I am one of those bilingual teachers that love singing. It brightens my day and brings joy to the children and parents around me.
Here is a video of some songs I demonstrated to teachers while in a training session in China.
Through songs, little ones can explore new thematic units in context, learn and practice new vocabulary, internalize grammar structures, – and singing along to a tune is a great way for them to get used to the language and practice pronunciation.
I used to teach at the pre-primary and elementary levels and of course some songs were a little difficult at the beginning for my students. However, I ensured there was a natural progression when learning a new one. First I played the song everyday at the beginning of the class as children walked into the classroom, so they would get familiar with the tune. Later during the week I started by teaching the words to the songs. I used charts with the songs written in large print and chanted the words as the children would go repeating after me. I usually added some movement to the singing and encouraged children to copy me.
Young children love songs, especially those paired with movement and this is one of the best ways for them to learn and practice a new language. You can download some of the songs I have written for my books and sung with the children HERE.
