Abstract

Teaching English to Young Learners has become a trend nowadays. In every school, English is taught as one of the main subjects. In teaching young learners is not like teaching adults, children have their own way of learning. Since children like to play and have fun, the learning and teaching process should be suited with the nature of the children themselves.

One of the forms of fun activities for children is through music,and songs are the common form of music that children know. Through this paper, the writer wants to show that through songs, children could enhance their language skills, such as speaking, listening and writing.

Singing a song, however simple, is a pleasing achievement. After the children listen to the song, they would attempt to sing it. Moreover, since the words in the refrain are repeated several times, they are easily memorized. As Rixon (2000) says that one of the most popular formats for songs is that the refrain (a rhythmic section) is repeated many times, and has often been observed to result in spontaneous ‘joining in’ by the young audience. Teacher of young learners of a language experienced that this exposure to rhythmic utterances benefits retention of words in memory. Griffee (1992) also states that the children practice saying the words in the same way they sing the songs, the children can repeat the words in rhythmic word groups. Thus, the exposure and the repeated words from the songs make it easier for the children to remember the words as a result the children can produce or utter the words. Several activities that can be used to enhance the children speaking skills, for example mini musicals. A mini musical is a performance that has some sort of theme, and contains some singing and some spoken dialogue. Songs can be grouped and be performed for the class. 

The teacher select a theme for the musical, three to five songs. The songs need to be singable, but the teacher can use only part of the songs, for example, one or two verses of the whole song. The teacher can also consider the children’s songs and folk songs. The teachers then write all the spoken dialogues to introduce and connect the story line, and ask the children to perform in front of the class. Another activity is rhyme after rhyme. This activity practices rhyme and gives the children a chance to make up rhymes of their own. The teachers help the children by writing down several vocabulary items to match with the rhyme. The teachers give the children every other line and ask them to fill in the missing lines. The teachers then ask the children to read their new lyrics. Finally, the children listen to the original lyrics to compare, for example:

The bells ring, are you listening?

In the land, snow is ____________.

Another activity that can be used is song poetry. The teachers give the children lyrics, ask them to underline the lines or phrases they like. The teachers also give the children some pictures, or drawings, and ask the children to match the song line with a picture they feel appropriate. The teacher also asks the children to say the phrases that they choose, and tell their friends the reason for choosing it. The box below shows as examples.

After the children learn to listen and speak the words, it is now the time for the children to learn to write. Apart from writing down the lyrics there are many ways to exploit songs for writing practice. According to Griffee, songs that tell a story do not quite often suggest a narrative that can be written down, and many pieces of music without words convey dramatic narrative to the imagination (1992). There are several activities that suggest various way of getting the children to write, inspired by songs and music. The first activity that can be used to enhance the children writing skills is dictation.