DiscussiononteachingEnglishsongsinprimaryschool

康小輝

【Abstract】English is a foreign language for the pupils in primary school in China.There are giant differences between English and our mother tongue——Chinese， and we don't have the real situation for the English study，which makes it more difficult.Primary school is the key stage of gaining a language，and the result depends on their interest during the learning，to a large extent.As we know， pupils like singing and dancing ，they're lively and active， easy to shift attention，and has great capability to imitate. Songs are popping，easy to pronounce and recite，lively and active，which correspond with the pupil's cognition characteristic and the law of somatopsychic development.Furthermore，they enrich the teaching，provoke the interests，memory new knowledge，break through teaching difficult points.This essay mainly discusses about the application of English songs in the primary school teaching，also，I will share with you some experiences of teaching English songs in a primary school for six years.

【Key words】songs； primary school students； application； experience

Introduction

In recent years， the English teaching methods have been optimized and obtained good results with the English Teaching Reform.But put them into practice，some of them turn out to be unpractical or do not attain the ideal effect.Why？Some of the teachers still concern about finishing the teaching tasks，which ignores the interest of learning English .If we can use the songs to help the pupil's learning English，the learning efficiency will soon be enhanced.

The functions of songs in English teaching in primary school

1.Helping pupils master the right pronunciation and tune and improve their language sense.Songs can help the pupils for their characteristics of rhymes.We know，it is very hard for Chinese pupils to master the rhythm because of the giant differences between English and our mother tongue，and songs are the best materials to practice.

【Example 1】Take a phonetic symbol teaching [eI]for example.In order to practice this symbol ，I teach the song Rain，rain，go away，the lyrics are as follows：

Rain，rain，go away

Come again some other day

Little Johnny wants to play

Rain，rain，go away（repeat）

2. Inspiring the pupils' creative thinking and great imagination.One of the tasks of the English courses of basic education is to develop the pupils' abilities of observing，memory，thinking，imagination and spirit of creativity.And the magic songs can.

【Example 2】（Fun With English 5A Unit3 At a Music lesson）

In this unit we have a song We can sing and dance in the book，

The lyrics are：

You can dance and we can sing.

They can play the violin.

Are you ready？Let's begin.

Let's dance，let's sing and play the violin.

After they can sing the song，I encourage the pupils to recompose the song，the pupils are all happy and want to show me their unique works.Their imagination and creativity are surprising and miraculous.

One of the composed lyrics are：

You can swim and we can ski.

They can make a model plane.

Are you ready？Let's begin.

Let's swim，let's ski and make a model plane.

3. Helping the pupils to study ，memory some words and grammar.

According to Ebbinghaus illusion，pupils tend to forget ，so what they learned must be consolidated on time ，which can be kept in their mind in a relatively longer period of time.If the teachers just summarize like they were junior high school students or senior high school students，children will feel tedium which may restrain their memory.Hence，we can make use of the songs to stimulate their brain ，thus increasing memory effect.

【Example 3】When I teach the grammar “l(fā)ove plus the plural forms of the countable noun”，it is not difficult to remember the rules ，but it's not easy not to make mistakes when they put it into practice.Therefore，I decide to teach them an English song I love the mountains.First I drew the new words on the blackboard and tried to make me understood.（The words are mountains ，rolling rills，flowers，daffodils，fireside）.Then I ask the pupils to listen to what I love.At last I asked them to recompose the song. The lyrics are as follows：

Boom de ah da， boom de ah da.

Boom de ah da， boom de ay.

Boom de ah da， boom de ah da.

Boom de ah da， boom de ay.

I love the mountains.

I love the rolling hills.

I love the flowers.

I love the daffodils.

I love the fireside when all the lights are low.

Boom de ah da， boom de ah da.

Boom de ah da， boom de ah ay.

Boom de ah da， boom de ah da.

Boom de ah da， boom de ay.

Boom， boom， boom.

In the song，pupils not only learn some new words，but also learn the grammar，the most important ，they enjoy learning itself.

4. Songs can help pupils improve their abilities of reading and writing.Writing is one of the most important skills pupils should master in primary school.We can compose the key words or sentence patterns into the song，which can be caverned out ，pupils can fill in the blanks in this way.When teaching the sentence pattern“It's time for...”，one of the teacher use the song Round the clock.

Round the clock the hours go.

Sometimes fast and sometimes slow.

Tell me what the two hands say.

They will tell the time of day.

_________o'clock，it's time for____________.

...

Eight o'clock，it's time for bed.

Come with me you sleepy head.

In this way，pupils started to write the song according to their timetables.And then the teacher asked the pupils to sing the song to tell others about his one day life.The task laid a solid foundation for their writing ability.Meanwhile，pupils may get the idea of cherishing time.

Current situation

Nowadays， more and more teachers tend to begin or end their classes with English songs for creating a good atmosphere for pupils' learning English.And the new published Standard of English Curruculum clearly states the objectives and requirements of song teaching.Level 1（for the pupils of Grade three and four），they're required to sing 15-20 simple English songs .Level 2（for the pupils of Grade five and six ） ，they are required to sing 30-40 English songs. From it，we know songs play an important role in the English teaching in primary school.Even so，many of the students in primary school cannot sing so many English songs as the English Curruculum states for some reasons.

The reasons

First and foremost，songs are not one of the testing items.We may test their listening，reading，writing through a piece of paper and speaking through an oral English test.As to songs，there is not a system which can test the pupils' abilities in singing English songs from certain aspects. So the teachers don't spare no effort to teach songs .

Second ，no textbook about English songs in primary school is published.As we know ，teachers should teach according to the textbooks，they don't have the teaching materials，then how to teach？ In my opinion ，a book about English songs that is suitable for primary school students to learn is absolutely necessary.

Third，there is no qualified teachers.It is known that only the talented teachers ，can they teach the songs in the way the pupils love. Teaching songs ，the teachers should be good at the field of singing，dancing，drawing ect.When teaching ，the body language speaks for itself.What's more， teachers must have the ability of playing the piano.In this way，few teachers are qualified of teaching songs.

Fourth，the pupils' ability of learning is limited，to some extent.English is a foreign language which is difficult to learn to our pupils.So，the pupils are able to sing simple songs after repeating several times，but as to some difficult songs，though they're interesting，it's out of their ability to learn.

The problems we need to pay attention to when using songs in our teaching.

First is interest.Pupils have interest in songs，but teachers can't teach the songs fixedly. On the contrary，we should try different ways to teach songs.

Second is accuracy.It is not our purpose to teach the songs to arouse the pupils' interest in learning English，learning songs is only a means or a tool of gaining the language itself.Sometimes ，the beat may too quick for the primary school pupils to follow，so some of the consonants won't be sung out.We should ask the pupils to slow down and pronounce clearly and correctly.After they are skilled ，we can add the rhythm.Last is choosing.The beat of the song should be easy for them to move their body.

If they can't do so in class，the teaching may turn out to be a failure.

Conclusion

Songs make the English learning more interesting.Songs are not only a musical form ，but also one of the important means of education.Combining songs with our English teaching in primary school，is a good way of improving the pupils' English study.Most important，learning for fun is what we teachers pursue all our life.Whereas，it is just a kind of means，we should make proper use of it.

References：

[1]Xue Xiaofang，2007Provoking Interests，promoting English Teaching[M].Shandong Press.

[2]Hu Rong，1997，Effects of Music in English[M].Jiling Press.

[3]Song Jinyan，2005，Learning English by means of songs，Liaoning education Press.

[4]Fang Fang，Effects and functions of songs in teaching English，Shandong Foreign University.