AS A MEANS TO INTRODUCE ENGLISH TO CHILDREN
In this globalization era, English becomes an important language that should be mastered by Indonesian people who still consider English as a foreign language. Therefore, English must be introduced earlier to children who still have a big motivation in accepting knowledge. As Victoria Fromkin, et al. stated in An Introduction to Language, “The younger you are, the easier it seems to be to learn a language.”(1984:369)
The young child-age is the time when the children like to play. Therefore, introducing English to children, a teacher needs to attract their interest by giving English children songs, especially for student of Elementary school who has been acquiring the English subject matter. Buyless and Ramsey stated, “Language development is very important in the child’s total development. Singing is an excellent aid in promoting good language patterns.”(1986:85)
English children songs that are used should be short, simple, in content and original ones. Short and simple in content aim to be easily remembered and understood by children. Meanwhile, original song means that the songs are from country that uses English lyrics.
English children songs can be given before or after the teacher gives an English course. It is even better for students if the teacher explains what those songs mean. In this case, the English teacher is demanded to master English children songs as many as possible.
Anyway, an English children song is one of the supporting media for teaching spoken language through written language that contains many linguistic and educational factors. (Cameron : 2001)
II. DISCUSSION
English children songs which are given to students of four to six grades of elementary school have four advantages, namely motivating students to learn English, increasing student’s vocabularies, helping students to recognize spelling and pronunciation, and giving students knowledge of foreign cultures.
1. Motivating students to learn English
Basically, singing is the expression of the happiness which can happen to children who never have a complicated problem. The happiness can produce a strong motivation to do anything, while the unhappiness reduces the motivation. (Hurlock:1978)
Piece of song below has the fast rhythm that shows the cheerfulness when it is sung.
HAPPY AND CLAP YOUR HAND
If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands (clap clap)
If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands (clap clap)
If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it
If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands. (clap clap)
Students after singing the English songs will be satisfied and proud that they can sing a foreign language song. They will continually sing it and automatically learn the lyric of the song. In addition, on the song above, it is known that by clapping their hands children will get more spirits to sing.
Another song that can motivate students to learn English is Clementine. This song is like a tale that tells about a girl named Clementine who fell into the lake and then she was dead. The plot of this story song will be quite interesting for students, if the teacher can sing and tell this song well. Firstly, the teacher sings it and then tells students what is the song about.
CLEMENTINE
In a cavern, in a canyon, excavating for a mine
Live a miner forty-niner, and his daughter, Clementine
Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Clementine
You are lost and gone forever, dreadful sorry Clementine
Light she was and like a fairy, and her shoes were number nine
Herring boxes without topses, sandals were for Clementine
2. Increasing Student’s Vocabularies
As said by Bayless and Ramsey, “We know that music offers unique possibilities to expand and extend vocabulary. A rich vocabulary is necessary skill for the young child as he grows to adulthood.”(1986:88).
Through the song, students know the English words of many things around them. Such as the song below,
That is the window, that is the door
That is the whiteboard, and that is the floor
Semantically, it has easy words to understand. The word like ‘window’, ‘door’, ‘blackboard’, and ‘floor’ are familiar with students. On the contrary, they will immediately seek out the meaning of unfamiliar words. It will even better if the teacher points out the things related to the word in the song. Anyway, this method is a strong stimulus for students to accept some new words, so that they will be easy to remember the words.
Besides, students begin to recognize the content words like, noun, verb, adjective, or adverb, and also function words such as, preposition, conjunction, article, and others. A piece of song ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ below, informs students about the usage of adjectives.
Mary had a little lamb
Little lamb, little lamb
Mary had a little lamb
It fleece was white as snow
After listening to the song, the students will consider ‘ a little lamb’ as ‘anak biri-biri yang kecil’. It means that the word ‘little’ explain to ‘lamb’, which is a noun. They also will recognize ‘Mary’ as subject and ‘had’ as a verb. However, the students will quite understand so far, if they continually find the same form. Therefore, the more English songs they get, the more vocabularies they have.
3. Helping Students to Recognize Spelling and Pronunciation
Generally, students get difficulties in listening mastery because they do not know the appropriate spelling and pronunciation. So, when hearing the words they can not clearly catch the meaning. By giving English children songs, students will be trained to spell and pronounce the words correctly. They also will be trained to recognize the appropriate spelling and pronunciation by hearing the songs.
Thompson stated that “Speaking has much in common with singing. In both singing and speaking we not only arrange vowels and consonants in a way that makes sense, but we also control loudness, speed, voice quality and pitch.”(1981:1). Although the pronunciation in speaking and singing are different, but at least students will be trained correctly to pronounce a word or even a sentence.
Through the text of English children songs, children will recognize the spelling of each word. So that when they find the same spelling of the words, they will know how to spell them. For instance, the word ‘twinkle’ in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is similar to be spelled with ‘little’. So that, they will not get any troubles in spelling ‘people’, ‘simple’, ‘triple’, ‘bottle’, and others. Generally, in the song, there are always the repetitions of words, like in the song ‘Miss Molly’ below.
Miss Molly had a dolly who was sick sick sick
So she called for the doctor to come quick quick quick
The doctor came with his(her) bag and his(her) hat
And he(she) knocked on the door with a rat a-tat-tat
In that song, student will spell ‘sick’ similar to ‘quick’, and spell ‘hat’ similar to ‘rat’. This repetition makes students easier to recognize the spelling to be memorized.
4. Giving Students Knowledge of Foreign Culture
In English children songs, there are some information and knowledge such as cultures, including name of person, name of places, sports, habit and many others. The English children songs that contain the habitual activity usually inform children about children’s holiday, games, and daily activities that can interest children’s attention in accepting this new information.
From the song below, students will know that Jack is a boy English name, while Jill is a girl English name.
JACK AND JILL
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
....
The song ‘Old MacDonald informs students that MacDonald in that song is not the name of fast food restaurant, but the name of the old farmer. So students will know that MacDonald is actually the name of English man.
OLD MACDONALD
Old MacDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o
And on his farm he had a cow e-i-e-i-o
With a moe, moe here and a moe, moe there
Here moe, There moe, Everywhere moe moe
Old MacDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o
Meanwhile, the song ‘Way out west in Kansas’ below informs students that Kansas is name of a place in America.
WAY OUT WEST IN KANSAS
Folks don’t stay out very late
Way out west in Kansas,
They take the sidewalks in at eight
Way out west in Kansas
It’s some town, by heck, I’ll swear,
You can stand in the old town square
And knock on ev..er..y front door
Way out west to Kansas
However, there is much other information in the songs that will be necessary for children to make easy in comprehending an English text or a discourse.
III. CONCLUSION
English children song is one of supporting media used to introduce English to students especially students of fourth to sixth grade of elementary school who have been learning English subject matter. By learning English children songs, students will get four advantages that are necessary for their English skill development.
Increasing vocabulary, motivating children to learn English, recognizing spelling and pronunciation and knowing the foreign cultures are the advantages that will be acquired after students sing the English children songs. In this activity, the teachers are demanded to master the songs and also know how the way to convey the song to students as effective as possible.
By recognizing those advantages, a teacher is expected to be able to give the new method to introduce English using English children songs.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bayless, M.A.,Kathleen M and Ramsey, Ed.D.,Majorie E.1986. Music - A way of Life for Young Children. Ohio.Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company.
Cameron, Lynne. 2001. Teaching Language to Young Learner. United Kingdom. Camridge University Press.
Hurlock, Elizabeth. B. 1978. Child Development. McGraw-Hill Inc.
Thompson, Ian. 1981. Intonation Practice. Oxford. Oxford University Press.
Fromkin, Victoria, et al. 1984. An Introduction to Language. Australia. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Group Pty limited.
www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics
