The Magic of Nursery Rhymes

Nearly everyone knows what happened to Humpty Dumpty, but did you know that nursery rhymes can improve your child’s English in many different ways? Firstly, these rhymes can teach new vocabulary words with pictures and context clues. Furthermore, each song has a rhythm that makes memorizing easy and fun. They allow students to develop a more natural flow to their speaking. And of course, nursery rhymes use rhyme or words that have the same last sound. Practicing rhyming will improve pronunciation and put your child on the path to English fluency.

If you’re looking to increase vocabulary and have some fun at the same time, “Old MacDonald” is an excellent choice. Learning the animals is often exciting for the younger students. This rhyme lists several farm animals and matches them with the sound they make. For example, “and on this farm he had a cow, e-i-e-i-o. With a moo, moo here and a moo, moo there, here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo, moo.” There are countless animated videos of this rhyme as well as books with great pictures for your kids to enjoy. These visual tools will help your child associate the name of the animal and the sound that it makes with a picture.

“Pattycake” has a fun rhythm and actions that can be exciting for the young learners. This rhyme is less about the content and more about movement and flow. Again, you can find examples of the actions on the internet. The steady beat and clapping of hands allows students to practice a realistic speaking pattern while enjoying the moves. Our everyday speaking has a certain rhythm as well and this beat helps us to convey meaning and allows our listeners to understand us more clearly. This rhyme can help your child practice a very important language skill and be active at the same time.

Finally, rhymes help students develop their phonological awareness and improve their pronunciation. You will find “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe” to be a great way to practice rhymes. The numbers often have a corresponding rhyming word so your student can work on counting in English and increase their pronunciation skills. For example, “two” rhymes with “shoe” while “four” goes with “door”. This rhyme goes all the way to twenty so you can practice many new rhyming sounds. Learning rhyming words enhances creativity and can allow your student to become more comfortable and confident when speaking in English.

There are many different reasons why nursery rhymes assist with language development. Learning these tunes can be a fun and exciting way to improve your child’s vocabulary, rhythm, and pronunciation all at once. There are a number of resources at your disposal so consider looking into learning some nursery rhymes today!

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