Charlie Morrison from the Greater Manchester Youth Music Action Zone, explains how singing can be used as a tool to help children learning English as a second language
Last year, the Greater Manchester Youth Music Action Zone (GMMAZ) was chosen to deliver part of Sing Up’s national Beyond the Mainstream initiative, working with children outside of mainstream primary education. We teamed up with a Pupil Referral Unit in Bolton, called Starting Point, for children from Early Years up to KS4 who were about to enter the UK education system for the first time.
Many of the children come from challenging circumstances; refugees and asylum seekers, some from warring countries or backgrounds of poverty, leading to trauma, non-attendance of school in their country of origin, and in some cases having to take on great responsibility in their families. For these children, acclimatising to the UK and school life can be a very big step.
A good start
Starting Point acts as a buffer, where children can settle into their new environment, learn about routines, customs and basic language, building their knowledge and confidence in a school environment before being exposed to a mainstream school. However, it achieves more than that – there’s a real focus on talent and individuality. The standard of behaviour is high and children are helped to find their voice, be themselves and develop their strengths. Impromptu singing solos were not uncommon with some children later in the project!
We wanted a project that worked closely with the children and identified the changes that singing could bring to their schooling experience and personal development. We also wanted to work with the expert teachers, building a strong dialogue with them around what worked, what didn’t, and why. This was the best way we could ensure we’d leave behind a sustainable singing programme.
These teachers and TAs face very specific challenges on a daily basis, which many can probably relate to, although on a much larger scale. Sensitive issues around many of the children’s experiences have to be considered at all times given their backgrounds. The teachers at Starting Point teach an extended curriculum since they have to introduce cultural practices, from daily routines to queuing to greeting, as well as standard National Curriculum subjects.
Learning techniques
There are huge language barriers at Starting Point, too – more than 96 different languages have been spoken at the school since its opening! There is also a wide variation in English levels between children within the same class. And this doesn’t necessarily correlate to age, so depending on their background, a five-year-old could be more competent than a 10-year-old. Regardless of this, during our project all the children joined in, often without needing to know the words. As one teacher explained: ”They can’t always speak together because they don’t have shared language but they can, and do, sing together.”
To aid learning, we introduced ‘prop bags’ to accompany some of the regular repertoire. Each song had its own bag, containing plastic flowers, candles with light switches, and toy animals. These enabled children to feel included in songs through the props and actions before needing a full understanding of the language. Singing animateur Beth Allen explained: “[the bags] would make a song complete, adding to the sensory experience and enhancing group inclusion – a new child can still join in with props and actions by copying, and then develop understanding of the actions later.”
We also noticed that routine songs with actions received more undivided attention than spoken instructions. Songs such as H.E.L.L.O helped the children understand some basic concepts. So we spent some time composing and teaching songwriting skills to make these routine songs and others more specific.
Songwriting is such a great tool and has many advantages:
- it’s inclusive and engaging to both teachers and children
- it can be used to reinforce learning specific to the day’s lessons
- language can be relevant to a particular age group
- it could be as simple as changing lyrics to an existing melody or backing track
- the analysis of language when putting together words enhances learning, reinforcing and making it memorable.
Eventually, teachers were composing their own songs around subjects and curriculum topics, using suggestions from the children.
By the end of the project, all staff recognised that singing was helping the children develop their language, confidence, social skills and ability to adapt to school – at Starting Point and in mainstream schools. We generated a lot of feedback, and we’re pleased that 100% of teachers said the project increased the amount of singing done in and out of the classroom. However, my favourite comment was in answer to the question: “Are there any aspects of the project that you really liked?” One teacher responded, “The smiles on the children’s faces”.
Accumulative songs or songs which enable repetition are popular – as it’s easy to join in gradually – and great to help with learning of new words and pronunciation.
Use a prop box! The better the props (our huge, scary spider went down a storm) the more you can sing a song endlessly, enabling repetition without losing any enjoyment value. The children love to ‘have a go’ with the props, and it creates another level of interest and stimulation. Also, toys and objects stimulate the beginnings of lines, language and association, as well as inclusion – a child can hold the prop before understanding or joining in the song, and still feel part of it.
Find songs with silly sounds, or non-words (‘na-na-na’, animal sounds). The children recognise these sounds universally as non-words – they know it’s not another word to learn or remember, so they enjoy it when they crop up in the song – it can be almost a relief. The sounds work as a hook for all linguistic levels in a group – as there are often many – and because every child joins in with these sections, it really helps to create energy and enjoyment, propelling the song forward.
Take note
GMMAZ is a Youth Music Action Zone, one of a network of 21 across the UK. It specifically targets areas of deprivation and provides a range of music making opportunities for children and young people in each area. GMMAZ works throughout Greater Manchester delivering music-making activities for all 10 boroughs.
Visit www.gmmaz.org.uk and www.youthmusic.org.uk for more information.
Song Bank
Here is a list of songs – many of which are available in the Song Bank – which went down well. All were animated with props, noises and actions!
KS1
Incy, wincy spider or There's a spider on the floor (with big rubber spider!)
Little green frog (complete with squeezable frog prop)
Take your little light (with pretend candles) – great for teaching prepositions- – up, over, behind, under
KS2
I once saw an elephant (with props)
10 in the bed – with actions (stood in a row) and acting out
When I first came to this land – with actions and silly sounds
Other songs to try
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