LEGENDARY Teacher's Guide - Book - Page 13
In Legendary, pupils encounter the written form sight words after being exposed to the words and
their meaning orally. The sight word icon in the Course Book (see icon above) indicates to both the
teacher and pupil that the activity practices or reviews sight words. Pupils should “take a mental
picture” of the word in order to learn to recognize it when they encounter it in the future.
9. Teaching Songs and Chants
Songs and chants are an integral part of the Legendary program. “Music lowers affective barriers and assists
in making students more relaxed, thereby more receptive to language learning.” (Engh 2013: 117). The use
of music in the language learning classroom increases motivation and engagement, while decreasing stress
and apprehension. In addition, songs and music have been seen to aid significantly in learning vocabulary
and language patterns, specifically in foreign language acquisition. “Songs have a positive outcome on the
students’ language acquisition and…lexical patterns stored in long-term musical memory can be retrieved
with ease at a later date for mental rehearsal, memorization, or during oral interaction.” (118). Learning and
reviewing lexical items through songs and chants is an effective method of entering them into long-term
memory (Laufer, Meara, and Nation 2005) and a step toward advancing from receptive to productive
knowledge.
Throughout the units, songs are strategically re-entered in order to review vocabulary and lexical chunks
from the Pre-Foundation word list and to give pupils the opportunity to gain the confidence to be able to
chant and sing independently. It may take several exposures for pupils to reach a level where they “can
recite and sing using appropriate stress, rhythm and intonation.” (English Curriculum 2020: 24).
The teacher can help pupils build this skill:
• Tell pupils that they are going to hear a song. Ask them to only listen the first time.
• Play the song or chant. Perform any gestures that may accompany the song.
• Sing the first line of the song (include any gestures). Have pupils repeat after you. Repeat and
continue teaching the song.
• Gradually and through each exposure, have the pupils sing along with you.
• Each time pupils are exposed to a song or chant, they become more confident in it and are
eventually able to sing independently.
A full list of all the song and chant lyrics in the program appears in Appendix II.
10. Total Physical Response (TPR)
Developed by American professor of psychology, James Asher, Total Physical Response (TPR) introduced
movement and motor activities into the young learner’s classroom. After decades of research, the link
between movement and cognition is clear (Lengel and Kuczala 2010). The introduction of kinesthetic
learning has been praised by researchers of the foreign language classroom as a means of language learning.
“When TPR is integrated into routines, the learners will immediately become involved in the language and
engaged in reacting to it.” (Er 2013: 1767). Furthermore, "use of these multisensory inputs provides deeper
processing, resulting in stronger memory in the brain." (Fink 2015: 139). By engaging pupils through
movement, the target language becomes easier to recall.
Legendary incorporates opportunities for movements in all these categories. Games that require pupils to
act out action words, songs that invite pupils to mime the meanings of the lyrics, flashcards that encourage
accompanying gestures, and role-plays that bring dialogues and stories to life, all enrich the program.
Teachers are encouraged to bring movement into the classroom at every opportunity. Specific instructions
for gestures and movements to accompany songs or chants are included in the Teacher’s Guide.
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