Sample Nonsense Rhyme Read Aloud Lesson Plan

Objective

To enhance reading fluency, pronunciation, and enunciation through engaging and fun read-aloud activities using the nonsense rhyme provided.

Materials Needed

Example: Nonsense Rhyme 3 Roll Ball Roll (displayed on the board)                                                        Highlighter or colored pens                                                                                                                  Timer or stopwatch

Steps

1. Warm-Up (2 minutes) Begin the session with a quick warm-up. Ask students to shake their hands, wiggle their fingers, and loosen up their mouths by making funny faces and sounds. This helps to relax and prepare them for reading aloud.

2. Introduction (2 minutes) Introduce the poem to the students. Explain that they will be practicing a fun and rhythmic nonsense rhyme that will help improve their reading skills. Show them the printed or written version of the poem.

3. Teacher Read-Aloud (3 minutes)

Read the poem aloud to the students with clear pronunciation and expressive intonation.        

Emphasize the rhythm and rhyme in the poem.

Model the correct pacing and pausing at appropriate places.

4. Choral Reading (4 minutes)

Ask the students to read the poem together as a class. Guide them through the rhythm and intonation.

Encourage them to mimic your pronunciation and expression.

5. Individual Practice (5 minutes)

Split the students into pairs or small groups.

Have each student take turns reading the poem aloud while their partner(s) listen and provide feedback on pronunciation and enunciation.

Circulate the room to offer support and correct any mispronunciations.

6. Highlighting Activity (2 minutes)

Give each student a highlighter or colored pen.

Ask them to highlight or underline the words that they find tricky to pronounce.

Discuss these words as a class, focusing on correct pronunciation.

7. Fun Challenge (2 minutes)

Create a fun challenge by asking students to read the poem in different voices (e.g., whispering, shouting, singing).

This helps to keep the activity engaging and encourages expressive reading.

8. Recap and Reflection (2 minutes)

Recap the key points of the session, emphasizing the importance of fluency, pronunciation, and enunciation.

Encourage students to reflect on what they found challenging and what they enjoyed about the activity.

9. Wrap-Up (2 minutes)

Thank the students for their participation.

Encourage them to practice reading aloud at home or with their friends.

This lesson plan incorporates a variety of activities to keep students engaged and helps to improve their reading skills through a fun and rhythmic nonsense rhyme.

 Note to the teacher

Read Aloud activities can be a useful lead-in into Grammar and Writing activities. Have fun creating your own lessons using the rhymes in 61 Mostly Nonsense Rhymes For Malaysian Students. The rhymes cover a wide range of topics such as nature, animals, food, money, family, and magic but the rhymes share something in common; they are nonsense or border on the wacky and fantastical, which children love and enjoy. 

One of the perks of being an author is that you get invited to schools or colleges to give talks and conduct reading or training workshops.  

Nonsense Rhyme 8: I'm Alone

 

Model Lesson: I'm the King

Lesson Plan

Language focus: Simple Present Tense and modal verb `can’                                                  

Activity: This is a warm-up activity to teach the Simple Present Tense and the modal verb         `can’ for ability.

Time: Adjust according to the time you have.

Materials: Simple cutouts to identify animals or use only gestures.

Steps:

1.     Teacher models reading to the children.

2.     Children reads after the teacher.

3.     Teacher models reading; dramatized using voice, facial expressions, body movements, hand gestures.

4.     Teacher and children stand up to perform a dramatized reading of the rhyme.

5.     Children perform reading on their own.

6.     Small group or individual reading performance.

When I wanted to write my first print book, I knew I was going to write a book about education as that's the industry I have been involved in the whole of my working life - teaching, teacher training, and e-learning. I had different ideas, one of which was using rhymes to teach English. So, I had my book published, 61 Mostly Nonsense Rhymes for Malaysian Students (September 2018). But why rhymes? 

Why rhymes?

Children grow up on a diet of rhymes and songs in their kindergartens and primary schools and that's something they remember for life. In poetry, various literary devices are employed such as rhyming words, similes, alliteration, onomatopoeia, word repetition, metaphors, and personification. These devices are useful as they appeal to the child's senses - visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Take these two stanzas from Wheels on the Bus:

The horn on the bus goes beep-beep-beep
Beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-beep
The horn on the bus goes beep-beep-beep
All day long

The wipers on the bus go swish-swish-swish
Swish-swish-swish, swish-swish-swish
The wipers on the bus go swish-swish-swish
All day long

There's a preponderance of onomatopoeiac words in this `sound' children's rhyme: the sounds of the horn (beep), wiper (swish), babies (wah-wah), and mothers (shush-shush). The repetition of these word sounds makes it easy for children to learn and remember the words in a fun way. They will also learn the sentence pattern: 

The horn on the bus goes...The wipers on the bus go...

The expression `All day long' is also repeated in every stanza. I can almost visualize a teacher going through this rhyme with her brood of kindie kids, voicing and acting out the word-sounds in their classroom.

Rhyme your way to English!

 

Dear Readers:

When I started out to write this book, I was guided by the thought of how teachers and students could use poems as a classroom resource in their English lessons. Why nonsense rhymes? Because we can suspend our reason and simply enjoy the fun -whether it’s a ball bouncing over the stars, a tall woman making pies in the sky, someone who looks like a fly, or a train that travels under the sea from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur. When students enjoy what they read, they will love what they are learning.

I have enjoyed myself penning 61 Mostly Nonsense Rhymes for Malaysian Students (2018) and I hope you’ll enjoy reading these poems, too. The choice of having 61 nonsense rhymes in this book is to celebrate Malaysia's 61 years as an independent nation.

Enjoy!

YK Lim

What some readers say about the book...

                                 "Brilliant use of rhymes! Fun for young FL and ESL speakers!" 

      Jennifer Monroe,  Instructional designer, ESL instructor, translator, Italy       

      

"Let the rhythm and rhymes foster the love of English".
                                     Chin Han, Medical and scientific writer, editor, Malaysia                                             

"Poems are fun and enjoyable...awesome graphics, too!"

SamVoon, entrepreneur, online bookstore, Malaysia

“Fun rhymes with local examples…help students improve their English in an enjoyable way”.
Dolores Csbai, Instructional Designer, Author of Story from Elfland, Hungary

“Enjoyable, funny and imaginative…useful resource to motivate students to start writing poetry”.
Vijaykumar, teacher, instructional designer, India

 
"A veritable buffet of nonsense, perfect for young learners eager to learn the sillier side of the English language."
E-Learning writer, publisher, author of From Manglish to English, Scotland