Conducting Fun Learning through Nursery Rhymes for English Young Learners

            Greater amount of English young learners are recorded every year, a sign that learning English in such young age is becoming a trend. However, realizing the age range, some materials are considered too difficult so that a fun way of learning should be conducted to reach the young learners’ comprehension, one of which is using nursery rhymes. Nursery rhymes are fun, children love them, and they provide a warm, nurturing experience between parent and child. (KBYU eleven, 2010). Although many people think that nursery rhymes is nonsense in English learning, I am sure that it actually helps the learners a lot. Thus, we should to learn English by nursery rhymes.

            According to Collins Advance Learner’s Dictionary, nursery rhyme is a poem or song for young children, especially one that is old or well known. The use of traditional rhymes and songs can create an excellent learning experience (Brown, 2006: 5 in Cahyono, B. Y., 2012). Some nursery rhymes have a long history behind their simple lyrics. In previous era, nursery rhymes are intended to help babies and children sleep, but nowadays, they help young learners learn English in a fun way.

            Most importantly, using nursery rhymes to conduct fun learning is motivating the young learners to learn English because it promotes a view that English is not a difficult subject. Filmer (in Cahyono, B. Y., 2007) stated that “nursery rhymes skill seems to be essential in teaching children about the love of English” (Cahyono, B. Y., 2012: 231). Moreover, children like moving around and cannot hold their attention for a long time (Fachrurrazy, 2011: ) so that singing nursery rhymes in class will relatively more interesting than just sitting down and listening to the teacher. For example, while learning the name of the days in English. Instead of memorizing the list, young learners can sing happily the rhyme “The Days of the Week” (anonymous):

The Days of the Week

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday

Wednesday and Thursday

Friday, Saturday

Oh those are the days of the week

It helps the young learners to memorize the order of the name of the day better. Nursery rhymes with rich language materials like “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” can also be used as a material for the teaching of English for the young learners (Cahyono, B. Y., 2012: 232).

            Many people think that nursery rhymes are just wasting time because they have nothing to do with the English learning. It is unconsiously give them new vocabulary items plus introduces them to the target language’s habit. Take “I Have Two Hands” rhyme as an example (anonymous):

I Have Two Hands

            I have two hands, the left and the right

            Hold them up high so clean and bright

            Clap them softly one, two, three

            Clean little hands are good to see

            My face is bright, my teeth are white

            My dress is clean and so all of me

            Come, dear playmates, follow me

            So that our mothers will be happy

Young learners may take some words as their new vocabulary items which later will be useful in using their productive skills. In addition, the rhyme also introduces them to a habit, which is being clean. From the rhyme, they can learn that English people are also keep themselves clean as here in Indonesia. By knowing this, young learners actually learn better than just reading it.

            Some people say that it takes quite time to memorize the rhymes, or else, it will be forgotten. In fact, most nursery rhymes are likely ‘stuck in the head’. They come in simple tunes and lyrics which have generous amount of repetition (Cahyono, B. Y., 2012: 230). Thus, no need to worry that the learners will take too much time memorizing a rhyme. Once they know the rhyme, they will try singing it by themselves and automatically memorize the lyrics. For example, “Humpty Dumpty” by anonymous:

Humpty Dumpty

            Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall

            Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

            All the king’s horses and all the king’s men

            Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again

The rhyme is very simple and it keeps on repeating the same lyric, Humpty Dumpty, in almost every line it has. Thus, “nursery rhymes can be sung, remembered well, and last for centuries” (Cahyono, B. Y., 2012: 231).

            In conclusion, nursery rhymes are strongly recommended to conduct a fun learning for English young learners. The use of nursery rhymes is considerable because they unconsciously give the learners new vocabulary items and introduce the target language’s habit, easy to remember, and promotes the view that English is not a difficult subject to learn. Let’s sing together!

References:

Cahyono, B. Y. 2012. Using Nursery Rhyme to Teach English. In Cahyono, B. Y. (Editor), Teaching English by Using Various Text Types. Malang: State University of Malang Press.

Fachrurrazy. 2011. Teaching English as a Foreign Language for Teachers in Indonesia. Malang: State University of Malang Press.

KBBYU Eleven. 2010. Rhymers Are Readers:  The Importance of Nursery Rhymes. kbbyun.org

By: Agung Bimo B

Final Project