes is in the bag. The class then chants the line that

identifies the animal based on its sound, and the toy is pulled out to

make sure they were correct. Play continues with other toys and

children reaching into the bag.

Numbers Song

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Activity—Clear an area so students can move around. Play the song

and have students hop, skip, or jump around the room as they sing

along. Stop the music, call a number, and have students get into groups

of the called number. For example, if you call out “Five!” students get

into groups of five and hold hands. Any students unable to join a group

can call out a number for the next round. Alternatively, they can act as

judges to check the number of students in each group then join the next

round. Repeat the activity several times, calling out different numbers.

She’s My Mom!

Who’s she? Who’s she? Who is she?

She’s my mother. She’s my mom.

Who’s she? Who’s she? Who is she?

She’s my mother. She’s my mom.

Activity—Have students bring in photographs of their own family

members to show the rest of the class while they are singing the song.

一摸、唱一唱

字歌

数结队

人歌

照片说称谓

- 时

- 看


One child holds up a photograph of a family member. If it is a picture of

a woman, for example, the rest of the class sings, “Who’s she? Who’s

she? Who is she?” The student then sings the answer, “She’s my mother.

She’s my mom.”

What Time Is It?

What time is it?

It’s five o’clock.

Five, five, five, five,

Five o’clock.

What time is it?

It’s nine o’clock.

Nine, nine, nine, nine,

Nine o’clock.

Activity—Demonstrate this activity at the front of the room. Use

both arms to represent the hands on a clock face. Hold a ruler in your

right hand to indicate the longer minute hand. Move your arms to the

appropriate position to show three o’clock and ask the class, “What time

is it?” The class answers, “It’s three o’clock.” Then invite students to

take turns showing times in a similar manner. Once students are

comfortable with the activity, have them show more complicated times

(e.g., 7:30, 11:15, 2:35). After practicing the activity with the entire

class, have one child come to the front of the room to play the clock. Half

the class sings the first line of the song, while the “clock” poses to show a

time of his or her choosing. After reading the clock, the other half of the

class sings the three answer lines. The activity continues with children

taking turns playing the clock and the two sides of the class alternating

asking and answering.

Notice that through each of the above activities, the song has been

turned into a communicative experience. The best song and chant

games and activities should help the students feel they are

communicating, not just singing. This is one key to effectively using

songs and chants in the EFL classroom. Likewise, since combining

music with movement is so effective, it is a good idea to use two or more

间歌

手势报时


activities that have different features or that appeal to different learning

styles. This will help a wider variety of children to learn more effectively

from songs and chants. To help attain this goal, let us now turn to how

drama offers another approach.

Drama and Songs

The second way to add meaning, emotion, and an element of

communication is to add a dramatic situation or scenario to the song.

Doing this will probably require you to give directions and introduce the

situation in the students’ native language. Consider the following songs

and corresponding drama activities. How do the dramatic scenarios or

“song dramas” enhance the language learning experience?

Popcorn Song

Popcorn, candy, popcorn, candy,

Popcorn and candy.


Popcorn and candy.

May I have some popcorn?

May I have some popcorn?

Yes you may; yes you may.


Popcorn and candy.


Popcorn and candy.

May I have some candy?

May I have some candy?

Yes you may; yes you may.

Dramatic Scenario—Students stand facing each other in pairs. One

student holds something that represents popcorn in one hand and

something that represents candy in the other. This student stands with

his or her hands behind his or her back. Together the pair sings the

chorus (“Popcorn, candy …”). At the end of the chorus, the second

student sings, “May I have some ________?” and points to either the

唱歌和戏剧表演

- 爆米花歌表演


left or the right. The first student opens that hand and shows what is in

it. If it matches what the second student asked for, he or she sings, “Yes,

you may.” If it does not match, the student sings, “No, you may not!”

(Procter & Procter, 2005).

How Many Are There?

How many are there? There are four.

How many are there? There are five.

How many are there? There are six.

There are six bananas.

Yoo, hoo! One, two, three.

Yoo, hoo! Four, five, six.

Yoo, hoo! Seven, eight, nine.

There are nine bananas.

Dramatic Scenario—Tell the students that they are two groups of

monkeys in the jungle that are looking for bananas. Suddenly, the first

group of “monkeys” yells, “We found bananas!” The second group

excitedly sings, “How many are there?” The first group sings the answer,

“There are four.” The second group pretends they can’t hear them well,

so they sing louder, “How many are there?” But just then, the first group

finds more bananas, so they sing excitedly, “There are five!” The groups

continue like this until they finish the song (Procter & Procter, 2003).

Have a Piece of Birthday Cake

Milkshake, soda pop, ice cream cone,

Have a piece of birthday cake.

I’m eight years old today. Hooray!


Party hat, candles, birthday cards,


I’m eight years old today. Hooray!


(Wilson, 2003)

Dramatic Scenario—Have a dialogue similar to the following with

the students:

- 情景猜数歌表演

- 生日蛋糕歌表演

激


T: You all live in a small kingdom. Who is your prince?

Ss: (Pointing at a boy.) He is.

T: Today is his birthday. He is eight years old. Group one, you are the royal

family. You sit here with the prince and act very sophisticated.

G1: Like this?

T: Yes.

T: Group two, you are the prince’s best friends. You love the prince, so when

you sing, you act like you love him.

G2: OK.

T: Group three, you are the prince’s enemies, so when you sing, act like his evil

enemies. What kind of face can you make when you sing?

G3: (Making a face.) How about this?

T: Yes, that’s great.

T: Group four, you are jealous of the prince, so when you sing, how can you act

jealous?

G4: Look at this.

T: Great. You look really jealous.

T: Now, everybody sing the chorus of the song, but royal family, you sing the

line Have a piece of birthday cake. Don’t forget to act sophisticated.

T: OK. Now, everyone sing in character.

As was mentioned in this section’s introduction, and as can be seen

in the above scenario, there is sometimes very high-level English

involved. If the teacher shares the same native language as the students,

much of the scenario will have to be explained in the mother tongue.

Generally, this should be acceptable since the goal is to teach students to

be bilingual or multilingual speakers. Let us now turn to the less ideal,

but still worthwhile type of singing and chanting activities, those that

simply motivate students to sing or chant and so engage them in oral

language practice.

Motivational Singing Activities

There are lots of singing games and activities teachers like to use

that are not communicative and do not enhance meaning in the same

way that the above movement and drama activities do. However, they

励性唱歌活动

-“墨

- 谁

- 遥

- 升


do benefit students by motivating them to verbalize the target language

and thus practice proper pronunciation and intonation. These activities

vary from the above activities in that they are not song or language

specific so could be used with any song in much the same way as

Musical Chairs. Often it is possible, however, to adapt them according to

the target language of a particular lesson making them more

meaningful. We will begin with very simple activities that are

appropriate for very young learners and work our way up to activities

that are more and more challenging.

Mexican Jumping Beans—Have students jump in place while the

music is played. Suddenly, call out “Stop!” or switch off the music. All

students squat down. The last student to squat is “It.” The rest of the

class asks the student a target question from the sons. It responds

accordingly. For small classes, students can skip around the room until

you yell stop. At that point, they squat (adapted from Graham &

Procter, 1998).

Freeze—While singing, students walk around the room randomly

until the teacher says, “Freeze!” The first student who moves must

answer a question. By pointing to a flashcard or to an object in the

classroom, the teacher can elicit a particular question to be asked

chorally by the remainder of the class. The student answers accordingly,

and play continues (adapted from Graham & Procter, 1998).

Remote Control—The entire class begins singing the song. The

teacher, using a real or an imaginary remote control, pretends to aim at

various students and switch them off. Any student who is turned off

must stop singing and freeze in place. The remaining students keep

singing the song repeatedly until all have finally been turned off.

Alternatively, the teacher can turn students on and off randomly without

ever turning them all off. Students can also be given the chance to use

the remote control on their peers.

Louder, Louder—Have the entire class sing a song together. The

first time through, they should sing very, very softly. The second time

through, they should sing louder, then louder, and louder. This continues

西哥跳豆”游戏

动谁唱歌

控指挥

降歌声

- 听

- 对


until the students are shouting the lyrics. This process can then be

reversed, having the students sing softer and softer until they are again

whispering.

Hotter or Colder—Bring in pictures of target vocabulary. Hide one

in the classroom while one student waits outside. The class begins

singing the target song when the student returns. When the student

draws nearer the hidden picture, the class sings more loudly. When

getting farther away, they should sing more quietly. This continues until

the student finds the picture. The class then asks questions that elicit

answers that embed the target language. The student answers

accordingly (adapted from Graham & Procter, 1998).

Join In—The class is separated into groups. As the singing begins,

音响，找图片

- 一组组加入

only the first group sings. The second group joins in at the start of the

second verse. The third group joins at the beginning of the third verse,

and so on. The entire class sings the chorus or final verses. Then rotate

and have a different group start at the beginning.

Singing Roles—For songs that can easily be separated into two

character roles, have part of the class sing the role of one character and

the rest of the class sing the role of another. You can then switch roles and

have the students sing again. You can also have all the students join

together to sing the chorus or some of the verses or lines.

Musical Cards—Have the class sit in a circle and then play them a

Figure 1: Musical Cards

歌

- 听

- 摸

- 歌


song. While the music is playing, the children sing along and pass

around a flash card showing a word that can be substituted into the

lyrics. Suddenly switch off the player. The student holding the card

when the music stops must sing a verse solo, inserting the word shown

on the card. Repeat with other cards.

Word Substitution—Replace key words (such as the object nouns) in

a song with another word the students find silly (e.g., bananas). As you

sing the song, students must keep a straight face, not smiling or laughing

when they include the silly word. Any student caught smiling or laughing

must sing a verse or part of a verse solo.

Our Song—Many songs enable you to substitute parts with words

that the students provide themselves, making it more of a song about

them. Either make a list of student-recommended substitution words on

the board or call out a student name between verses having that student

shout out the substitution for the next verse.

Spotlight—Turn off the lights and have the children sing a song

音乐传卡片

词替换

- 聚光灯下唱得响
- 歌词替换
softly. Direct a flashlight towards one child being careful not to shine it

directly in their eyes. (Usually, if you point it at their feet, the

surrounding light circle is wide enough to make the point.) The child “in

the spotlight” sings louder such that they can be heard over the others.

Move the spotlight around the class so that each child ends up in the

spotlight at least once.

Pass the Bag—While listening to and singing along with their EFL

Figure 2: Spotlight

卡造句

- 摸


songs, students draw five pictures of target vocabulary of their choice.

Alternatively, the children can write the words on cards if they are

literate. Students number each picture or word in descending order from

their favorite to least favorite. (Their favorite word is number five and

their least favorite is number one.) Students then form pairs. Each pair

gets an opaque bag and combines their pictures in the bag. While

singing, partners pass the bag back and forth. Suddenly say, “Stop!”

The student holding the soft bag pulls out a card, says the word in a

complete sentence, and receives the number of points written there. At

the end of the game, the students who have the most points are the

winners (adapted from Graham & Procter, 1998).

Lucky Dip—Collect pictures, flashcards, or personal items that

represent target vocabulary. Put them into a bag along with a few prizes

(inexpensive stickers, pencils, etc.) While singing, students pass the bag

around until the teacher says, “Stop!” The student who is holding the

bag pulls out an object and asks a question (e.g., “Whose (pen) is this?”)

Any student who knows the answer responds, “It’s Tony’s;” “It’s

Sally’s;” or “It’s mine.” If nobody responds, the object must be a prize

the student can keep (adapted from Graham & Procter, 1998).

Who Has It?—Put the students in two lines facing each other. Give

Figure 3: Who Has It?

奖桶

- 画

- 猜

- 歌

- 找

- 听


one line a picture small enough to hide in the hand. Tell students, "Go."

Everyone starts singing, and the line with the card passes it around

behind their backs so the other line cannot easily see the card being

passed (see Figure 3). When the song finishes, students in the second line

try to guess who has the card, asking questions such as, “John, do you

have the book?” The second line is then given a different picture, and

play continues (adapted from Graham & Procter, 1998).

Give Away the Pictures—Have each student draw five or fewer tiny

pictures of key words in a song while they sing along to it. Each student

cuts them out and hides them in one hand. Students skip around and

sing until the teacher says, “Stop!” Each student quickly finds a partner,

puts a few pictures in one hand, and holds it out. The partner guesses

how many of the pictures of a particular item he or she is hiding in the

hand that is held out. If the guess is correct, the student gives a picture to

his or her partner (adapted from Graham & Procter, 1998).

Shadow Dancing—While singing the song, one student creates a

dance and their partner tries to mimic the dance movements in real time

(adapted from Graham & Procter, 1998).

Who’s the Leader?—Send two students out of the room. Have the

rest of the children form a circle and choose a student to be the leader.

The leader will guide the class in doing simple dance movements as they

sing. Have the students practice singing and ask them to try to follow the

leader's movements without looking directly at him or her. Then invite

the two students back into the room and have them stand in the middle

of the circle. The class starts singing and copying the leader's

movements. The students in the center try to find who the leader is.

Once they have found the leader, repeat the activity by having two other

students leave the room and having the remaining children select a new

leader.

Name that Song!—Divide the class into several teams. On a musical

instrument, play three notes from a song the students have learned and

have students try to guess the song. The team that guesses correctly gets

three points. If no one guesses correctly, play five notes from the same

片在谁手

对给张画

舞拷贝不走样

找谁是歌舞指挥

曲猜歌名

- 看

- 歌

- 最

- 双


song for two points. If no one guesses correctly, play a line from the song

for one point. Have the winning team sing the whole song for an extra

point. If it is not feasible to play a musical instrument in class, play short

sections of the song from a CD or cassette.

Lip Syncing—Model lip-syncing a song (silently mouthing the

words) without playing any music. Ask the class to guess the song. Have

each student choose a song. Give students time to check the words and

practice lip-syncing. Put students in pairs, sitting face-to-face. One

student lip-syncs his or her song. The other student watches and tries to

guess the song. When the student guesses correctly, the partners switch

roles. If you would like to continue the activity, you can then have the

children switch partners and repeat the guessing procedure.

TV Commercial—Divide the class into several groups. Using a song

or chant, each group makes a “TV commercial” that embeds the target

language. This activity works best with vocabulary for items that are

often bought and sold such as food, classroom objects, services, and so

on (adapted from Graham & Procter, 1998).

Acting Contest—Divide the class into four groups with one student

in each group being the counter. While singing, the counter points to

each student from his or her group one at a time. When the song stops,

the last player pointed to from each team is that team’s representative

for an acting contest. The class will ask a target question, (e.g., “Are you

hungry?”) and the representatives act melodramatically as they answer.

The class or teacher picks the best actor. Play continues, with a different

question being asked to the actors each round (adapted from Graham &

Procter, 1998).

Creative Writing—Children use both English and their first

language in this activity. First, have the students listen to an English

song. Then have them work in small groups to write stories in their first

language that relate to the song. Each group then tells their narrative

story and sings the song for the class. The language of the song has

greater meaning because of the story scenario provided. This is a good

example of how to use the native language to support the meaning of an

唇形猜歌名

曲/儿歌电视广告

佳演技比赛

语创作


English song or chant (adapted from Graham & Procter, 1998).

Motivational Chanting Activities
激励性儿歌活动
While many of the above activities can also be used to practice

chants as well as songs, there are some additional activities that are

ideally suited for chanting. Most of these activities in some way

emphasize the beat that is so important to chants and do not rely on

there being a melody.

Shake Your Bottle—Have student shake “chant bottles.” They can
- 摇乐瓶，念儿歌
use plastic bottles and put some uncooked rice in them. (Making chant

bottles and other small percussive instruments is covered in greater

detail in the unit entitled Managing Materials.) They shake their chant

bottles to the rhythm of the chant (adapted from Graham & Procter,

1998).

Unseen Seesaw—Put students in pairs. The pairs stand facing each
- 隐形跷跷板 other about two meters apart. Tell the class that there is an invisible
seesaw between each student and their partner. When one goes up the

other must go down. Then play a chant and have the students perform it

going up or down on each beat.

Figure 4: Unseen Seesaw

- 军训口令歌
Sound Off—This activity works best with chants that have four


beats per line. The teacher or a leader plays the role of a drill sergeant

and says a line of the chant in the tune of a common military drill chant.

The class echoes. Then the teacher continues with the next line, and so

on. (Westerners will likely be more familiar with the tune of the

traditional military drill chant, which often begins “I don’t know, but

I’ve been told ...” An example of a military drill chant can be seen in the

movie A Few Good Men.)

Hand Slap—Teach the students a simple hand-slap routine that has
- 拍手歌
been choreographed to a chant. You can have students slap their thighs,

clap their hands, or slap a partner’s hands to the beat. Then put

students in pairs to practice chanting while they do the hand slap

routine. Alternatively, you can have students in pairs make up their own

routines then demonstrate them for the class.

Figure 5: Hand Slap

- 跳绳念儿歌
Jump Rope—A long jump rope is stretched across the classroom and
a volunteer jumper goes to the center. The teacher and a volunteer

student hold either end and begin swinging the rope. The rest of the

class chants such that the beat follows the rope as it hits the floor. See

how far through the chant the jumping student can get before becoming

entangled. Let another student try to beat that student’s record, then

another and another. (This activity doesn’t work well in a small

classroom or one with a low ceiling.)


Now that you have been exposed to various song and chant

activities, you should consider your own classroom or teaching context.

Reflect on how you would apply these activities to your own lessons,

taking into consideration the age and language level of your students,

the size of your class, and other classroom dynamics. Of course not all

song and chant activities are suitable for all classes and classrooms.

Conclusions

Music has always been a way for children to remember stories and

learn about the world around them. Using music as a stimulus can affect

one's emotions and make information easier to remember. Music also

creates an environment that is conducive to learning. It can reduce

stress, increase interest, and set the stage for listening and learning.

There are many similarities between literacy acquisition and musical

development. Therefore, teaching that combines music with language

arts instruction can be the most effective (Davies, 2000).

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory advocates teaching with

music to engage students with a strong musical intelligence. By focusing

on lyrics, we can also engage the children’s linguistic intelligence, and by

incorporating representative movement and drama with songs and

chants, we can further appeal to their bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.

Using movement is also endorsed by Experiential Learning Theory, the

Direct Approach, and the Total Physical Response (TPR) model,

especially if it is possible for children to manipulate realia or props that

illustrate the meaning of the lyrics. By using movement and drama song

and chant activities, children can show that they comprehend the

language of a song or chant before they are able to produce or perform it

themselves.

Songs and chants also provide natural motivation for children to

participate in the sort of repetitive choral practice of language that is

recommended by the Aural–Oral Approach (or Audio–Lingual

Approach). Additionally, songs and chants often repeat key sentence

patterns with single- and double-slot vocabulary substitutions, another


common method of practice used in this approach.

The Natural Approach also suggests that music, songs, and chants

are effective tools for stimulating a child’s language learning. Songs and

chants can help to lower the learners’ affective filter, and the lyrics

should provide comprehensible input that is still slightly challenging for

the children (expressed by the researchers as i + 1). Simply allowing the

children to listen to new songs and chants at first gives them time to

internalize the meaning of any new words before oral production (in the

form of signing or chanting) is required of them. This facilitates true

language acquisition as opposed to learning by rote memorization.

The Communicative Approach reminds us to select or write songs

and chants that include authentic language that help students to

develop communicative competence. Contemporary language-learning

theories also stress the importance of connecting meaning to language in

a fun, active, and participatory way. However, as teachers we must

choose the songs or chants we present carefully.

We have suggested a set of song and chant selection guidelines

including choosing those that have easy, catchy melodies and lyrics that

provide comprehensible input and conversational language. Those that

contain a great deal of inverted word order, archaic English, or nonsense

English should be avoided. We also recommended steps for writing your

own language teaching songs: 1) brainstorm a list of familiar melodies,

2) select target language, and 3) try fitting the target language into

different melodies from your list until you find one that works.

We then suggested ways songs and chants can be used in practice.

We stressed the increased teaching value of using songs with movement

and drama, but also included a number of games and activities that

simply motivate students to participate more fully in song and chant

lessons.

As teachers, we play so many roles, but in the end, our job is to be

effective “memory makers.” It is our duty to consider the way in which

all lessons can create the strongest, most positive memories. The more

ways in which we enable our students to represent new information in


the mind, the richer both their memory and their educational experience

will be.

Notes

1)affective filter (Krashen, 1985) (情绪障碍): 指学习者心理上

产生的一种语言吸收障碍（如焦虑、缺乏自信），阻碍了

学习者把可理解的语言成份全部运用在语言交际中，这种

障碍也叫做"情感过滤"。

References

Davies, N. L. (2000). Learning ... the beat goes on: Childhood

education. New York: Harper Collins.

Dawson, N. (1999). Using songs in the primary ELT classroom. In

Teacher Line. Número 7. Curso 1998–1999.

Alhambra-Longman. Retrieved May 20, 2005 from

http://www.erain.es/departamentos/ingles/

web/subpag/arti1.htm

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Dunn, S. (1999). All together now: 200 of Sonja Dunn's best chants.

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Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple

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Graham, C. (1986). Small talk: More jazz chants. New York:

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Press.

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MacDonald, S. (n.d.). Some words about young children, teachers,

and songs. Retrieved May 20, 2005 from

http://www.songsforteaching.

com/sharonmacdonald/words.htm

Procter, M. A. & Procter, S. (2003). Longman songs and chants.

Hong Kong: Pearson Education.

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