1. LGA3102
Songs and Poetry for Young Learners
PEDAGOGICAL PRINCIPLES OF
TEACHING SONGS AND POETRY TO
YOUNG LEARNERS

2. SONGS
• A short poem or other set of words set to
music or meant to be sung.
• Music is highly memorable and motivating.
• Songs, rhymes and chants are ideal tools to be
used in the language classroom.
• It can develop all skills in an integrated way
and encourage physical involvement.

3. POETRY
• writing which gives children the opportunity
to explore the power of words and to play
with the rhythms and patterns of language.
• Children need a stimulus, model or framework
to support their writing.
• It often works well to create a poem
collaboratively with the whole class first
before children work on their own poems
individually, or in pairs or groups.

4. Pedagogical principles of teaching
songs and poetry to young learners
culture
content
interest
values
age
resources
proficiency level

5. CULTURE
• Learning this authentic material pupils get to
know parts of a foreign culture.
• It satisfies children’s natural curiosity about
everything new.
• Create a suitable context for learning – this needs
to be natural, real and make sense to the child.
• It also needs to allow for the active discovery and
construction of meaning, and lead to the use of
language as a vehicle to do things which are
relevant and purposeful.

6. • Being familiar with songs and rhymes in a
foreign language pupils feel closer to the
foreign culture and its language.
• If the pupils hear the same melodies or similar
rhymes they are astonished at the parallels
between their own culture and the foreign
one.
• So the foreign cultures aren’t alarming and

7. CONTENT
• We need to think about the status of the
vocabulary in our lessons.
• We need to make sure that the meaning is
clear.
• We need to encourage children to notice the
form.
• We need to provide a variety of opportunities
for recognising, practising and using the songs
and poems.

8. INTEREST
• We need to create opportunities for children
to extend and develop their skills according to
their personal interests and abilities.
• The songs and poems need to have the
motivation, develop imagination, stimulate
curiosity, draw on personal
experience, encourage participation and
create a desire to continue learning

9. VALUES
• Relate learning to personal experiences
• whenever possible, provide opportunities for
children to make connections between their
understanding of lesson themes and their own
personal experiences.
• This consolidates understanding and promotes
‘ownership’ of learning.

10. • Model behaviour that you would also like the
children to adopt.
• For example, be polite and well-
mannered, use ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ when
you ask them to do things, smile and greet
them whether in or out of the classroom.

11. AGE
• Teachers are offered a great variety of stories, which
are appropriate for the age group they teach and the
level of the language their children have a grasp of.
• Too complicated and difficult stories may have
discouraging affects on children.
• Children can understand literature in simple words and
teacher should use materials that are easy to explain
about.
• The songs and poetry needs to be related to their lives
and fantasy as children in their ages have their own
imagination.

12. RESOURCES
 When selecting songs and poems:
• Include different poets, genres, topics, and themes.
• Cover multiple time periods (historical
past, present, future).
• Include literature with a collection of unforgettable
characters.
 Teacher can select their own collection of literature
materials.
 The materials also can be found in the text book or you
can make different by choosing the materials from
other colleague.

13. PROFICIENCY LEVEL
• Use speech appropriate to children’s
proficiency level – take a leaf out of the book
of parents and careers and adapt the speech
you use to make it comprehensible, especially
to very young children.
• This may mean, for example, simplifying the
sentence you use, using repetition and
speaking at a slower pace.

14. REFERENCE
• Peter Edelenbos. (2006). The Main
Pedagogical Principles Underlying The
Teaching Of Languages To Very Young
Learners. Retrieved at
http://ec.europa.eu/languages/documents/do
c427_en.pdf

15. THANK YOU