The document is an action research to teach English as a second language in grade 1 in a rural school

1. Sing-Song Way to English Language: Action cum Intervention
Study
Lalit Kishore
Introduction
Music and language must blend to have an impact. This means that if
singing in done in local tunes, especially, in folk tunes, then there is
possibility of acquiring and remembering words of a new language well.
There are many educators who subscribe to the view that singing can be
helpful in acquiring a reasonably good vocabulary before teaching the
lessons from the language textbook. Singing can be seen as a
transitional activity for acquiring initial language vocabulary.
According to Kadia, there is an uncanny symbiotic relationship between
a language and its home-grown music. Music and language must blend
to have an impact. This means that if singing in done in local tunes,
especially, in folk tunes, then there is possibility of acquiring and
remembering words of a new language well.
Mohan cautions that a language teacher must never rush in to the
writing work in a new language. If done, children would get lost in
structure and style and will be able to pick-up only a few wards. There
should be a lot of listening and singing first.
Unfortunately, the poems in English textbooks and the conventional
rhymes are generally written in abstruse adult language and sung in
tunes alien to children's socio-cultural life. Therefore, an attempt should
be made to revise English rhymes or develop new rhymes or songs
which can be sung in local popular tunes.
Based upon the foregoing observations, an attempt was made to
develop 12 songs and develop sight vocabulary for scores of words.
These could be sung with local familiar tunes for grade one children. The
relevance of the present attempt rests on the fact that English as a
language has been introduced in the schools of Rajasthan state.
The material
The material for the intervention consisted of a handwritten teacher's
supplementary material with twelve songs, 30 pictures and 30 words for

2. the flash cards. The songs and words for flash cards were as follows.
The following songs were used for initial vocabulary building.
1. The moon-moon-moon/Come daily soon//Come fast, come
fast/Round-round moon/Be bright, be bright/Give us light// . . . . What a
sight, what a sight! /The moon so bright// . . . . The moon at a
height/Gives us light//
2. Here is a fish (2) /Swimming in the water (2)/Bubble-bubble (2),
splash/ Here is a frog (2) . . . // Here is a duck (2) . . .// Here is turtle (2) .
. . //
3. The fish in the blue sea/Will you tell me/ how deep is the water?
How deep-how deep? // Knee deep in the water/ this deep in the water
....// . . . Neck deep in the water …//… Head deep in the water …..//
4. Two little eyes/ To look all around// Two little ears / To hear each
sound// One little nose / To smell what's sweet// One little mouth/ That
likes to eat//
5. Clap your hands/ One, two, three// Put your hands/ On your
knees// Lift them high/ To touch the sky// Flap your hands / To fly up
high//
6. A firefly at night, goes blink-blink-blink-/Blink-blink-blink, blink-blink-
blink/ All around the place, all around the place/ Blink-blink all around,
blink-blink all around// The bees on the flowers, go buzz-buzz-buzz . . . //
The birds on the trees go chirp-chirp-chirp . . . //
7. Brum-brum-brum / So goes my car/ All around, all around// Chug-
chug-chug/ So goes my train/ All around, all round// Zoom-zoom-zoom/
So goes my plane/ All around, all around//
8. The cow in the barn goes moo-moo-moo/ Moo-moo-mm, moo-
moo-moo// All around the farm, all around the farm//
9. The pig in the pen goes oink-oink-oink . . . // The hen in the coop
goes cluck-cluck-cluck// The sheep in the fence goes baa-baa-baa . . . //
The duck in the pond goes quack-quack-quack//
10. I found a cow/ How-how-how? // I found a bear/ where-where-
where?// I found a hen// When-when-when?// I found a bun/ which one,
which one?// I like firefly/ Why-why-why ?//
11. Ants are marching/ One by one (2)// Hurrah/ Hurrah// Ants are
marching/ Around a bun (2)/ Harrah/ Hurrah// . . . Two by two (2) . . .
Around a shoe (2) . . .// …. Three by three (2) . . .Around a tree . . .// . . .
Four by four . . . ///
12. Music for me, pa-rum-pum// Pa-rum-pum, pa-rum-pum// Play the
drum . . .// Play your best. . .// Play it loud . . // Play it soft . . .// Play it fast
. . .//
The words for the flash cards were as follows:

3. (1) Moon; (2) Fish; (3) Frog; (4) Duck; (5) Turtle; (6) Knee; (7) Waist; (8)
Head; (9) Eye; (10) Ear; (11) Nose; (12) Mouth; (13) Hand; (14) Firefly;
(15) Bee; (16) Flower; (17) Tree; (18) Bird; (19) Care; (20) Train; (21)
Plane; (22) Cow; (23) Pig; (24) Hen; (25) Bear; (26) Bun; (27) Ant;
(28) Shoe; (29) Door; (30) Drum.
These thirty words were listed a card sheet and children were called
one by one to read out the words either vertically down, vertically up or
backward from the chart. The number of words read correctly was
recorded.
The hypothesis was that on a test for recognition of 30 words, the most
students will be able to achieve recognition of most words (80 x 80
criterions being met) after the transitional intervention. The chi-square
analyst was used to test the hypothesis.
Result
The analysis was done by using the 2 x 2 contingency table and
applying chi-square analysis with Yate's correction. The result of the
intervention in terms of the scores of children on the sight vocabulary
done by calling children to a chart and they were asked to read the
words starting at random from any word. The intervention of building
sight vocabulary through singing and flash cards is effectives since it is
able to meet the criterion of 80 x 80 through a recognition test.
In Conclusion
If a teacher selects or develops ten odd rhymes to be sung in local
tunes, it would develop cultural link for a new language and stronger
mental images for words reinforced by flash cards. Each school must
have its own transitional or readiness programme for a new language for
making it need-based and relevant to one's own situation.