Friday, August 18, 2017

Old Macdonald Had A Farm – A good song for kids


Old Macdonald Had A Farm, like other songs, tend to be repetitive and has a strong rhythm. It is easily learnt by primary children and quickly becomes  a favourite because of its familiarity. It is fun and motivating for children. It allows language to be reinforced in a natural context, both with structures and vocabulary.
This song builds confidence in young learners and even shy children will enjoy singing or acting out it as part of a group or whole class. This also develops a sense of class identity. Children take pride in what they have learnt and will like having the opportunity to ‘show off' what they have learnt to friends or family.
Old Macdonald Had A Farm lyrics can help develop memory and concentration, as well as physical co-ordination. For the teacher, this song can fit in well with skills, topics, language and cross-curricular work.
old-macdonald-had-a-farm



This song is suitable for singing in class or for an individual child to sing along to. Community singing in class brings the benefit of total participation from all kids, especially if accompanied by actions or mimes. The total physical response approach is particularly suited to younger learners.
Children enjoy singing along to Old Macdonald Had A Farm song and it can really improve motivation. Singing can also improve the pronunciation and intonation patterns of the learners, especially younger learners. At primary level, vocabulary teaching tends to focus on single word items, and songs allow learners to learn ‘chunks’ or meaningful phrases of language rather than single words and to learn about how sounds connect and run together. For instance, children can become of aware of using contractions and weak forms. This song is particularly useful for developing pronunciation and acclimatising young learners to the sounds of the language.
old-macdonald-had-a-farm


Old Macdonald is very repetitive and good for singing along. For very young children the ‘The alphabet song’ is a good starting point for singing and reinforcing the alphabet.