Early Childhood Learning Through Songs - Essay Example

 Early Childhood Learning Through Songs How do dual languages children from 1-3 years old recognize the name of shapes/identify shapes through songs and visual recognition in English in multicultural schools? The factors that determine the way children learn include age, personality and the learning style. Some children learn better through verbal communication while others learn better through visual recognition. All children are different and knowing which way they best understand is important in ensuring that they learn shapes through songs (NAEYC, 2010). There are different learning stages for children and during their early years is when they learn a lot of things that shape who they become. Their understanding grows as they grow because as an infant, they can only learn through senses and as they grow they begin to learn how to reason and think differently. Young children learn better when given examples that relate to them. Age is a determining factor when learning because children understand differently depending on how old they are (MacBlain, 2014). As children grow, they reach an age where by they have to start attending school and learn more. Most children enjoy learning songs because they are fun and usually easy. A child is more likely to remember something they learnt through a song than something they were taught through simple verbal communication. They are moreover more liable to remember something they were taught through a story or a game. This is because at their young age, they can only reason and think to a certain level (Ostroff, 2012). Children are taught different things at different stages of their academic life. Some of the things they learn as beginners are how to write their names, letters and sounds, shapes, numbers and simple songs. Songs are a good way to learn since most of children’s songs have simple actions that go with them. Children love singing along to songs and listening or watching kid’s songs. There are different strategies that can be used in helping dual language children learn the name of shapes through songs (Priddy, 2011). One of the strategies is creating a welcoming environment in the classroom and playing area. These may include pictures, posters and books that have children’s languages and cultures. The second strategy may be inquiring from the child’s family about their interests in order to incorporate them in the learning. The third strategy is providing opportunities for the children to share stories and information in English. The fourth strategy is learning about each child’s background and experiences (Feldman, 2011) Multicultural schools have children from different backgrounds and experiences. They therefore learn and understand differently so one strategy cannot be used for all of them. Due to this challenge it is important to understand each child by involving their parents or guardians in their learning process. English being a new language, it takes patience to help them learn, understand and remember. Once their background is known it is easier to start with basic English words then words that relate to their common cultural activities.(Berk, 2012). The first stage of teaching children the shapes is showing them how the shapes look like. Seeing the shapes gives them a picture they can put in their minds whenever they hear the names of the shapes. Once they have the names and pictures then they can learn a few items that have similar shapes. A good example of something with an oval shape is an egg while that with a circular shape is a ball. Most of these items are things children come across often and so they are easy to remember. At their early stages, children relate things with pictures (Feldman, 2011). Once they have learnt the different shapes, their names and items they can relate to, they can then be taught simple songs relating to the shapes. The songs are usually simple, short and with some actions. The actions include dancing, moving around and different symbols made by their hands. Learning shapes through songs does not only teach them about the shapes. Children learn various skills as they sing to such songs. They include singing skills, listening skills and vocabulary. Singing has different notes and scales that children learn. For the children to learn the songs and sing along they need to listen (Siegel & Bryson, 2012). When children learn something new they get very excited and usually want to repeat the same song over and over again. These songs help children become interactive and social. This results in them being confident and having a high self-esteem. This is because they have learnt something new; they can remember it and they feel good about it. This clearly shows that singing for children has many values and not just useful in helping to learn different things. These values help the children as they develop in their different stages (Medina, 2011). Songs have rhythm that regulates how they sound and their notes. This makes it feasible for children to make out beats of familiar songs and sing along to them. Children who sing along to songs are more likely to identify beats than those who do not sing. This means that singing helps them to remember what they learnt through a song whenever they hear them. Learning the skills of singing and listening is also helpful in learning other things that might not be taught through songs. This is because once a child has learnt to listen they will be more attentive even to words that might not be put forward through a song (Santrock, 2010). Singing has other values, which include improving vocabulary, reading skills and memorization. Songs have different words and singing them helps children in recognizing words and learning their pronunciation. This helps in improving their vocabulary as they learn different words their meanings and pronunciations. Once children have learnt a song, they tend to sing it repeatedly and eventually sing without having to look at the words. Children that sing along have better memory than those that do not because they exercise a part of their brain that deals with long-term memory (A Child’s Early Concepts, 2011). Another important value that children learn through songs is interacting and playing with other children. Most children songs involve some activity that needs them to dance or do certain activities in pairs or in small groups. This helps the children in developing communication skills and accommodating different people in their lives. This is for the reason that they all come from unlike backgrounds and behave differently. Singing therefore helps them to interact and get used to different behaviors of other children (NAEYC, 2010). Dual language children tend to recognize the name of shapes in English due to their simplicity and common use in the day-to-day lives. They also learn the simple things before moving on to things that are more complex. This helps them in developing their language skills and being able to recognize more words as they continue learning. There are varieties of twofold language programs that are used in helping children learn at their different stages. Once dual language children learn the name of shapes they are able to learn more and communicate with the same language (Ostroff, 2012). It is therefore clear that dual language children learn the name of shapes in English by first having a good learning environment, teachers who understand their cultural background and interests, being taught according to their learning pace and interacting with other children in playing games and singing to songs that help them to learn. Being in multicultural schools gives them an opportunity to be exposed to other cultures and realize that they are not the only ones learning English. This helps them in being confident when they speak or sing in English making them better at learning in English (MacBlain, 2014). References A Child’s Early Concepts. (2011). Shapes (A Child’s Early Concepts). Oakville: Flowerpot Press. Berk, E. L. (2012). Child Development. New York: Pearson. Feldman, R. S. (2011). Child Development. New York: Pearson. MacBlain, S. (2014). How Children Learn. New York: SAGE Publications. Medina, J. (2011). Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child From Zero to Five. New York: Pear Press. National Association For the Education of Young Children. (2010). NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria: The Mark of Quality in Early Childhood Education. New York: National Asociation for the E. Ostroff, L. (2012). Understanding How Young Children Learn: Bringing the Science of Child Development to the Classroom. New York: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Priddy, R. (2011). Numbers Colors Shapes. New York: Priddy Books. Siegel, J. D. & Bryson, T. P. (2012). The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Narture Your Child’s Developing Mind. Florida: Bantam. Santrock, J. (2010). Child Development: An Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities / Social Sciences/ Languages. Read More