Songs, rhymes and predictable routines help young children learn a second language because they combine rhythm, repetition, movement and group participation, letting a child join in with real language long before she could build the same sentences on her own. In a Vietnamese–English classroom they also train the ear for two very different sound systems and carry the cultures of both languages into the day.
This article looks at why songs and rhymes work, what research on rhyme and early reading suggests, how Vietnamese đồng dao and English nursery rhymes use sound differently, how to use transition songs and action rhymes, and how to build a repertoire across a year that children actually understand rather than simply parrot for a school performance.
Why songs and rhymes work for young language learners
A song gives language a shape. Melody and rhythm divide speech into chunks, mark where words begin and end, and make sequences easier to remember. Repetition is built in: the chorus comes back, the verses follow a pattern, and children are expected to sing the same song many times. These are exactly the conditions under which young children learn language best.
Songs also lower the social risk of speaking. In a group song, a child's voice is one among many, mistakes are invisible, and joining in is fun rather than a performance. Teachers often notice that children in a silent period sing along before they speak alone, and that confident singers later use whole phrases from songs in their play.
Finally, songs and rhymes connect language to the body and to feeling. Actions, clapping and swaying help children understand and remember meaning, while the pleasure of singing together builds positive associations with the language. A child who loves the English goodbye song has a reason to care about English that no vocabulary list can supply.
Rhyme, sound awareness and later reading
Phonological awareness is the ability to notice and play with the sounds of spoken language: hearing that two words rhyme, clapping the syllables in a name, noticing that two words start with the same sound. It develops gradually through the preschool years and is one of the foundations for learning to read in alphabetic writing systems.
In a widely cited study published in Nature in 1983, Lynette Bradley and Peter Bryant found that young English-speaking children's ability to categorise words by sound predicted later reading progress, and that training in sound categorisation, combined with links to letters, helped reading development. Later research by Usha Goswami and others explored the role of rhyme and rhythm in more detail. The evidence supports the long tradition of rhymes and word play in early-years classrooms, although rhyming alone does not teach reading.
Both Vietnamese and English are written in alphabetic scripts, so sound awareness in each language is useful. Vietnamese adds tone, which children must learn to hear and later to mark in writing. Playing with tones in rhymes, noticing that two words differ only by their tone, is a Vietnamese-specific form of sound awareness that preschools can nurture through play long before any formal reading.
Vietnamese đồng dao and English nursery rhymes
Vietnamese and English children's verse use sound in different ways, and a bilingual classroom benefits from both. Vietnamese đồng dao are traditional children's rhymes, often chanted during games, with a strong syllable-by-syllable beat and patterns of rhyme and tone. Well-known examples such as "Chi chi chành chành" and "Dung dăng dung dẻ" are tied to hand games and walking games, so children learn them through play with friends.
English nursery rhymes rely heavily on stress-timed rhythm, with strong and weak beats, and on end rhyme. Rhymes like "Hickory Dickory Dock" or "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" give children a feel for English rhythm that is hard to teach any other way, and their repeated patterns support both pronunciation and memory.
Teachers should resist the temptation to translate rhymes from one language into the other. Translation usually destroys the rhythm and rhyme that make the verse work. It is far better to teach each language's own traditional rhymes, explain their meaning through actions and pictures, and occasionally notice together how the two languages sound different, for example by clapping the beat of a Vietnamese rhyme and then an English one.
Transition songs and the language of routines
Many preschools use short songs or chants to mark transitions: tidying up, washing hands, lining up, coming to the circle, preparing for rest. In a bilingual classroom these routine songs are valuable because they recur every day, link language directly to action and become a shared signal everyone understands.
A good transition song is short, has a clear action, and uses words children will need in real life: "Clean up, clean up, everybody clean up" or a Vietnamese equivalent for putting toys back on the shelf. Children who hear it every day learn the words without effort and begin to use them in other situations, such as telling a friend it is time to clean up.
Teams should agree which routine songs belong to which language, and keep them consistent, because predictability is part of their power. It is also worth checking that the routine songs are spread across both languages and not all in English, which can make English feel like the language of being told what to do. A balance gives each language both commands and comfort.
Action rhymes, fingerplays and learning through movement
Actions carry meaning. When children make a spider with their fingers or row an imaginary boat, they understand and remember the words more easily. Movement makes language visible and gives children who do not yet speak a way to participate.
Total Physical Response. The psychologist James Asher developed a method in the 1960s in which learners respond to spoken commands with physical actions before speaking. Many action songs work on a similar principle, and it suits young children naturally.
Fingerplays build fine motor skills. Rhymes that use finger movements, counting fingers or making shapes, combine language with fine motor practice and are easy to use at the table or in small spaces.
Big movement songs release energy. Songs with jumping, stamping and freezing help children move between active and calm states, and the stop-and-go element trains attention and self-control alongside language.
Calm songs settle a group. Slow, quiet songs and rhymes with gentle actions help children prepare for rest or story time, and give the soothing side of each language a place in the day.
Singing with infants and toddlers
Songs matter even before children can join in. Infants are highly attentive to sung speech, which is slower, higher and more rhythmic than ordinary talk, and lullabies and play songs are found in cultures all over the world. In an infant room, caregivers who sing to babies during feeding, changing and settling are giving them rich exposure to the sounds and rhythms of a language, wrapped in warmth and attention.
With babies and young toddlers, the best songs are short and personal: a song with the child's name in it, a bouncing rhyme on the knee, a tickling rhyme that ends in a predictable surprise. The anticipation of the surprise, waiting for the tickle at the end, shows that the child is following the structure of the language before she can say a word of it.
Caregivers should sing in the language they know and love best. A Vietnamese lullaby sung with feeling is worth more to a baby than an English song sung uncertainly from a recording, and in a bilingual infant room, each adult's songs become part of the language environment.
Choosing songs children understand, not only repeat
A common trap in bilingual preschools is the song that children sing beautifully without understanding a word. They may have learned the sounds perfectly for a performance, but the language has no meaning for them, so it does not transfer into their own speech. The aim is songs whose meaning children grasp, through actions, pictures, objects and conversation.
Choose songs with concrete, visible content: animals, body parts, weather, food, family, actions. Teach new songs slowly, with actions, and talk about what is happening in them. Revisit songs connected to the current theme, so that words from the garden or the market reappear in music. Prefer songs with a manageable number of new words and lots of repetition over long, complex lyrics.
Be thoughtful with recorded music. Recordings are useful for background, dancing and listening, but children learn songs best from adults singing with them, face to face, at a pace they can follow. A teacher who cannot sing well but sings with warmth teaches more than a polished recording.
After a new song has been learned, keep it alive by using it outside music time. Sing a line during tidying up, hum it on the walk to the garden, or pause before a familiar word and let children supply it. Each of these small moments turns a song from a performance piece into a piece of everyday language that children own.
Building a bilingual song repertoire across a year
A planned repertoire prevents two common problems: singing the same three songs all year, and constantly introducing new songs that never become familiar. A simple approach works for most classes.
- List the routine songs for each part of the day and assign each to a language, aiming for balance between Vietnamese and English.
- Choose a core set of traditional rhymes in each language, including đồng dao and English nursery rhymes, to be learned well over the year.
- For each theme, add one or two songs in each language connected to its content, and keep singing them after the theme ends.
- Include songs from international children's home languages, taught with help from families.
- Record the repertoire in the class planning documents so that substitute teachers and new staff can keep it going.
- Review at the end of each term which songs children choose on their own, and keep those at the heart of the repertoire.
A class that leaves preschool with a shared repertoire of thirty or forty songs and rhymes they truly know, in two or more languages, has a cultural and linguistic resource that will stay with many of them for life.
When songs become performance
End-of-year concerts and festival performances are a cherished tradition in many Vietnamese preschools, and families enjoy them. They can also distort the place of music in the curriculum if weeks are spent drilling a complicated English song for the stage. Children learn to produce sounds on cue, the anxiety of performing can be high for some, and ordinary singing for pleasure disappears from the timetable.
A healthier approach keeps performances simple and built from songs children already know and love, so that preparation is a matter of a few rehearsals rather than weeks. It also gives children choices, including the choice not to perform, and celebrates group participation rather than spotlighting individual children.
Families can be helped to see that a child singing a simple Vietnamese rhyme with joy shows more about her language than a polished but uncomprehended English song. Sharing short, informal recordings of everyday singing, with appropriate privacy care, often tells parents more than a concert ever could.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
Why are songs good for learning a second language?
Songs combine rhythm, melody, repetition and movement, which make language easier to perceive and remember. Group singing also lowers the social risk of speaking, so children can join in with real language before they could produce it on their own.
Do nursery rhymes help children learn to read?
Rhymes support phonological awareness, the ability to notice and play with sounds, which is one foundation of reading in alphabetic languages. Research such as Bradley and Bryant's 1983 study supports this link, though rhyming alone does not teach reading.
Should English songs be translated into Vietnamese for children?
Usually not. Translation tends to break the rhythm and rhyme that make a song work. It is better to teach each language's own songs and rhymes, explain meaning through actions and pictures, and occasionally compare how the languages sound.
What are đồng dao?
Đồng dao are traditional Vietnamese children's rhymes, often chanted during hand games and group games, with a strong syllable beat and patterns of rhyme and tone. They are a valuable part of a bilingual preschool's repertoire alongside English rhymes.
Is it a problem if children sing songs they do not understand?
It limits the learning. Children may produce the sounds perfectly without the language transferring to their own speech. Teachers choose songs with concrete content and teach meaning through actions, objects and conversation, so that words become usable.
How many songs should a preschool class learn in a year?
There is no fixed number. A useful aim is a repertoire of routine songs plus a core set of traditional rhymes in each language and a few songs per theme, revisited often enough that children know them well and choose them on their own.