SINGING, nursery rhymes and language

Music in early childhood has been shown to ignite all child development and skills.

Singing enhances language acquisition and development regardless of the manner, musical abilities, and level of language proficiency.

Songs must have a catchy and simple melody for language transfer, and singing nursery rhymes helps children identify rhyming words sounds and encourages anticipation for the following recalled phrase.

Language is a system of communication that consists of sounds, signs and gestures that are used as an important means of communicating thoughts, ideas, and emotions from one individual to another.

Language challenges us to construct new cognitive learning frameworks and requires hours of repetition and practice. This can sound very formal, difficult, and boring, but there is a fun way to learn languages.

Fun learning is holistic learning, which nurtures the whole child, everyone processes and learns information in diverse ways. Listening and speaking play a huge role in language development, so using rhymes and singing to enhance language skills can be beneficial for the following reasons:

• Singing slows language down, which helps children become aware of the relationships between sounds and tones. This results in more accurate vocal skills.

• Singing boosts vocabulary and language skills because the children listen attentively and produce a variety of sounds when interacting actively with the songs.

• Singing helps children develop fluency of oral communication skills as they learn how language is constructed, pronounced, and used in sentences in a more natural and rhythmical manner.

• Singing exercises lip, tongue movement and ‘muscle memory.’

• Music enhances a child’s concentration levels and listening skills.

• Singing in a foreign language can significantly improve learning internalization of language structure and how to speak it.