Teaching Englishthrough songs,

stories, videos and games and

assessment
Eko Nurhariyanto
Muhammad Idris Ihsani
Eneng Komariah

Teaching English
through songs

Songs tend to repetitive and have a

strong rhythm. They are easily learnt
by primary children and quickly become
favourites because of their familiarity.
They are fun and motivating for
children. They allow language to be
reinforced in a natural context, both
with structures and vocabulary.

Here are some tips for using and

exploiting songs in the classroom

Reinforcing grammar points

Teaching vocabulary of a particular lexical set
Developing listening skills
Singing

Reinforcing grammar points

Some songs lend themselves naturally to teaching or

reinforcing grammar points. They may be integrated into
lessons with a particular grammar focus and provide muchneeded variety, while contributing to the overall aim of a
lesson. Particularly at lower levels when children are still
learning basic key grammar patterns, songs can play a role as
input.
Quiet, please!' : http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/quietplease

Teaching vocabulary of a
particular lexical set

Research into child language acquisition has shown that

lexical items may need to be repeated many times before
they are internalised by the child. Songs provide an excellent
means of repeating and reinforcing vocabulary and are
suitable for children of all abilities.
Pizza and chips' : http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/pizzaand-chips

Developing listening skills

Longer songs with a wider variety of structures and

vocabulary are more suitable for the development of overall
listening skills.
The ballad of Lisa the lemur :
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/the-ballad-lisa-thelemur

Singing

Children enjoy singing along and it can really improve

motivation. Singing can also improve the pronunciation and
intonation patterns of the students, especially younger
children. At primary level, vocabulary teaching tends to
concentrate on single word items, and songs allow learners to
learn chunks or meaningful phrases of language rather than
single words, as well as to learn about how sounds connect
and run together.
The alphabet song :
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/the-alphabet-song

Teaching English
through story
The educational value of using stories and the technique of storytelling
has always been undisputed throughout the world. Now more and more
English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers of young learners are using
carefully selected stories from the world of children's literature because
they have become more familiar with an acquisition-based methodology
and because stories comply to the major objectives in most countries for
foreign language teaching to young learners: linguistic, psychological,
cognitive, social and cultural. EFL teachers use stories to supplement
their core materials or to create self-contained units of work that
constitute mini-syllabuses. In this way, a story provides the starting point
and rich context for developing a wide variety of related language and
learning activities involving children personally, creatively and actively in
an all round whole curriculum approach (see Ellis and Brewster 1991 and
2002).

Selecting storybooks

stories that have gained an international reputation

stories that contain rich and authentic examples of English
stories that contain cumulative content, rhyme, onomatopoeia,
humour and suspense
stories with high quality and varied illustrative styles and
illustrations Can work with others and learn from others
stories that take place in settings other than western and urban
and address issues
stories that offer a concrete outcome in the form of
dramatization, related songs and rhymes, book-making, making a
game, a quiz/competition, poster-design, project work,

Pupil responses
The educational gains from using authentic
children's literature are very rich indeed as
reflected by pupils' personal response to the
stories. Younger children (5 - 7 year-olds) respond
in pictorial form and older pupils complete a more
detailed written evaluation focusing on genre,
characters, setting, illustrations, what they liked
about the story and what they learnt from the
story.

Here are some examples in

response to the question, What
did I learn from the story?

The Pied Piper: We must keep our promises and not be greedy.
Tusk Tusk (a story about how elephants became grey and
tolerance): I learnt about tolerance and racism. I learnt to know
how to respect others because we can't all be the same. You have
to love each other.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar: I learned the life cycle of the
butterfly
Meerkat in Trouble: We mustn't disobey. You have to be obedient
to your parents.
The Little Red Hen: You must help people.

Teaching English through

Videos
'One of the aims of teaching English to young
children is to instill in them the idea that language
learning is a happy experience, and video creates an
attractive enjoyable learning environment.' Tomalin
(1991: 48). Children enjoy language learning with
video. They love to hear stories again and again and
the same goes for video. By watching a video several
times children can learn by absorption and imitation
for Children gain confidence through repetition

Here are the benefits of

using video in the classroom?
Video communicates meaning better than other media
o Video presents language in context in ways that a cassette
can't. Learners can see who's (or what's!) speaking, where
the speakers are, what they're doing, etc. All these visual
clues can help comprehension
Video represents a positive exploitation of technology
o Children, in particular, have a positive attitude towards
television and video. It is seen as being 'modern' compared
to books

Criteria for selecting video

Watchability
Completeness
Length
Appropriateness of Content
Availability of Related Materials
Degree of visual support
Clarity of picture and sound
Density of language
Speech delivery
Language content
Language level
Level of maturity
Video types

Teaching English
through Game
'Many experienced textbook and methodology
manuals writers have argued that games are not
just time-filling activities but have a great
educational value. W. R. Lee holds that most
language games make learners use the language
instead of thinking about learning the correct
forms (1979:2).

Why Use Games in Class

Time?
* Games are fun and children like to play them. Through games children
experiment, discover, and interact with their environment. (Lewis, 1999)
* Games add variation to a lesson and increase motivation by providing a
plausible incentive to use the target language. For many children between
four and twelve years old, especially the youngest, language learning will
not be the key motivational factor. Games can provide this stimulus. (Lewis,
1999)
* The game context makes the foreign language immediately useful to the
children. It brings the target language to life. (Lewis, 1999)
* The game makes the reasons for speaking plausible even to reluctant
children. (Lewis, 1999)
* Through playing games, students can learn English the way children learn
their mother tongue without being aware they are studying; thus without
stress, they can learn a lot.
* Even shy students can participate positively.

When to Use Games

'Games are often used as short warm-up activities or when there is
some time left at the end of a lesson. Yet, as Lee observes, a game
"should not be regarded as a marginal activity filling in odd
moments when the teacher and class have nothing better to do"
(1979:3). Games ought to be at the heart of teaching foreign
languages. Rixon suggests that games be used at all stages of the
lesson, provided that they are suitable and carefully chosen.'
'Games also lend themselves well to revision exercises helping
learners recall material in a pleasant, entertaining way. All authors
referred to in this article agree that even if games resulted only
in noise and entertained students, they are still worth paying
attention to and implementing in the classroom since they motivate
learners, promote communicative competence, and generate
fluency.'

General Benefits of Games

Affective:

lowers affective filter

encourages creative and spontaneous use of language
promotes communicative competence
Motivates
Fun

Cognitive:

Reinforces
reviews and extends
focuses on grammar communicatively

Class Dynamics:
- student centered
- teacher acts only as facilitator
- builds class cohesion
- fosters whole class participation
- promotes healthy competition

Adaptability:
- easily adjusted for age, level, and interests
- utilizes all four skills
- requires minimum preparation after development

How to Choose Games

(Tyson, 2000)

* A game must be more than just fun.

* A game should involve "friendly" competition.
* A game should keep all of the students involved
and interested.
* A game should encourage students to focus on
the use of language rather than on the
language itself.
* A game should give students a chance to learn,
practice, or review specific language material.

How to Choose Games

(Tyson, 2000)

* A game must be more than just fun.

* A game should involve "friendly" competition.
* A game should keep all of the students involved
and interested.
* A game should encourage students to focus on
the use of language rather than on the
language itself.
* A game should give students a chance to learn,
practice, or review specific language material.

Cuisenaire Rods
description (2)
white = 1 cm.

red = 2 cm.

light green = 3 cm.

purple = 4 cm.

yellow = 5 cm.

dark green = 6 cm.

black = 7 cm.

brown = 8 cm.

blue =9 cm.

orange = 10 cm.

Selected lexical areas where

CRs can be used:(1)

colours
numbers
the alphabet
time specification
body parts
family relations
buildings & furniture
animals
food
abilities

Aspects of grammar that

can be smuggled (2):

personal pronouns
articles
nouns
adjectives
verbs
prepositions
word stress
sequence of words in an English sentence

Letters of the Alphabet

Encode your rods!
(key: t blue, c
light green, a black,
e brown, y
yellow, etc.) Lexical
area should be
established. Team
game make as many
words as possible for
your opponents!

Numbers
Stairs & Colourful
rugs

What number is
dark green?
Bingo

Numbers (2)
Hunt the thimble

e.g. Find 2 red

rods and 5 white
ones.

Hunt the thimble film

(1)

Hunt the thimble film

(2)

Time Specification
Telling the time
Morning routine

Telling the Time - film

Parts of the Body

Monster game (one
rod = one part of the
body, e.g. white (1)
an eye,
red (2) - a mouth, etc.
Each group throws the
dice and makes
appropriate parts of
the body. Then
children describe
their monsters.

Monster game - film

Main Advantages:
C colourful
U universal
I imaginative
S solid
E effective
N nice
A appropriate
I indispensable
R ready
E exhilarating

Goodbye!

Methodology

Burwood, S., Dunford, H., Phillips, D. 2002. Projects with Young

Learners. Oxford: Oxford University Press
House, S. 1997. An Introduction to Teaching English to
Children. London: Richmond Publishing
Jaros, I. 2006. Jzyk angielski z klockami Cuisenairea. Kielce:
Wydawnictwo Pedagogiczne ZNP
Philips, S. 2001. Young Learners. Oxford: Oxford University
Press
Reilly, V., Ward, S. M. 2002. Very Young Learners. Oxford:
Oxford University Press
Roth, G. 1998. Teaching Very Young Children. London: Richmond
Publishing
Wright, A. 2002. Art and Crafts with Children. Oxford: OUP