Using music to teach children basic skills and a foreign language

It's amazing how much music in our lives means. This art, according to many prominent figures, contributes to the development of the spiritual world of man. Even in ancient Greece, Pythagoras claimed that our world was created with the help of music - cosmic harmony - and controlled by it. Aristotle believed that music has a therapeutic effect on a person, taking cathartic painful spiritual experiences. In the 20th century, interest in musical art and its influence on humans increased throughout the world.

This theory was studied by many famous philosophers, physicians, teachers and musicians. Their research has shown that music has a positive effect on the human body (improved respiratory function, brain function, etc.), and also contributes to the improvement of mental performance, sensitivity of auditory and visual analyzers. In addition, the processes of perception, attention and memorization are improved. Thanks to these published data, music began to be actively used as an auxiliary element in teaching preschool children basic skills.

The use of music in teaching children to write, read and math

It is established that music and speech, from the point of view of cognitive processes, are two systems that transmit information of different properties, but its processing follows a unified cognitive pattern.

For example, a study of the relationship between the thinking process and the perception of music, showed that performing "in mind" any mathematical operations (subtraction, multiplication, etc.) the result is achieved by similar spatial operations, as in the differentiation of duration and pitch. That is, the uniformity of musical-theoretical and arithmetic processes, serve as evidence that music lessons contribute to the improvement of mathematical skills and vice versa.

A whole range of musical activities aimed at improving mental activity was developed:

• Background music for memorizing information and for writing;
• Music games for learning language, writing and math;
• Finger song songs for the development of motor skills, consolidating skills of the account;
• Songs and popevki for memorizing mathematical and spelling rules;
• Musical changes.

This complex can be considered at the stage of teaching children a foreign language.

The use of music in teaching children foreign languages

Not surprisingly, quite often in kindergartens begin to learn a foreign language. After all, preschool children are dominated by visual-figurative thinking and an increased emotional perception of reality. Often, foreign language lessons occur in the form of a game. An experienced teacher combines the learning process, background music and gaming reality, which allows children to easily form a phonemic skill and memorize new words. Experts advise the use of such techniques in the study of foreign languages:

• Use light and memorable poems, tongue twisters and songs. Preferably those where the vowel is constantly repeated, alternating with different consonants. Such texts are much easier to memorize and repeat. For example, "Hickory, dickory, dock ...".
• When working out the pronunciation technique it is best to apply chanting to rhythmic music. Many tongue twisters, such as "Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear ..." are included in the tutorials and are widely used by teachers in different countries of the world.
• The intonation structure of foreign sentences is easier to memorize, listening and reproducing intonations of songs and poems. For example, "Little Jack Horner" or "Simple Simon".
• The use of song material will help children expand their vocabulary. In addition, the learning of children's songs is not only the beginning of learning aspects of a foreign language, but also forms oral speech and develops memory.
• Do not forget about musical pauses, minutes, so that children can safely switch from one type of work to another. In addition, such changes help children to relax and throw out mental and physical stress.

findings

In general, it can be summarized that the use of music in general educational processes has a positive effect on the mental activity of the child. However, you should not consider musicality in learning a panacea. Only a combination of an experienced teacher and his level of preparedness for the implementation of this process can help preschool children quickly learn new knowledge.