Repeat and rephrase is a technique that benefits not only students with little or few English speaking ability, but also students with English as their primary language. Repetition is a learning tool that allows students to memorize information and then translate it into a context that is understandable and applicable to their social and educational environment.
Lastly, music is a universal form of expression. Many researchers have emphasized music's ability to enhance student learning. Some believe the music of certain composers including Mozart stimulate centers of the brain known to promote greater learning. The reasons for this are not certain, but music is tool-integrated classrooms can use to boost self-esteem among students and encourage students to interact with each other and share with each other by sharing their own cultural heritage.
The English language is something often learned through rhymes and riddles, in traditional classrooms, as well as in integrated classrooms where not all students understand English as well as their peers. Nursery rhymes help students learn English in a fun and entertaining context, and context is a "primary component" of how students learn and integrate their learning into their everyday actions (Hall, Marchenkova & Vitanova, 2004, 9). Teachers can easily use music by encouraging students to play instruments, or by having group sessions where students sit together and recite nursery rhymes and other musical games. This is also a way teachers can re-emphasize the technique of repeat and rephrasing, because verses in nursery rhymes and songs are often repeated, thus more likely to leave a lasting impression on student's behavior.
Another way to incorporate music into the classroom is by encouraging students to bring their favorite song to class, one representative of their heritage or culture. If the song is in a different language, the teacher can encourage the student to help other students translate the music into language. This acts as a form of cooperative learning and peer group learning, because now all students are engaged in instruction using multiple...
The cooperative
learning environment becomes non-threatening, because it involves music,
dance and even the use of repeat and re-phrasing techniques to help students remember what they are learning.
These methods when combined will prove exemplary in promoting student learning in integrated classrooms, where it is critical teachers employ more than one technique to facilitate student learning. These methods do not have to be used daily, but teachers can establish a
curriculum where integration of these activities becomes part of the regular schedule, so students in integrated classrooms become adjusted to learning using multiple learning methods.
References
Colvin, G. (2002). "Designing classroom organization and
structure." in, K.L. Lane, F.M.
Gresham, & T.E. O'Shaughnessy (Eds.), Interventions for
children with or at
risk for emotional and behavioral disorders, pp.159-174, Boston: Allyn &
Bacon.
Givner, G.C., Lane, K.L. & Pierson, M.R. (2003). Teacher expectations of
student behavior: Which skills do
elementary and secondary teachers deem necessary for
success in the classroom? Education & Treatment of Children, 26(4):413.
Hall, K., Marchenkova, L., & Vitanova, G. (2004). Dialogue with Bakhtin on second and foreign language learning: new perspectives. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Diversity
