CHILDRENS LITERATURE (LGA 3102)

. Introduction

Childrens literature can be defined as the material created for and widely read, viewed and hear by the children, that has imaginative element. Primary school children were already exposed to literary texts even before the official launch of the Childrens Contemporary Literature component for Years 4 to 6 and the new curriculum has been designed for Year 1 to 3 to produce pupils who will be proficient in the language. Most of the children were familiar with popular nursery rhymes such as Twinkle twinkle little star and Old Mc Donald had a farm, folks lore, bedtime stories and so on. Thus, literature should be valued in the school for the enrichment it gives to the personal lives of children as well as for its proven educational contributions. It is one of the ways to teach language. Songs and poetry are another example of Children's Literature which are enjoyed by or targeted primarily at children. There are many genres of songs and poetry. The songs are classified to folk songs, lullabies, blues, ballad, rhythm and blues (R&B) and jazz. For poetry there are Haiku, limericks, nursery rhyme, epic, narrative and dramatic. As a responsible teacher, he or she needs to provide appropriate materials for the children in the school so that the children will gain knowledge and in the same time enjoying themselves learning literature.

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AN APPROPRIATE SELECTION OF 4 SONGS AND A JUSTIFICATION OF EACH SONG.

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CHILDRENS LITERATURE (LGA 3102)

An appropriate selection of 4 songs and a justification of each song.

These are the 4 songs with different genres that we have chose for the young learners in the primary ESL classroom:

Song 1
Title Genre : Teddy Bear : Lullaby

Teddy bear, teddy bear, Turn around. Teddy bear, teddy bear, Touch the ground. Teddy bear, teddy bear, Shine your shoes. Teddy bear, teddy bear, That will do.

Teddy bear, teddy bear, Go upstairs.

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Teddy bear, teddy bear,

Say your prayers. Teddy bear, teddy bear, Turn off the light. Teddy bear, teddy bear, Say good night.

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Justification of the song. Song 1 Teddy Bear

We selected this song because we think that lullabies are one of a way to teach children about the culture and ethnics before sleeping which some of them are not being taught by their parents as we know parents now days are busy with their career. The main purpose of using the Teddy Bear song for primary school children is we can integrate the moral values in our lesson in the classroom. We can teach them before going to beds, they must recite a prayer, greet good night to their parents, siblings or their guardians. Before sleeping, the children must switch off the lights too so that they will know how to save electrical energy. Therefore, we believed that we will help pupils to develop their personality traits and shape their attitudes about themselves and of others. Other than those reasons, we have selected this song for level one especially Year 1 and Year 2 pupils because it is simple and catchy. It is also suitable to our pupils proficiency level which most of them are elementary or weak pupils. The weak pupils will be motivated and feel a real sense or achievement when they are able to learn new song. The language in the song similar to the language they will be able to use in other parts of the class or outside the classroom such as turn around, go upstairs and turn off the light. They are using all those language in their daily life. Pupils will love to sing the song with action and simple movement.

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Song 2

Title Genre

: Six Little Ducks : Folk song

Six little ducks that I once knew, Fat ones, skinny ones, fair ones too, But the one little duck with the feather on his back, He led the others with a quack, quack, quack! Quack, quack, quack! Quack, quack, quack! He led the others with a quack, quack, quack!

Down to the river they would go, Wibble wobble, Wibble wobble, To and fro But the one little duck with the feather on his back

CHILDRENS LITERATURE (LGA 3102)

He led the others with his quack, quack, quack! Quack, quack, quack ! Quack, quack, quack! He led the others with a quack, quack, quack!

Home from the river they would come Wibble Wobble, Wibble Wobble , Ho hum hum. But the one little duck with the feather on his back, He led the others with a quack, quack, quack! Quack, quack, quack! Quack, quack, quack! He led the others with a quack, quack, quack!

Six little ducks that I once knew, Fat ones, skinny ones, fair ones too, But the one little duck with the feather on his back, He led the others with a quack, quack, quack! Quack, quack, quack!
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Quack, quack, quack! He led the others with a quack, quack, quack!

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Justification of the song Song 2- Six little ducks.

We have selected a song entitled Six Little Ducks because we believed that it is suitable to be used for our Year 2 pupils. The folk song is intended as a material for Unit 12 -On The Farm as in the textbook. We chose this particular simple song because the tune is catchy and it is easily remembered due to the quality of the melody and the text. The vocabulary is simple and familiar to the pupils. The familiar music will make pupils more confident in their ability to listen and understand the world around them. The song help pupils brains recall the words and fact thus leading to early success. They are attractive, fun and easy to rhyme along. Pupils are able to stimulate and foster their enjoyment to learn a language. We can fully utilize the pupils particular strengths and previous knowledge in supporting the lesson. We believed it will be more meaningful and have a great impact. We also hoped to build a concrete fundamental learning concept on the pupils prior learning, which may have taken place outside the school. There is repetition in some of the song. Furthermore, the song gives a natural context for repetition of language. Repetition is hugely useful tool in creating mental patterns that will allow pupils to use language more automatically. Pupils also can be aware of sounds, rhythms and structures such as he led the others with a quack, quack, quack. The purpose of the rhythm is to increase enjoyment in hearing language (Donna, 2003). They will find it interesting and easy to remember as the sentences or words keep repeating or rhyming. They can be helpful for the Year 2 pupils to remember the words while exercising their auditory memory skills. As a teacher we can make the song more interesting and enjoyable because they love song and rhymes with actions. By experiences the action involving their bodies and their senses they feel good about themselves and others.

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Song 3
Title Genre Singer : What A Wonderful World : Pop : Louis Armstrong

I see trees of green red roses too I see them bloom, for me and you And I think to myself What a wonderful world

I see skies of blue, and clouds of white The bright blessed day, dark sacred night And I think to myself What a wonderful world

The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky Are also on the faces, of people going by I see friends shaking hands, saying', "How do you do?" They're really saying, "I love you"
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I hear babies crying, I watch them grow They'll learn much more, than I'll ever know And I think to myself What a wonderful world

Yes, I think to myself What a wonderful world Oh yeah

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Justification of the song. Song 3- What A Wonderful World

Moving on with our next selection of song for young learners to be used in the primary English as second language (ESL) classroom is from pop genre. This pop song entitled What A Wonderful World is simple and suitable to be taught during our teaching and learning process for these reasons. The song appropriates with the topic of Year 6 that is Splashes of Colours. We can use this song for different purposes such as for listening and reading activity. The tune is catchy and easily remembered. Since we are teaching in a rural area and our pupils are mix ability it suit our pupils level well. The song is appropriate with our pupils proficiency level in terms of sentence length and complexity of vocabulary and sentences structured. We can introduce the new vocabularies such as bloom and sacred before we begin with the activity. Moreover, the song is slow enough to test comprehension as well as clear enunciation. There are some repeated lines in this interesting song example And I think to myself, What a wonderful world which can be helpful for year 6. Frequent repetition will enriches or emphasize words, phrases and lines. Pupils enjoy repetitive verses.

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Song 4

Title Genre Singer

: The Worlds Greatest :R&B : R Kelly

Yeah,Uhh... Uhh... Yeah.. It's the worlds greatest, Yo, It's the worlds greatest, Come on, Worlds greatest, Ever I am a mountain I am a tall tree Oh, I am a swift wind Sweeping the country I am a river Down in the valley Oh, I am a vision And I can see clearly If anybody asks you who I am Just stand up tall look them in the face and say

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I'm that star up in the sky I'm that mountain peak up high Hey, I made it I'm the worlds greatest And I'm that little bit of hope When my backs against the ropes I can feel it mmm I'm the worlds greatest I am a giant I am an eagle I am a lion Down in the jungle I am a marching band I am the people I am a helping hand And I am a hero If anybody asks you who I am Just stand up tall look them in the face and say I'm that star up in the sky I'm that mountain peak up high I made it I'm the worlds greatest And I'm that little bit of hope
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When my backs against the ropes I can feel it I'm the worlds greatest In the ring of life I'll reign love (I will reign) And the world will notice a king (Oh Yeah) When all is darkest, I'll shine a light (Shine a light) And use a success you'll find in me (Me) I'm that star up in the sky I'm that mountain peak up high Hey, I made it I'm the world's greatest And I'm that little bit of hope When my back's against the ropes I can feel it I'm the world's greatest

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I'm that star up in the sky I'm that mountain peak up high Hey, I made it I'm the world's greatest And I'm that little bit of hope When my back's against the ropes I can feel it I'm the world's greatest I'm that star up in the sky I'm that mountain peak up high Hey, I made it I'm the world's greatest And I'm that little bit of hope When my back's against the ropes I can feel it I'm the world's greatest [*] It's the greatest Can you feel it It's the greatest Can you feel it
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[Repeat * while:] I saw the light At the end of a tunnel Believe in the pot of gold At the end of the rainbow And faith was right there To pull me through, yeah Used to be locked doors Now I can just walk on through Hey, uh, hey, hey, hey It's the greatest I'm that star up in the sky I'm that star up in the sky I'm that mountain peak up high Hey, I made it I'm the world's greatest And I'm that little bit of hope When my back's against the ropes I can feel it I'm the world's greatest

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Justification of the song. Song 4 The Worlds Greatest

We selected this song because we think this song is suitable for Year 6 pupils with the theme World of knowledge and the topic is Remarkable Achiever. The song incorporated all the language skills listening, reading, writing and speaking. Pupils can listen to the song, sing along with action, or underline nouns that they know in the lyric. Teacher can use the song as classic gap fill which teacher will take out certain word , pupils fill in the missing words while listening to the song. This R&B song is appropriate to our pupils level of proficiency in term of the sentences length, complexity of vocabulary, sentences structure and no difficult idioms, or vulgarities. Although the length of the song but there are some repetition in the phrases which helps pupils remember better. The example is I'm that star up in the sky, I'm that mountain peak up high, Hey, I made it, I'm the world's greatest. The next reason why we choose this song is, pupils can enhance their intra personal development. Through this song teacher can inspire the pupils to develop and believe in their abilities. If they work hard and put an effort they can achieve their goal. So, this song will be meaningful for them. On the other hands, pupils will enjoy learning indirectly and escape the class boredom.

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References

Donna, E. N. (2003). Through The Eyes Of A Child. Introduction To Childrens Literature. (6th Ed.) Ohio: Merril Prentice Hall.

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Pedagogical Principles Of Teaching Young Learners. Retrieved on January 29 2013 from http://letsdiscuss-jmm.blogspot.com/2012/08/pedagogical-principles-ofteaching.html

Malaysian Primary Syllabus KSSR Curriculum Specifications

Mother goose and selected nursery rhymes. Retrieved from http://www.ivyjoy.com/fables/mothergoose.html#woman

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