I was singing Itsy Bitsy Spider to my 11-month-old granddaughter the other day and found myself pausing to let her fill in the words:
The Itsy Bitsy Spider went up the waterspout. Down came the rain and washed the spider—
“Out!” She shouted proudly.
My grandson, who is now two, also loves to belt out the rhyming words of songs. This got me thinking about the benefits of rhyme for our ESL students. In my classes, I tend to focus on Haikus and other poetry forms, but not specifically on those that rhyme. I guess I’ve considered this type of poetry too juvenile for my adult learners. How silly of me! The benefits of rhyme in language acquisition are rich and varied and apply just as much to adults as they do to children. They include:
Building phonetic awareness
Students can isolate and identify the different sound patterns (phonemes) in rhyming words. This helps them to understand that words can contain the same sounds but have different spellings (e.g. “loan” and “bone”).
Enriching vocabulary
When reading poems and creating their own, students discover new words and new meanings of words.
Enhancing critical thinking and creativity
Learners use their imaginations to create poems, and they work hard to find words that work well with the rhyming and intonation schemes. They also learn to identify these elements in other people’s poems. According to Spencer Stevenson, “Rhyme continues to stimulate cognitive processes, helping folks grasp concepts, retain information, and even remedy problems creatively.”
Discovering the musical nature of language
Through rhyme, students can appreciate the musicality of language through the rhythmic patterns of words and sounds and the measured beats of syllables. The British Council puts it this way: “There are parallels between the skills that musicians and linguists need – for example, the ability to identify and create specific sounds, to segment sound patterns (i.e., divide these up into smaller units of sound), and the need to develop sophisticated aural memory and perception.” (See more here.)
Increasing motivation
Students enjoy activities that allow them to think creatively, and they take pride in writing their own poems and helping each other out with ideas.
Given how powerful rhyming can be for our students, we need to integrate it into our lessons more. Start by showing plenty of examples. They are found everywhere from nursery rhymes to songs, jingles, and poetry collections. Tap out the beats and identify the syllables and rhyming phonemes. Here are some activities to consider:
- Put some rhyming words at each table and have students write a poem together and present it to the class.
- Play a song and have the class create the last verse. In fact, I discovered an AI-driven songwriting platform with a rich choice of music and genres. It also boasts a huge rhyming dictionary and a “collaborators” link that you can give to students. There is a monthly fee, but the platform offers a free trial, so if you would like to try it out, click here and be sure to take the quick tour.
- Do a “rhyme” of the day activity where students call out rhyming words that you add to the board and then write a poem together.
- Try a “build a poem” activity where a student writes the first line of a poem and then passes it to the next person to add a line and so on.
Here are a couple of online tools to help:
- Poetry Soup (which includes a syllable counter)
- Word Hippo rhyming dictionary
So, everyone, it’s time to… rhyme 😊
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