Lesson 303


Lesson 303
Book
Imitating Rhymes and Jingles
with Repetitive Sentences


     

     

Objectives

To teach your child to

a) listen and accurately say longer sentences
b) increase his ability to remember longer sentences

Points To Remember

1. To increase your child’s auditory memory, you need to use longer sentences.
2. In the beginning, do not worry about perfect articulation but focus on getting all the words in the sentence.
3. Sing the rhymes for your child frequently throughout the day.

Method

This is a structured activity to help your child listen and repeat longer sentences. This is most easily done using a rhyme which has a repeated sentence pattern. Watch the video clip for an example of such an activity.

1. Choose a rhyme that has a repeated sentence pattern, but at the same time has a few words that can be altered. For example, many counting songs are like this -- Five (little monkeys) sitting on the wall, five (little monkeys) sitting on the wall, If one (little monkey) should happen to fall, then there are four (little monkeys) sitting on the wall! The words in parentheses can be changed to provide additional repetition. This will allow you to maintain your child’s interest.
2. You will need the actual toys to sing along with the song and also a friend or relative to help you model the song.
3. Take out the toys one by one, and name them as you do so. You might say something like : “ Look, here is a ______!”
4. Use the ‘Listen!’ cue, and when your child is ready, sing the song all the way through. If it is a counting song, sing the first verse.
5. After a pause, say “Now it's ________’s turn” and give the toys to your friend or relative to sing the song or rhyme. If you do not have a third person, then it is important for you to sing one more verse.
6. Now, hand the toys to your child, saying “You sing now! It s your turn”.
7. Wait several seconds to allow your child to try and begin singing. If he doesn’t, start singing the first few words of the first line, then stop and wait again. If your child doesn’t attempt the song, say “I don’t hear you! “ and wait again.
8. If your child still doesn’t attempt the rhyme, you take the toys and begin singing again, but stop in the middle and wait for your child to chime in.
9. Do not worry if your child doesn’t imitate the rhyme the very first time. Often, children need to hear the song several times before they will attempt to sing it.

Video Clips

CLIP 1




Modifications

For children older than 3 and beginning the process of listening at or older than this age, the content of the song should be appropriate for an older child. You can use nursery rhymes or children’s songs typical for your region of the world, then vary some of the key words. Such children who are at this level will often be able to handle rhymes that are not repetitive.

What Next

1. Continue with Lesson 303 with as many rhymes as you can. You should do Lesson 304 in conjunction with this lesson.

2. Continue Lessons 303 until your child is able to accurately recite at least 5 rhymes 80% of the time. The rhymes should be intelligible to a new listener.