It’s been more than a year now since Goducate started using simple English songs to teach the language to young children in Indonesia. The songs are used not merely as an ice-breaker to loosen the children’s inhibitions or to set a cheerful mood for the class. They are used as the main text for the lessons, which are intended to impart enjoyment rather than fear of learning the English language. The children learn songs fast, and they easily become familiar with the words, even without understanding them initially. This led us to develop a curriculum for English lessons through songs and other fun activities that would help children improve their language learning.
The Sing Your English (SYE) program is an extracurricular program, with no examinations and grading, to reinforce the fun aspect of learning English. The students are taught to use words and phrases related to those that are in the songs, and in this way to pick up conversational English.
Goducate has already introduced the SYE program in several cities in Indonesia, such as Batam, Pekanbaru, and Medan, and we hope in Bandung later this year. The SYE program has been used not only within the four walls of a classroom, but also in communities and through English camps. It has been well received in all these settings.
To speed up curriculum development, and to allow me to focus on teaching students and training teachers, a content team of four people was put together in the Philippines to create the songs and the manuals. The team started work in June this year and so far it has completed both writing and editing the manual for Book 1 and is halfway through the manual and workbook for kindergarten children.
The books are targeted at Indonesian children. It is possible that they will have to be modified slightly for children in other countries. Meanwhile, the SYE teachers are providing the content team with feedback, to help them make the books as appropriate as possible.
