Llengua anglesa a primària. Competència digital

Singing is probably the activity that students like the most in EFL classes. Music and songs provide them with an unconscious input, which is naturally processed and stick in their memory.

LearnEnglish Kids is an English learning site from the British Council. It is for children who are learning English as a second or foreign language. This website is packed with all kind of resources: stories, songs, games, poems, etc. Many of them come with Flash movie and audio. Each section contains several activities and exercises, all related to a topic.

In this practise we are having a look at the Songs section and we will go into detail in an specific song and the activites that accompany it. The activity is adressed to students of cicle mitjà.

• Go to the LearnEnglishKids website. (http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids.htm).

All the sections in this website are classified into different categories. Some sections are organized according to the age of the students and the level of language. Next to each resource you will also find some icons that mean:

These materials are best for children aged 8 and over. The language used is simple.

These materials are best for children aged 8 and over. The language used is more difficult.

These materials are best for children aged 7 and under. The topics and content are of interest to younger children.

• Put the mouse on the Songs section → Click on Easy songs

• Enter The Scary Skeleton (“http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-songs-skeleton.htm”)

In this page you can listen to the song The Scary Skeleton as well as read the lyrics of the song while listening to it. To foster the song, you can print worksheets with activities related to the topic to use in the class with your students.

Click on: “Click here to listen to the song”. It will appear a pop-up window. Once the page is loaded, click on the button to start the animated Flash movie. You will watch and listen online the song of the Scary Skeleton. The images seen as listening will help your students understand the meaning of the sentences. If you want to have the words on the screen at the same time, click on.

• When the song is finished, close the pop-up window and go back to the previous page. There are a few further suggested activities to exploit this topic:
  • Print an activity to do with this song (It consists in a worksheet that you can hand out to your students to revise some vocabulary related to the parts of the body. They have to label the skeleton. There is also a dice game that may be played in pairs).
  • Cut out and make your own skeleton
  • Print the words to this song (You may display the lyrics of the song to your students either before or after listening to it. Click on Print the words to this song to print the worksheet for your students. In the initial page there are also the words to the song. By double-clicking on a word you access its meaning through the Cambridge Dictionaries Online’s web page (have a look at Mòdule 6, practise 5).

• Methodology: The activity can be put into practice in cicle mitjà. The first part (listening to the song-reading the lyrics) can be done either in the class by using a laptop/computer with internet connection and a beamer or in the computer room in pairs with earphones (and afterwards the whole class can sing the song).

• Timing: The previous revision of the vocabulary can be done in one hour session. The activity on the computer may last fifteen minutes.
• Resources: Computers with Internet connection and earphones.

Have a look a the Traditional songs (http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-songs-traditional.htm) section from the LearnEnglishKids site. You will find many traditional songs with very catchy tunes like Old MacDonald or If You’re Happy and You Know It!. Notice the section for teachers. Specially useful are the articles about Using music and songs in the classroom and Developing pronunciation through songs. More songs and music in the Internet:

Onestopenglish (“http://www.onestopenglish.com/”): Song archive (children songs to download in MP3 files)

BBC Children (http://www.bbc.co.uk/children/music/), BBC Schools