Why Phonics and Singing Go Together
There are several great educational benefits for mixing singing with language learning. It is an exceptionally good idea with very young children. It is great for language education and they are great for forming a close bond between a parent and child. There are some great resources online for both teachers and parents that aid in this arena. Surprising as it may seem, there is a lot of really good children’s programming on TV that young children should be made to watch. These teachers and parents need to know that children are born ready to start learning the stuff right away, so the earlier you get started, the better.
Starting Language Education When They are Very, Very Young
When they get old enough to understand it, you should start teaching them how to read. This usually comes around about preschool age. At this time they are usually starting to learn phonetic sounds at preschool so you should practice this skill with them when they get home. It will help enormously if you get a simple book with the ABCs. You will need to be patient since going over their letters with them will be something you need to do constantly. If there is text in the book that goes along with the letters, don’t feel like you have to stick with this every single time. The ABC letters are the important part to the end of effectively learning the ABC song. Come up with your own things to say. Maybe even come up with little ditties and nursery rhyme songs.
Kids Learn When They Do What They Love
A song is a very effective way to get your child motivated to practice their phonetics and alphabet learning since most kids love to sing. This is why nursery rhymes have historically been so incredibly popular. They also love to clap and dance so incorporate that too, if you can. They—and you—will love singing, clapping, and dancing. Instruments can also go along with the songs, but don’t start the kids out with them. Make sure that they know the words well first and can pronounce them well without adding the possible distraction of the instrumentals.
You May Need To Relearn Some Things
While the singing aspect will probably be the most enjoyable part, effectively teaching your child proper phonics may require you to relearn some things yourself if you are a parent who is a teacher who comes across this stuff all the time. For instance, you may need to re-familiarize yourself with diphthongs, which is when two vowels alongside each other create two different sounds in two different syllables. The diphthong can be complicated because there’s always more than one accurate way to say them. You need to become familiar with them enough that you can choose a particular way to say them and to, therefore, teach your child to say it in that same way. And in such ways they will learn the complexities of the English language and move far beyond the formative ABC songs. start with the alphabet song videos below!