RHYME

A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often
used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a
rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.

A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem, rhythm or song that is taught to children

mostly when they begin to attend nursery and also by parents at home. Learning these
verses and rhymes helps in the development and overall understanding of vocabulary
as the child grows from being a toddler to a little boy or girl. There are many rhymes that
deal with counting, alphabets, animals, and fruits, assisting in all round development of
children. Rhymes have rhythm and that encourages children to have fun with music.
Moreover, these have particular actions, dances or motions which children will gradually
associate with a particular rhyme.

There are a lot of nursery rhymes such as pussy cat pussy cat, three blind mice,
hey diddle diddle, humpty dumpty, ring a ring a roses, one two three four five, the
sandman, aiken drum, an apple a day keep the doctor a way and etc.

Rhyme is one of the Language Arts component outline by Ministry of Education

under ‘Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah’ (KSSR). The mastery of English is
essential for pupils to gain access to information and knowledge written in English. In
line with the government’s policy on strengthening English, the curriculum has been
designed to produce pupils who will be proficient in the language. The goal of the
English language curriculum is to help pupils acquire the language in order to help them
use it in their daily lives, to further their studies, and for work purposes.
 Rhyme is a good start to encourage pupils to love English. Pupils will be able to
learn this language in a fun way. This rhyming activity also can enrich pupil’s vocabulary
and improve their pronunciation skill. Typically, a nursery rhyme consists of easy to
understand vocabulary plus a catchy rhyme. This allows children too easily learn to sing
the nursery rhyme, and because of this particular aspect nursery rhymes are more often
used to assist young children build their vocabulary. For example, counting is present in
a nursery rhyme, thus children starting learning how to counting while having fun using
nursery rhymes.

By teaching this rhyme, pupils will be able to appreciate and enjoy singing and
recite the rhyme. Pupils also can improve their pronunciation and spelling skill by
reciting the rhymes. Pupils can enjoy this activity by make a simple movement or action
according to the lyrics. Another advantage of learning rhymes are pupils can improve
their self confident and release their pressure. During this activity, pupils learn to make
friends and help them to have good social relationship. This can help pupils to have a
good and balance mentally and physically growth.
 How to Teach Rhymes

Teacher plays video of rhyme and singing with

actions, gestures and appropriate intonation.

Teacher recites the verse in the rhyme and asks pupils to follow to improve
their pronunciation.

Teacher replays the video and sings the rhyme together with the pupils.

Sing aloud together (choral singing)

Example of rhymes

ONE TWO THREE FOUR

One, two, three, four, five,
Once I caught a fish alive,
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
Then I let it go again.
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
This little finger on my right.
The rhyme is one of many counting-out rhymes. It was first recorded in Mother Goose's
Melody around 1765. Like most versions until the late nineteenth century, it had only the
first stanza, and dealt with a hare not a fish, with the lyrics:

One, two, three, four and five,

I caught a hare alive;
Six, seven, eight, nine and ten,
I let him go again.

The modern version is derived from three variations collected by Henry Bolton in the
1880s from America.