Teaching English through music in preschool

Danes se vse bolj govori o globalizaciji in učenje tujega jezika v zgodnjem obdobju ima vedno večjo veljavo. Otroci se prvega jezika učijo predvsem prek slušnih informacij, zato se je smiselno učenja drugega/tujega jezika lotiti na podoben način. Poleg jezika predvsem prek sluha zaznavamo tudi glasbo, zato sta si ti dve področji v marsičem podobni. V diplomskem delu ju združujem in obravnavam tematiko poučevanja angleškega jezika s pomočjo glasbenih dejavnosti v predšolskem obdobju. V teoretičnem delu sem opredelila usvajanje prvega in drugega/tujega jezika ter njune razlike in podobnosti. Izpostavila sem prednosti zgodnjega učenja tujega jezika in navedla nekaj sodobnih metod in pristopov za poučevanje tujega jezika. Poudarila sem metodo popolnega telesnega odziva (PTO) in jo izpostavila kot najbolj ustrezno za uporabo pri poučevanju tujega jezika na predšolski stopnji. Odločila sem se, da metodo PTO povežem z glasbo in t. i. gibalne pesmi uporabim pri izvajanju dejavnosti v raziskavi. V empiričnem delu sem s pomočjo izvajanja dejavnosti v vrtcu, opazovanja stanja in mnenja vzgojiteljic raziskala učinkovitost uporabe glasbenih dejavnosti v povezavi z metodo PTO pri poučevanju angleščine na predšolski stopnji in njihov vpliv na motivacijo otrok pri učenju tujega jezika. V zaključku raziskave sem ugotovila, da so glasbene dejavnosti v povezavi z metodo PTO v predšolskem obdobju zelo učinkovite pri učenju tujega jezika. Otroci so usvojili veliko angleških besed, ki so bile del gibalnih pesmi. Tudi njihova motivacija je bilo vselej visoka, večina otrok je pri dejavnostih sodelovala in se pri tem tudi zabavala. Iz interpretiranih rezultatov lahko sklepam, da je bila izbrana metoda ustrezna in zelo primerna za uporabo v predšolskem obdobju.Nowadays, people are increasingly aware of globalisation, which is why the process of learning a foreign language in early years is becoming more and more important. As children learn their first language mainly through listening, it would be reasonable to have them start learning the second/foreign language in the same way. Hearing allows us to perceive both language and music and so the two areas are very similar. The thesis therefore combines them and discusses the teaching of English in the preschool period through music activities. The theoretical part examines the acquisition of the first and second/foreign language and discusses their differences and similarities. It highlights the advantages of early foreign language learning and indicates several modern methods and approaches to foreign language teaching. The Total Physical Response (TPR) method was considered as the most suitable method of teaching a foreign language in preschool. I combined the TPR method with music and carried out the research activities with action songs. In the empirical part I explored the effectiveness of musical activities in combination with the TPR method in teaching English in preschool. I also looked into their impact on the motivation of children for learning a foreign language, taking into account the activities undertaken in the kindergarten, observations and opinions of preschool teachers. The research findings suggest that musical activities combined with the TPR method in preschool are very effective in foreign language learning because children memorised many English words from the action songs. In addition, their motivation was always high and the majority of children participated in the activities and had fun. Based on the interpreted results we can conclude that the chosen method was suitable for the preschool period