by Jackie Anderson

Created on: November 25, 2008

Learning language through rhymes

Learning language is a complex activity, and one of the earliest ways a child can access language is through listening to, and trying to repeat, rhythmic sounds. The ability to distinguish individual sounds, and to decode a pattern of those sounds into words with meaning, is known as phonemic awareness. Learning to talk, and from talking, learning to read and write, all starts with the development of phonemic awareness. This is just the first of many skills a child needs to acquire in order to become a competent reader.

An essential step on the path to phonemic awareness is listening to, remembering and copying rhymes and rhyming patters. The following tips aim to help parents and childcare practitioners integrate activities using rhymes into their routines.

> Prepare a set of simple rhymes that you can use with your children to introduce different parts of your day or the pre-school session. For example:

Greeting rhyme for use when getting up in the morning, or for register time:
(sung to the tune of "Frere Jacque")

Hello, Toni,
Hello, Toni,
How are you?
How are you?
Very pleased to see you,
Very pleased to see you,
Come and play too.

> Collect stories that use rhyming words and read them regularly either at group story time or individually with children.

> Great fun at circle time, or in a small group of children, is the playing of rhyming games. Sit in a circle with the children and ask the group to find a silly rhyming name for each person. You may need to remind the group that a rhyming word is one that sounds like another, such as cat and mat. You may also need to remind them not to use words that could be hurtful or offensive. Usually, however, this activity can generate a great deal of laughter, and you can quickly discover the comedians in your group. One year, a bright four-year old dubbed me "Wacky Jackie" and my deputy quickly became "Scary Mary"!

The rhyming words need not be real words nonsense words can work just as well, and this tactic helps the younger children of the group join in. The benefit comes from listening for, and comparing, different sounds. Children can also experiment with word building, and will see that putting some letters together can make rhyming sounds, but some sounds do not necessarily carry the meaning that words do, for example, ham rhymes with Sam, as does fam, but fam is meaningless.

> Play a rhyming words matching game. You can buy these or you can make a set with your group of children,

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