Rhythm in Motion: developing English skills through music and creative movement Translated title: 运动中的节奏：通过音乐和创造性动作发展英语技能

Abstract

In August 2015 a group of seven students and staff from Liverpool Hope University in the UK visited the SOS Children’s Village just outside Galle town in Southern Sri Lanka, to partake in a two week residential program ‘Global Hope’, teaching English to children between four and fifteen. Below is lecturer Dr Rachel Sweeney’s account of their experiences at the SOS Village, reflecting on a range of somatic educational tools as applied to the pedagogic focus of teaching English through movement and music, and focusing broadly on the education values of somatics as placed within an interdisciplinary embodied approach. The paper will follow the pedagogic approach to teaching English through creative play, where the emphasis is on inclusivity and individual agency, allowing for more receptive learning through familiarity with lessons often centred around rhythmic exercises that emphasise repetition through call and response alongside gestural movement and song. These learning practices follow a constructivist approach to pedagogy where the physical embodiment of the image or word allows children to take ownership over their learning, while engaging widely with each other as also the young student teachers. In presenting an extended case study of the above creative arts programs that are designed to prioritise kinaesthetic learning methods whilst implementing English speaking and writing skills, this paper will also engage with a wider political overview of the Centre’s mission aims, which respond to the vast spectrum of southern Sri Lanka’s social and economic problems.

Translated abstract

2015年8月，来自英国利物浦赫普大学的学生和教职人员一行7人参观了斯里兰卡南部加勒镇郊外的SOS儿童村，参加为期两周的住宿计划 “全球希望” ，教授四岁到十五岁的儿童英语。以下是讲师Rachel Sweeney博士对他们在SOS村经历的描述，对一系列侧重使用动作和音乐进行英语教学的身心教育工具进行了反思，聚焦于跨学科具身教学法中身心学广泛的教育价值。本文将采用创造性游戏的教学方法教授英语，强调包容性和个体能动性，考虑到更具接受性的学习方式，通常结合手势与歌曲，以相互应答的方式进行节奏练习，强调重复性，以此熟悉课文。这些学习实践遵循建构主义的教学法，其中以肢体具身化的方式体验图像或单词允许孩子们自主学习，同时也与年轻的实习老师大量地互动。本文除了介绍一个运用上述创造性艺术课程的具体案例，旨在展示优先运用动觉学习方法，教授英语口语和写作技能的方式，还将从政治层面概述该项目中心的使命目标，以应对斯里兰卡南部广泛层面的社会和经济问题。