What should we consider in choosing the chants, rhymes or poems?

Start with humorous poems that rhyme. The humor will hook your students and the rhythm of the rhyme helps with the choral reading.

Find poems that have conversational parts that can be turned into a mini-Readers Theater

Easy or difficult?

The length and complexity of the chants and rhymes should vary , certain themes or vocabulary items should be familiar to the learners. In the early stages, they should be short and easy to learn. Sometimes, the difficulty of a rhyme or a chant depends on how easily its meaning can be demonstrated.

Themes and language

The most popular themes are animals, parts of the body or familiar daily act ivities. Almost all children love singing and will be drawn in even if they do not want to learn English. It encourages children to know that they can do in English something they do in their own language. The learner's attention should be spontaneously drawn to the use of language in them and to its expressiveness.

Sustaining the learners' interest

The learner's sustained interest in the rhymes derives from the pleasure of reciting familiar and meaningful material. Some rhymes are more suitable for younger children, some for older children or adults. The teacher must decide what is best to suit the class, sometimes experimenting is the only way to learn this. Sometimes children like rhymes or songs which seem to be above or below their age level.