Proiectul Internațional “Omul drag de la catedră”
Ediția a III-a 2018-2019
Concurs elevi. Simpozion Internațional dascăli
Inclus în CAERI, anexa 9 din OMEN nr. 3016/09.01.2019, poziția 1518
ISBN 978-606-725-262-0
Teaching
English Through Songs and Stories Using Media Devices
Autor :
Neagu Silvia Mioara
Școala Gimnazială Grigore Dimitrie Ghica , Peretu
, Teleorman
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
Using
various kinds of Media in the classroom has always been a challenge, and how to
bring these Media in the classroom is more than a challenge. Students and
teachers should be able to use in their classrooms different media through
different technologies. Media provide teachers and students with creative and
practical ideas. They enable teachers to meet various needs and interests of
their students. They also provide students with a lot of language practice
through activities using newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, movies, books,
Internet, etc, and tasks which develop reading, writing, speaking and listening
skills. They entertain students and encourage reading English in general, both
inside and outside the classroom, promoting extensive reading by giving the
students the confidence, the motivation and the ability to continue their
reading outside the classroom. Media “inform, amuse, startle, anger, entertain,
thrill, but very seldom leave anyone untouched”. (Shirley Biagy, 1996)
Media Education is important because it develops students’ creative
powers for those images, words and sounds that come to the students from
various Media. Thus, creating more active and critical media users, who will
always be more demanding in the future. Media Education has to do with film and
television, press and radio, their impact on the students’ progress. It has to
do with what to teach through media, when and how. Its aim is to enable
students to develop critical thinking, analyzing and reflecting on their
experiences while using various means of Media .
1.2 TYPES OF MEANS OF MEDIA
1.2.1 Newspapers and the Classroom
Newspapers are easy to be brought in the class in different subjects and
courses, especially in literature,
language classes, etc. There are different purposes and ways for using
newspapers in language classroom. They may be used for the culture they
transmit. The more widely students read, the greater their understanding of
this cultural meaning will be . They may be used for the wide variety of text
types and language styles, not often found in textbooks. At the same time,
newspapers provide a natural source of many of the varieties of Written English
that become very important to students, and valuable for language study as the
students progress.
1.2.2 Magazines in the Classroom
As with newspapers, magazines are resources for different subjects,
cutting out pictures and passages associated with particular topics. Magazines
are also sources in language development in providing pictures to stimulate
verbal or written stories. For example, they may be used for introducing colors
and clothes, means of transport, short stories, stimulating picture discussions
and for other supplementary materials as well, which cover a topic that may be
under discussion in a language class.
1.2.3 Radio
and Education
Radio plays an important part in developing
people’s imagination, in creating pictures in the mind through the power of
words, it stimulates the imagination to fill in the visuals, etc. The listeners
see the drama in their heads. Thus, when radio is used in the classroom it
helps students to promote their
imagination, to voice their creativity. A
lot of radio programs contribute to language learning.
Besides getting new information and
entertainment, in language classes radio helps the pronunciation, the
intonation, the pitch of voice, etc. These might be successful if we undertake
adequate preparation and design carefully graded tasks. Students gain a feeling
of satisfaction from having understood something of an authentic broadcast, we
can see the joy in their faces.
1.2.4
Television and the Classroom
TV programs may be used as warming-up
activities, pre-activities for the coming issue, as supplementary materials for
a certain topic, for up-to-date information, to update the information in the
textbooks, etc. Documentaries are also educational. Documentaries on Wildlife,
on Civil War, on Discovery Channel, and others, have opened valuable windows
for our students. Through them our students can learn about languages,
cultures, science, etc. Some of these documentaries, if carefully selected may
be used successfully in the classrooms and be a part of the curriculum. They
may help students to better understand the subject.
1.2.5
Using Movies to Teach English
We should encourage the students to see as
many films as possible outside the classroom or parts of films in the
classroom. Watching films is very important as it increases their visual and
critical awareness. Watching films in the classroom can be realized through
recording them. Anyway it is difficult to use films in the classroom. Sometimes
they are difficult to understand but Western films for example are easy to
understand because there is a lot of action in them.
While using a film in the classroom to help
our English we have paid attention to the accent, voice, body language,
choosing of the words, training ear and the eye, lifestyle, plot idea, summary,
what’s going on, why and how, and many other things depending on the aim we
have put to ourselves. The overall aim has always been to maximize
comprehension and learn more English. We need to be able to fit films into a
classroom schedule organizing different activities that help this aim. In order
to save time we might tell the story of the film ourselves, illustrating it by
showing three or four key scenes without telling the end.
Another way is the
use of video-cassette. The students may watch the film themselves in the
video-classroom or at home and come the next day and present what they watched
and what happened in the film. Another way of using the films to teach English
is that of comparing the film with the book if the same story appears in both
ways. This kind of activity can be done before or after watching the film, it
can be used to adopt or compare characters, to compare differences and
similarities, using the Venn Diagram, between the book and the film, the
examples might be enumerous.
The book may be used to supplement and
clarify the film, but at the same time the film may be used to illuminate the
book. All these could be done through several activities. We may also give
assignments to our students, write about your favorite film, your favorite
characters, your favorite actors, what makes them your ‘favorites’, the
differences you see if a book has been made into a film, etc.
When a preliminary work is done before
watching the film the above activities may produce interesting writing
activities. These kinds of activities also contribute to the promotion of
critical thinking especially in evaluating films and improving language skills.
Other ways of using films in the classroom
are: segmenting the film, pre-watching, while-watching and post-watching
activities, which are very useful as cloze exercises, quizzes, related
readings, web sites, film presentations, discussions, research work, etc.
Teachers should be creative and decide
themselves for the procedures that they feel that have worked well. Watching a
film in real life is usually fun and relaxing. We , the teachers should try to create a similar
atmosphere in the classroom so that both the teacher and the students enjoy the
film and the tasks along with it.
1.2.6.
Internet for Teachers and Students
Internet is not merely a source of authentic
material in English but also a source of information about all sorts of topics
we may want to discuss in the classroom and at the same time a source of
professional knowledge for teachers in the form of bibliographies, articles, courses
and conferences. Internet helps students and teachers to compare and classify
information, to induce and deduce ideas, to analyze errors, to abstract
concepts, to analyze perspectives, to gather information, to work in teams,
etc.
The Internet is an
excellent tool for locating the latest news not yet published. Information on
the Internet has three characteristics that distinguish it from traditional
classroom materials such as books, supplementary readings, videos and films.
The information on the Internet is extensive, dynamic and readily accessible.
The Internet is nowadays considered to be the
greatest innovation in Information Technology. The number of the users of the
Internet increases dramatically everyday. The benefits and uses of the Internet
for education are growing with every passing day. Internet can make education
more attainable by more people. It can promote improved and new types of
learning.
Some other sophisticated High-tech tools and
learning systems are: Smart Board, Blackboard, etc, which have a lot of
advantages: they save space and time,
they allow teachers to organize courses and lectures, they track students’
progress and they increase students’ participation and autonomy.
CHAPTER II
CONTENT
2.1 THEORIES
If it’s true that
listening skills are the most important outcomes of early language teaching (
Demirel 2004 ) , that explains the constant demand for methods that
successfully improve listening skills of learners .
Listening is the receptive use of
language, and since the goal is to make sense of the speech, the focus is on
meaning rather than language (Cameron 2001). Sarıçoban (1999) states that
listening is the ability to identify and understand what others are saying.
Songs and
stories can be one of the most enjoyable
ways to practice and develop listening skills.Musical expression is an
essential part of the human experience , and children respond enthusiastically
to songs and welcome them .
Many teachers like
to use songs and stories in the English
classroom. Good motivation tools, songs
and stories are fun and relaxing
, and they provide a class with variety and a break from textbooking study .
Particularly with
younger learners , songs and stories are
often used to teach new vocabulary in a nonthreatning , naturalistic manner.
Older students and advanced learners can anlyze lirics and explore a
songwriters language choice and usage , along a with cultural elements such as
social , values , human relationships , spirituality , patrotism and dissent (
Murphey 1992 ) .
Listening is the ability to identify and
understand what others are saying. For learners , listening is how spoken language becomes input ( i.e. , it is
the first stage of learning a new language ) . In the classroom , this happens
by listening to the teacher , a CD , or other learners . It is the process of
interpreting messages – what people say .
2.2 TEACHING
ENGLISH THROUGH STORIES
People in all times
and places have told stories. In the oral tradition, storytelling includes the
teller and the audience. The story teller creates the experience, while the
audience perceives the message and creates personal mental images from the
words heard and the gestures seen.
Most of the children love stories, and
storytelling was regarded as a learning tradition. It plays a very important
role in children’s language learning. With meaningful contexts, natural
repetition, lovely characters and interesting plots, stories can be used to
develop children’s language skills, such as listening, imagination and
predicting.
There are many
reasons for using storytelling in language teaching. Wright (2004) states that
stories which rely so much on words, offer major and consonant source of
language experience for children. Moreover, stories can motivate children,
stimulate children’s imagination and arouse children’s interests, etc.
2.2.1
Stories provide meaningful contexts
When we use storytelling, we are not
only using language in the text but also the whole context which brings out the
meaning. In stories, children learn the language in a meaningful way. In the
teaching and learning process, when the teachers are telling the stories while
the students are listening, they focus on meaning first. Some teachers might
present the new language by repeating saying them several times, and they
require students to listen carefully. They think that the more the teacher
repeats the new language, the better the children will remember it. In this
way, children learn some single words or some sentences.
2.2.2 Stories
can provide natural repetition.
When
the students read the stories, they tend to pay attention to the key words or
new language can be naturally repeated in stories. Children have another
instinct in language learning—picking up chunks.
2.2.3
Children’s listening skill can be developed.
The
use of storytelling in also enhancing
students’ listening skill. While children listen to stories, they try to guess
the meaning of the new words and to grasp the main idea. Thus storytelling
develops children’s listening skill—seeking details. Some teachers require
children to listen carefully when they begin to say the new sentences or words.
While listening, children just concentrate on the pronunciation of the words or
sentences, but not the meaning of it or the meaning of a context. In
storytelling the characteristic needed to improve and motivate students because
in the storytelling, most of the children love, some of teachers love too and
it doesn’t require a lot of preparation .There are many kinds of stories, such
as fables, parables, myths and legends.
2.3
THE ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHING ENGLISH THROUGH STORIES
Pre-storytelling activities are important
because they introduce the topic, they motivate the students to read or listen
to a story, they provoke initial interest in the topic, students start to think
about it, they prepare their minds and show what they know about it. These
activities help teacher anticipate problems in terms of language and concepts
and give space to pre-teach complicated language. Warming up activities relax students .
When
listening or reading the story has
already finished, it’s time for teacher to offer the children some very
important activities. It was said that one of the most considerable quality of
stories in learning process is that they are real fun for young learners. The
teacher can ask the children yes/no or wh-questions.
The young learners also may be asked to decide if some statements are
true or false. Very useful for a comprehension check are the matching
activities; for example “matching characters with phrases they have said,
things they have done or qualities they possess”.
If
these pre, while and post- storytelling activities, mention above help the
children to understand the story fully, to gain more confidence in used English
vocabulary and grammar structures, to become completely aware with the main
points of what was told or read from the teacher and this way to be able to
retell it. Students even are encouraged to create their own stories. This way
the used in the lesson story really is a bridge, connecting language study and
language use and is a source of confidence in understanding and speaking
English .
2.4 TEACHING
ENGLISH THROUGH SONGS
The most proeminent
features of songs that reinforce language acquisition include their rhythmic
and repetitive nature and the joy that association between melody and content
brings to the learning activity . Children have a keen awareness of rhythm ,
and they have not yet experienced the anxiety that can accompany learning a
foreign language . Therefore , songs are considered to be a sine qua non of teaching English to
young learners .
Language
teachers can and should use songs as part of their classroom teaching
repertoire. Songs contain authentic language, are easily obtainable, provide
vocabulary, grammar and cultural aspects and are fun for the students.
They can provide valuable speaking, listening
and language practice in and out of the classroom. Some key reasons songs can
work exceedingly well in the foreign language classroom include the following:
2.4. 1 Songs almost always contain authentic,
natural language
This often contrasts the contrived, stilted language found in many student texts. Of course songs can also go to the other extreme by using overly crude, foul or otherwise objectionable language. With careful screening, an extensive library of usable songs for language learning can be compiled.
This often contrasts the contrived, stilted language found in many student texts. Of course songs can also go to the other extreme by using overly crude, foul or otherwise objectionable language. With careful screening, an extensive library of usable songs for language learning can be compiled.
2.4.2 A variety of new vocabulary can be
introduced to students through songs
Looking to boost student vocabulary with useful phrases, vocabulary and expressions? Songs are almost always directed to the native-speaking population so they usually contain contemporary vocabulary, idioms and expressions.
Looking to boost student vocabulary with useful phrases, vocabulary and expressions? Songs are almost always directed to the native-speaking population so they usually contain contemporary vocabulary, idioms and expressions.
2.4.3 Songs are usually very easily obtainable
Local sources may be available including the students themselves. There’s always the internet which can connect you with song downloads in all but the most obscure languages.
Local sources may be available including the students themselves. There’s always the internet which can connect you with song downloads in all but the most obscure languages.
2.4.4 Songs
can be selected to suit the needs and interests of the students
In English especially, so many songs are available that selection of songs with suitable themes, levels and vocabulary is not at all difficult. Allowances can also be made for complexity or simplicity of language, depending on the students, by selecting and using suitable songs.
In English especially, so many songs are available that selection of songs with suitable themes, levels and vocabulary is not at all difficult. Allowances can also be made for complexity or simplicity of language, depending on the students, by selecting and using suitable songs.
2.4.5
Grammar and cultural aspects can be introduced through songs
Most if not all songs have a recurring theme or story. So excerpting cultural elements is usually a possible, but often overlooked aspect of using songs. “Hit the Road Jack” sung by the late Ray Charles illustrates spoken contractions. He uses spoken contractions is virtually every line of the song.
Most if not all songs have a recurring theme or story. So excerpting cultural elements is usually a possible, but often overlooked aspect of using songs. “Hit the Road Jack” sung by the late Ray Charles illustrates spoken contractions. He uses spoken contractions is virtually every line of the song.
2.4.
6 Time length is easily controlled
Whether you have an hour, 30 minutes, or only 15 minutes or so, a song can be used in the course of a planned lesson. Use of songs is very flexible.
Whether you have an hour, 30 minutes, or only 15 minutes or so, a song can be used in the course of a planned lesson. Use of songs is very flexible.
2.4.7 Students can experience a wide range of
accents
A good thing about songs is that you can expose the students to many different kinds of English. British English, American English, Caribbean English are all widely available through songs. Accents too are well represented by songs from different regions and in a variety of types and formats :gospel, soul, r & b, pop, rock, reggae, jazz and other styles change not only accents, but vocabulary and usage too.
A good thing about songs is that you can expose the students to many different kinds of English. British English, American English, Caribbean English are all widely available through songs. Accents too are well represented by songs from different regions and in a variety of types and formats :gospel, soul, r & b, pop, rock, reggae, jazz and other styles change not only accents, but vocabulary and usage too.
2.4.8 Song lyrics can be used in relating to
situations of the world around us
Songs have been used as vehicles of protest for civil rights, workers’ rights, along with an untold number of other causes. They’ve expounded on pollution, crime, war and almost every social theme or cause.
Songs have been used as vehicles of protest for civil rights, workers’ rights, along with an untold number of other causes. They’ve expounded on pollution, crime, war and almost every social theme or cause.
2.5 THE ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHING ENGLISH THROUGH SONGS
Stage 1 :
Pre-teaching activities
According to
Davies and Pearse (2000), this stage is useful to prepare the learners for what
they are going to hear, just as we usually prepare for real-life situations.
Important points to consider for this stage are as follows:
Ø To get the students interested in the topic of the song and to warm
them up.Next, read the title of the song aloud, and explain it through actions
and visuals.
Ø Ask the students if they already know any words in English related to
the title of the song. On the board, write any English words that the students
mention.
Ø Finally, explain the unknown vocabulary from the song through actions
and visuals.
Stage 2: While-teaching activities
This stage is
useful to help the learners understand the text through activities.Here are the
activities:
Ø First listening. The aim of the first listening, as pointed out by Harmer (1991), is to
give students an idea of what the listening material sounds like. Let the
students listen to the song without any interruptions so that they will have an
opportunity to hear the music and the lyrics.. After the free listening, tell
the students to look at the lyrics of the song (from the handout, textbook,
board, or screen ), since this is probably the best time to let students see
and read the lyrics.
Next, read
the lyrics of the song aloud and ask the students to listen and follow from the
handout. Finally, read the lyrics aloud line by line and ask the students to
repeat every line aloud. After completed the repetition phase, use the actions
for the song. Read every line aloud, demonstrate the associated actions, and
ask the students to do the same actions. The following well-known song, “Head,
Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” teacher
can illustrates the activity.
Ø Second listening. Play the song again and guide the students both by singing and doing
the actions that you have already taught. This time, ask the students to just
listen and do the actions under your guidance. Hearing the teacher sing the
song and seeing the teacher do the actions help students overcome feelings of
shyness and lack of confidence.
Ø Third listening. This is the stage when students are asked to sing the song along with
the CD or the teacher line by line. As a teacher, check for correct intonation
of language—not music—and pronunciation, and do some remedial work on any
problematic intonation or pronunciation
Ø Fourth listening. Ask the students to sing the complete song along with the CD and join
in the singing yourself. Also, ask the students to do the accompanying actions.
Stage
3: Post-teaching activities
This stage is
generally accepted as the stage when the teacher moves on from listening
practice to focus on other language skills such as reading, speaking, and
writing.
By using songs in
the classroom, students can practice their listening skills and increase their
cultural knowledge. The pronunciation and rhythm lessons are the same as for
the children’s songs and the lessons may help students become more interested
in different types of songs. Practicing lyric reading, studying the vocabulary,
and listening to various songs can help students become more familiar with popular
songs and make them more confident in their ability to listen and understand
the world around them (Brown, 2006).
CHAPTER III
CONCLUSION
3.1
Teaching English through songs
and stories using Media devices
Listening skill
using Media devices is one of the basics
of learning languages and acquiring them is very important in language
learning. It is better to look for good method and modern in teaching listening. We can use some
activities that can stimulate the students to improve their listening skill the
activities such as listen to English songs, playing games, and using story.
In listening English
songs, students can listen to the pronunciation of words and sing along with
the songs. Using storytelling in early age aims to make a student able to
listen carefully what the speaker say, a student can ask anything, then they
can express their mind. Teachers can help students practice and reinforce their
listening abilities daily in the classroom. Improve listening skill by using
songs and stories so that the lessons
can be understood and implemented gradually.
REFERENCES
Jeremy Harmer ,
2001. The practice of English language teaching , Longman
Preda Bălan, Anca Cehan, Cristina Ciută, Mihaela
Dascălu, Elza Gheorghiu,
Eleonora Olaru , 2003 In-service distnace trening
course for teachers of English , Polirom
Mustafa Șevik, 2012 English teaching forum Volume 50
Number 3
Noriko Ishihara , 2003. English teaching forum Volume
42 Number 1
Shahla Yassai , 2012. English teaching forum Volume 50
Number 1
www.ebooks.com
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