Using Nursery Rhymes and Beats to Help American Students Learn Chinese Language

In the Chinese language immersion program launched by Maryknoll School in Hawaii, the students learned the Chinese nursery rhyme Small Drum Beating Dong Dong in less than ten days. During these ten days, they only sang with the teacher once or twice a day, for no more than five minutes. I was impressed by the children's efficient learning ability, and it made me start to think about the role of ballads in international Chinese language teaching classrooms, especially in the classrooms of young children.

Chinese Ballads----Classroom Discipline

When I first arrived in Hawaii in 2017, I participated in the Startalk program that summer, and this was the first time I learned about using beats to attract students'  attention and manage classrooms.

"Da-dadadada-dada", whenever the teacher finishes the first few beats, the students should immediately follow the latter beats, which can effectively attract the students' attention. In this way, students who have just walked into the classroom in whispers, or students who are in group activities, as long as they hear a familiar rhythm, will stretch out and clap their hands, look back at the teacher, and immerse themselves in the classroom.

"Dada-dadada", what should a teacher do when her hands are not free, such as when they are sticking cards on the blackboard, holding teaching aids, or handing out practice papers? Then the teacher needs to recite the rhythm, and the students recite and follow the rhythm. This format can give the teacher a few seconds of buffer time, allowing the teacher to fully prepare for the next step in the classroom.

However, it should be noted that if the students are really noisy, you can choose a soothing tune to stabilize the students' emotions. Teacher Luo, who has been co-teaching with me, adapted and wrote lyrics based on the song Two Tigers, and created a new song, "One Two Three Four, One Two Three Four, Five Six Seven, Five Six Seven, Eight Nine Ten, Eight Nine Ten, One to Ten, One to Ten". This song has helped us maintain discipline in the classroom many times. Every time we sing this song, students will take the initiative to stretch out their hands to make Chinese numeral gestures, which can be regarded as a subtle review.

Chinese Ballads-----Recognition, Memorization of Chinese Characters  and Sentences

The weekend children's Chinese interest class is only one and a half hours a week. In order to help students better memorize words, I usually find some catchy melodies, fill in the new words, and lead the students to sing. Songs I often use include London Bridge is Falling Down, Finger Family, Two Tigers, etc. These songs have simple and easy-to-remember melodies, and are very suitable for filling in two-syllable or three-syllable Chinese words. In this way, I can not only teach new words, but also allow students to review the words, and the students' word recognition rate has also been greatly improved.

Teacher Luo integrated the question and answer of Chinese sentences into the song. Now, the students have fully mastered the way of singing "How are you", "What's your name", "How old are you" and "What country are you from". Every day, when the teacher asks questions by singing, the children will rush to answer with their hands up. Singing Q&A can not only help students master sentence patterns quickly, but also make students enjoy reviewing with the teacher, which is a way to kill two birds with one stone.

Chinese Ballads----Classroom Activities and Games

"Drop, drop, drop the handkerchief, gently behind one child...", I integrated the game "Drop the Handkerchief" into the Chinese language classroom. As mentioned above, I often compose new words into a song, and after the song is completed, I let the students sit down in a circle, close their eyes, and sing together.

At the same time, I will invite a student to take the printed picture of new words and walk around everyone. When the song ends, he will quietly put the card behind any classmate and return to his position. The student who turned around and received the card had to say a new word and continue the game.

In this game, everyone sings happily, and at the same time, they tend to excitedly guess who will be the next lucky dog, and that "lucky dog" can not only take the initiative to place cards, but also help themselves to strengthen the memory of new words.

In another activity, the teacher needs to put pictures of new words and star cards on the ground, and the students hold hands in a circle, stand inside the picture, and sing and turn in circles. When the song ends, students with pictures of new words behind them can get one point for saying the new words, and students with a star card behind them can get two points. The children like this activity very much, and they often burst into happy laughter involuntarily.

Chinese Ballads----Chinese Cultural Elements

Teacher Luo believes that when selecting Chinese songs, teachers should select classic Chinese ballads. Facing the children in kindergarten, Teacher Luo chooses songs that are well known in China, such as Small Drum Beating Dong Dong, Little Donkey, Little Navy, etc. These songs have a cheerful rhythm, and the children love them very much and learn very fast. 

Chinese nursery rhymes contain the joys and memories of Chinese children's childhood. As long as the familiar melody is remembered, the lyrics can be blurted out, and the sporadic childhood memories can also emerge in front of the eyes. It is precisely because of this that when teaching Chinese to young children overseas, you should fully explore the elements of Chinese songs and incorporate them into your own classrooms. In this way, it can not only cultivate children's sense of language, but also create a childhood memory related to "Chinese culture" for them.

About the author: Zhang Wei, an international Chinese language teacher in the United States.