Introduction
Mother Goose is a staple of American and British childhood. Besides
each Ukrainian or Russian kid knows the rhyme about the house, that Jack
built or story about the great fall of Humpty-Dumpty (Shaltay – Boltay). The
verses represent the joy of young children playing with sound, language,
rhythm and rhyme. They also introduce young listeners to the characters,
simple plots and literary conventions that are entrees into more complex
stories and poetry. Although Mother Goose is most commonly associated
with the nursery, her power extends beyond babies and toddlers to many
aspects of adult life. British and American students study the literary history
of Mother Goose as well as social and historical referents in these nursery
rhymes.
This work is devoted to the linguistic analysis and exploring of the
history of texts of the traditional English children’s poetry “Mother Goose
Rhymes” and establish their role in the process of learning and teaching
English language.
Analysis of the characteristics of texts was based on the work of
L.S.Vygotsky, N.I.Zhinkina, and E.L.Negnevitskoy and others who have
made significant contributions to the study of traditional children's poetry.
In addition, the analysis involved authentic audio recording of English
children’s poems and songs, as well as materials from personal archives of the
author collected in the process of researching the Internet.
The object of research work are the texts of the rhymes of Mother Goose. .
The basic purpose of research – linguistic analyze of the rhymes and
researching of their history.
According to the purpose of research in work the following tasks are put
and solved:
1. to research the origin of Mother Goose – as an author of nursery
rhymes;
2. to systemize the existing classification and identify the main principles
of classification of texts of Mother Goose Rhymes;
3. to describe the history of nursery rhymes;
4. to analyze the linguistic peculiarities of the rhymes
5. to show the importance of Mother Goose Rhymes for learning and
teaching of English language
Methods of research. To solve particular problems used methods of
analysis of dictionary definitions, the step of identification, distribution
analysis, descriptive and quantitative methods.
The theoretical importance of work is that it contributes to the study of
folk rhymes, their history and linguistic peculiarities.
The practical value of
research is the ability to use his materials in the teaching of a number of
language courses: linguistics, folklore, the theory and practice of translation,
comparative typology and also at the lessons of foreign language and special
courses and trainings.
Work consists of the introduction, 3 sections, conclusions, the list of the
used sources and additions.
In the introduction the urgency of the chosen theme is opened, the choice
of object of research is proved, the purpose and the task, problems is defined,
and the composite structure of work is described.
The first part presents the origin of Mother Goose. We tried to systemize all
opinions and ideas about the real author of the Rhymes.
In the second part of the research work there is the linguistic analyze and
the history of the Mother Goose Rhymes according their division for four
groups: the lullabies, the alphabet and counting rhymes, the riddles for adults
and the rhymes about the secret history of Queens and Kings.
The third part is the presentation of the practical part of the work – using
Mother Goose Rhymes in teaching and learning English language.
In the general conclusions results concerning the lead research are lined
and the achieved purposes, results of the made analysis are defined. At the
end of work there is a list of the used sources.
PART I
THE ORIGIN OF MOTHER GOOSE.
Old Mother Goose
When she wanted to wander
Would fly through the air
On a very fine gander.
Mother Goose had a house;
It stood in the wood
Where an owl at the door
As sentinel stood.
Mother Goose is an iconic figure in literature, associated with both fairy
tales and nursery rhymes. But who was Mother Goose? There is no answer,
because Mother Goose is not one person. Many she's and he's—different
writers—in different times.
Based on anthropological evidence, Henry Bett – American linguist concluded that nursery rhymes and tales by Mother Goose date from
prehistoric times, and have spread over the world with the migrations of races
and the forgotten commerce of many thousands of years. This statement has
been based on the language used for such rhymes, the variations in rhymes
among countries, and because of their depiction of ancient customs and ideas.
Let’s read the variations in wording and prose of rhyme both nationally and
internationally. For example in America the rhyme is:
Eena, meena, mina, mo,
Catch a tiggerby the toe,
If he hollers, let him go,
Eena, meena, mina, mo.
And in England the words are:
Eena, meena, mona, mi,
Pasca, lora, vora, vi,
Eggs, butter, cheese, bread
Stick, stock, stone-dead.
The history of nursery rhyme dates back centuries, to a time when
written language was scarce or limited to the highly educated gentry. A study
by Iona and Peter Opie, presented in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery
Rhymes indicates that "at least one quarter, and very likely one half of the
rhymes are more than 200 years old. …More than 40 per cent [of rhymes]
have been found recorded before the close of the eighteenth century, and at
least one quarter of these set down before the close of the previous century"
It was due to the lack of written material, and more importantly the lack
of education for the working class, that the rhymes which we now refer to as
nursery rhymes and Mother Goose tales were passed on by word of mouth. It
has been suggested that the rhymes, based on the literary styles of
composition, were originally written for the gentry and copied by the ‘folk’
who worked for them, or observed them at their amusements. One can
conclude that this is where the term "folk tales" originated, later to become
Mother Goose tales and rhymes.
It was not until this time that publishers began to document the songs
found in the nursery and put them into print for those who were able to afford
the enjoyment of books. This is also the time where inconsistencies regarding
the history of Mother Goose appear.
British literature claims that John Newbery, a publisher in London,
printed his first volume of A Little Pretty Pocket-Book in 1744. This work,
although not using the identity of Mother Goose, consisted of many of the
nursery rhymes we know today. Not only was this piece of work one of the
first to focus on entertainment for children, but it was what established John
Newbery’s name in the genre of children’s literature. Newbery’s
accomplishments were further developed by John Carnan, Newbery’s stepson,
who published Mother Goose’s Melody or Sonnets for the Cradle in 1780.
Accordingly, American literature reserves the 1719 work Songs for the
Nursery, or Mother Goose’s Melodies for Children, as the beginning of
Mother Goose. Written by Thomas Fleet, a resident of Boston, Massachusetts,
this book was said to resemble the format of the later version by Newbery.
Unfortunately no record of either of these works has ever been found and as a
result no concrete comparison of verification of dates may be made.
A final twist to the origin of Mother Goose can be traced from England
back into France. According to Lang, "La Mere Oie was connected with the
telling of fairy tales as far back as 1650" . Furthermore, "La Mere Oie" has
been associated with a storyteller named Bertha. This has given rise to the
thought that Mother Goose was an actual person, and more specifically
perhaps, one of royalty.
The first possibility is the French Queen Bertha, wife of Pepin. She was
"known as ‘Queen Goose-foot’ or ‘Goose-footed Bertha’, possibly because of
the size and shape of her foot which was said to be both large and webbed.
The other was Queen Bertha, wife of Robert II, also of France. It was
rumored that the close blood-tie [with her husband] had caused her to give
birth to a child with the head of a goose". In each case the Queen has been
represented, and is often depicted by the image of a child’s storyteller.
Regardless of their malevolent words, the nursery rhymes that were
popular years ago, and still are today, can in fact be placed into four
categories of entertainment.
First are the lullabies, the songs and melodies which most are familiar.
As was just stated, these were far from soothing but rather are said to have
been sung in order to intimidate the child and used as an outlet for the
emotions of the parent or nurse.
A second reason for the development of nursery rhymes and Mother
Goose was as infant amusement. Many of the counting rhymes, and alphabet
rhymes fit into this category. Finger games, or what some refer to as tickle
games, were also readily used for the amusement of infants and toddlers.
The next portion of the Mother Goose Rhymes belongs to the group of
rhymes that have made their way into the nursery from adult riddles. As the
answers to these adult riddles became obsolete, so too did the riddle.
The fourth, lesser known, category of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes
contains the Secret History of the Nursery Rhyme - reflecting the actual
historical events and culture of the day and also used to spread subversive
messages!
The songs, games, tales, and rhymes have been able to survive vast
changes in both political structure, technological advances, and of course
changes in literary styles and demands. Perhaps it is due to the fact that many
of the prose are easy to learn and "catchy" to remember. We try to analyze
some nurseries from each group at the following chapters of our research
work.
PART II
HISTORY AND LINGUISTIC PECULARITIES OF MOTHER’S
GOOSE RHYMES
2.1. Lullabies as an outlet for the emotions of the parents or nurses.
The oldest children's songs of which we have records are lullabies,
intended to help a child sleep. A lullaby is a soothing song, usually sung to
children before they go to sleep, with the intention of speeding that process.
As a result they are often simple and repetitive. Lullabies can be found in
every human culture and seem to have been used at least from the ancient
period. The English term lullaby is thought to come from 'lu, lu' or 'la la'
sound made by mothers or nurses to calm children, and 'by by' or 'bye bye',
either another lulling sound, or a term for good night. Until the modern era
lullabies were usually only recorded incidentally in written sources.
Many medieval English verses associated with the birth of Jesus take the
form of a lullaby, including 'Lullay, my liking, my dere son, my sweting' and
may be versions of contemporary lullabies. However, most of those used
today date from the seventeenth century onwards. One of the most famous
'Rock-a-bye, baby on a tree top' is not recorded until late eighteenth century
by John Newbery. As we know, he was the first publisher of Mother Goose
Rhymes. The first printed version has the following lyrics:
Hush-a-by baby
On the tree top,
When the wind blows
The cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks,
The cradle will fall,
Down tumbles baby,
Cradle and all.
Originally titled 'Hush-a-bye Baby', this nursery rhyme was said to be
the first poem written on American soil. Although there is no evidence as to
when the lyrics were written, it may date from the seventeenth century and
have been written by an English immigrant who observed the way nativeAmerican women rocked their babies in birch-bark cradles, which were
suspended from the branches of trees, allowing the wind to rock the baby to
sleep.
In Derbyshire, England, local legend has it that the song relates to a local
character in the late 1700s, Betty Kenny (Kate Kenyon), who lived with her
charcoal-burner husband, Luke, and their eight children in a huge yew tree in
Shining Cliff Woods in the Derwent Valley, where a hollowed-out bough
served as a cradle. However this date is incompatible with the poem's
appearance in print in 1765.
Yet another theory has it that the song, like "Lilliburlero", refers to
events immediately preceding the Glorious Revolution. The baby is supposed
to be the son of James VII and II, who was widely believed to be someone
else's child smuggled into the birthing room in order to provide a Catholic
heir for James. The "wind" may be that political "wind" or force "blowing" or
coming from the Netherlands bringing James' nephew and son-in-law,
William III of England, a.k.a. William of Orange, who would eventually
depose King James II in the revolution. The "cradle" is the royal House of
Stuart.
Sleep, baby, sleep
We tried to compare English variant and Ukrainian translation (interpretation)
of some lullabies. As we see the interpreter Ivan Bayrak just used the first
lines of the original rhymes and the main characters mother and father.
Sleep, baby, sleep,
Спи, дитинко, спи,
Thy papa guards the sheep;
Тато купить крупи,
Thy mama shakes the dreamland tree
Мама зварить кашу
And from it fall sweet dreams for thee,
Й нагодує дитинку нашу.
Sleep, baby, sleep.
Speaking about the language of lullabies we can make the conclusion that
most of them contain some archaic words:
thy –[ðai] (archaic) your; that belongs to thee; the possessive form of thou.
thee - [ði:] (archaic) you. Thee is the objective case of thou
Sleep, baby, sleep
1)vale [veɪl] – (archaic) valley. Area of land between hills or mountains,
often with river flowing throgh it.
2) lamb [læm] – A young sheep, of up to one year of age.
3) fleece [fli:s] – wool of a sheep.
Sleep, baby, sleep,
Our cottage vale is deep;
Спи, дитинко, спи,
The little lamb is on the green,
Тато в’яже снопи,
With woolly fleece so soft and
Мама в копу складає,
clean
Sleep, baby, sleep.
Дитинка ж їх виглядає.
2.2. Counting and alphabet rhymes for children
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep
Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
Three bags full
One for my master,
One for my dame,
But none for the little boy
Who cries in the lane.
Using this rhyme children can practice numbers from one to three. Besides this
poem is useful for grammar analyze – there is the sentence : “Have you any
wool?”, which contains two grammar rules:
1) interrogative sentence with structure – have you…
2) using the pronoun “any” in the questions
The reason to the words and history to this song were to associate wool and
wool products with the animal that produces it, not to mention the sound that a
sheep would make! The first grasp of language for a child or baby is to imitate
the sounds or noises that animals make - onomatopoeia (words sound like their
meaning e.g. baa baa in "Baa, baa black sheep"). In some of the earlier versions
of "Baa, baa black sheep" the title is actually given as "Baa, baa black sheep" - it
is difficult to spell sounds!
The wool industry was critical to the country's economy from the Middle Ages
until the nineteenth century so it is therefore not surprising that it is celebrated in
the Baa Baa Black Sheep Nursery Rhyme. An historical connection for this
rhyme has been suggested - a political satire said to refer to the Plantagenet King
Edward I (the Master) and the the export tax imposed in Britain in 1275 in
which the English Customs Statute authorized the king to collect a tax on all
exports of wool in every port in the country.
But our further research indicates another possible connection of this Nursery
rhyme to English history relating to King Edward II (1307-1327). The best wool
in Europe was produced in England but the cloth workers from Flanders, Bruges
and Lille were better skilled in the complex finishing trades such as dying and
fulling (cleansing, shrinking, and thickening the cloth). King Edward II
encouraged Flemish weavers and cloth dyers to improve the quality of the final
English products.
Three Blind Mice
Three blind mice. Three blind mice.
See how they run. See how they run.
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a sight in your life,
As three blind mice?
Three Blind Mice is an English nursery rhyme and musical round, perhaps the
best known round in the world. Attempts to read historical significance into the
words have led to the speculation that this musical round was written earlier and
refers to Queen Mary I of England blinding and executing three Protestant
bishops, but problematically the Oxford Martyrs, Ridley, Latimer and Cranmer,
were burned at the stake, not blinded. The earliest lyrics do not talk about
directly killing the three blind mice and are dated long after Queen Mary died,
and "she scrapte her tripe licke thou the knife" implies they were prepared and
consumed. There is a narrative ambiguity at the heart of the rhyme, which is the
question over whether the mice are chasing the farmer's wife after she cut their
tails off, or whether she cut their tails off after they began chasing her. The
rhyme only entered children's literature in 1842 when it was published in a
collection by James Orchard Halliwell.
The Alphabet
A, B, C, and D,
Pray, playmates, agree.
E, F, and G,
Well, so it shall be.
J, K, and L,
In peace we will dwell.
M, N, and O,
To play let us go.
P, Q, R, and S,
Love may we possess.
W, X, and Y,
Will not quarrel or die.
Z, and ampersand,
Go to school at command.
ABC
Great A, little a,
Bouncing B!
The cat's in the cupboard,
And can't see me.
As we see, these rhymes can help to learn the letters of alphabet. In fact, the
first poem doesn’t contain all 26 letters, but only 22. The verbs rhyme with the
letters of ABC. For example – y – die; o- go and others.
2.3. Riddles for adults
Next rhymes belongs to the group of rhymes that have made their way into the
nursery from adult riddles. As the answers to these adult riddles became
obsolete, so too did the riddle. However, many have survived and have been
passed down through numerous printings to finally land themselves within the
collection of children’s nursery lore.
2.3.1. Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Cannot put Humpty Dumpty together again.
(egg)
Humpty Dumpty is a character in a nursery rhyme typically portrayed as an
egg. Most English-speaking children are familiar with the rhyme. Humpty
Dumpty was a common "nickname" for people of large proportions in the
1400's. This rhyme refers to King Richard III of England. The Battle of
Bosworth took place on 22nd August 1485. It was the fight for the throne
between King Richard III and the head of the house of Lancaster, Henry Tudor.
Richard sat on his horse atop Ambion Hill ready for battle, directing his armies
when he was murdered. : "Humpty Dumpty referred to King Richard III, the
hunchbacked monarch. At the Battle of Bosworth Field, he fell from his steed, a
horse he had named 'Wall' (as dramatically rendered in Shakespeare's play
Richard III: 'A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!'). Richard was
surrounded by enemy troops in the battle, and was butchered right there, his
body being hacked to pieces. Hence the final part of the rhyme: 'All the King's
horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again.' " This
mention of Richard III is not a new idea. And the dictionary defines "Humpty
Dumpty" as being a person who is short, stout, and kind of dumpy looking. If
Richard had a hunchback, then he may have been called this.
Other suggested origins are that During the English Civil War (1642-49)
"Humpty Dumpty" was the name for a powerful cannon mounted atop the St.
Mary's Wall Church in Colchester to defend the city against siege in the summer
of 1648. (Although Colchester was a Parliamentarian stronghold, it was captured
by the Royalists who held it for 11 weeks.) The enemy hit the church tower and
the top was blown off. "Humpty Dumpty" fell off and tumbled to the ground.
The King's men tried to mend him but could not. (The "men" were the infantry,
and "horses" the cavalry.)
Another suggests that "Humpty Dumpty" refers to the tale of Charles I (Humpty
Dumpty) of England. He was toppled by the Puritan majority in Parliament (the
great fall). The King's army (Cavaliers) could not restore his power. Charles I
was executed by the Roundheads ("couldn't put back together again").
Since the World Book Dictionary states that "Humpty Dumpty" refers to a short,
stout person this idea is very plausible. There are many different translations of
this Mother Goose Rhyme. (see the Appendix )
2.3.2. As I was going to St. Ives
Only one assumption can be made in the Nursery Rhyme "As I was going to St.
Ives" and that is that one person was definitely going there - or was it? It , of
course would depend on the direction of the people that were encountered on the
way! This type of conundrum is now referred to as a logic problem in lateral
thinking designed to improve the logic and deductive skills of children, and
indeed, adults! (As I was going to St. Ives refers to the name of a quaint old
village in
Cornwall, England) Earliest traceable publication date is 1730.
As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives,
Every wife had seven sacks,
Every sack had seven cats,
Every cat had seven kits Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?
The Answer to the Riddle : Only one man was going to St.Ives!
He met the following who were going the other way:
A man (1) with 7 wives
7 x 7 (49) sacks
7x7x7 (343) cats
7x7x7x7 (2,401) kits
A Total of 2,801 wives, sacks cats and kits!
So we can use this rhyme for learning not only math and logic, but for learning
the plural form of the nouns.
2.4. The secret History of the nursery rhymes
2.4.1. Remember, remember the fifth of November
Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...
Words of "Remember Remember" refer to Guy Fawkes with origins in 17th
century English history. On the 5th November 1605 Guy Fawkes was caught in
the cellars of the Houses of Parliament with several dozen barrels of gunpowder.
Guy Fawkes was subsequently tried as a traitor with his co-conspirators for
plotting against the government. He was tried by Judge Popham who came to
London specifically for the trial from his country manor Littlecote House in
Hungerford, Gloucestershire. Fawkes was sentenced to death and the form of
the execution was one of the most horrendous ever practiced (hung ,drawn and
quartered) which reflected the serious nature of the crime of treason.
The following year in 1606 it became an annual custom for the King and
Parliament to commission a sermon to commemorate the event. Lancelot
Andrewes delivered the first of many Gunpowder Plot Sermons. This practice,
together with the nursery rhyme, ensured that this crime would never be
forgotten! Hence the words " Remember , remember the 5th of November" The
poem is sometimes referred to as 'Please to remember the fifth of November'. It
serves as a warning to each new generation that treason will never be forgotten.
In England the 5th of November is still commemorated each year with fireworks
and bonfires culminating with the burning of effigies of Guy Fawkes (the guy).
The 'guys' are made by children by filling old clothes with crumpled newspapers
to look like a man. Tradition allows British children to display their 'guys' to
passers-by and asking for " A penny for the guy".
2.4.2.Ring around the Rosy
Ring around the rosy
A pocketful of posies
“Ashes, Ashes”
We all fall down!
Ring around the rosy
A pocketful of posies
“A-tishoo, A-tishoo!”
We all fall down!
The words to the Ring around the rosy children's ring game have their
origin in English history . The historical period dates back to the Great Plague of
London in 1665 (bubonic plague) or even before when the first outbreak of the
Plague hit England in the 1300's. The symptoms of the plague included a rosy
red rash in the shape of a ring on the skin (Ring around the rosy). Pockets and
pouches were filled with sweet smelling herbs ( or posies) which were carried
due to the belief that the disease was transmitted by bad smells. The term "Ashes
Ashes" refers to the cremation of the dead bodies! The death rate was over 60%
and the plague was only halted by the Great Fire of London in 1666 which killed
the rats which carried the disease which was transmitting via water sources. The
English version of "Ring around the rosy" replaces Ashes with (A-tishoo, Atishoo) as violent sneezing was another symptom of the disease. We recommend
the following site for comprehensive information regarding the Bubonic Plague.
The connection between this Rhyme was made by James Leasor in 1961 in
his non-fiction book ' The Plague and the Fire. Some people are skeptical of the
plague interpretations of this rhyme, many stating that words in the rhyme
cannot be found in Middle English. The skeptics must be referring to the later
version of the rhyme, possibly with American origins, the English version is
"Ring a ring o' rosies" using the Middle English "o" as a shortening of the word
"of". The written word " posies" is first mentioned in a poem called
'Prothalamion or A Spousal Verse' by Edmund Spenser (1552-1599). We believe
that this addresses the views of the skeptics.
2.4.3. Bloody Mary
Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row.
The Mary alluded to in this traditional English nursery rhyme is reputed to
be Mary Tudor, or Bloody Mary, who was the daughter of King Henry VIII.
Queen Mary was a staunch Catholic and the garden referred to is an allusion to
graveyards which were increasing in size with those who dared to continue to
adhere to the Protestant faith - Protestant martyrs.
The silver bells and cockle shells referred to in the Nursery Rhyme were
colloquialisms for instruments of torture. The 'silver bells' were thumbscrews
which crushed the thumb between two hard surfaces by the tightening of a
screw. The 'cockleshells' were believed to be instruments of torture which were
attached to the genitals!
The 'maids' were a device to behead people called the Maiden. Beheading a
victim was fraught with problems. It could take up to 11 blows to actually sever
the head, the victim often resisted and had to be chased around the scaffold.
Margaret Pole (1473 - 1541), Countess of Salisbury did not go willingly to her
death and had to be chased and hacked at by the Executioner. These problems
led to the invention of a mechanical instrument (now known as the guillotine)
called the Maiden - shortened to Maids in the Mary Mary Nursery Rhyme. The
Maiden had long been in use in England before Lord Morton, regent of Scotland
during the minority of James VI, had a copy constructed from the Maiden which
had been used in Halifax in Yorkshire. Ironically, Lord Morton fell from favour
and was the first to experience the Maiden in Scotland!
Another form of execution during Mary's reign was being burnt at the stake
- a terrible punishment much used during the Spanish Inquisition. The English
hated the Spanish and dreaded the idea of an English Inquisition. The executions
during the reign of Bloody Mary were therefore viewed with a greater fear of the
Spanish than the executions themselves - it is interesting to note that executions
during her reign totalled less than 300 an insignificant amount compared to the
executions ordered by her father King Henry VIII which are believed to have
numbered tens of thousands!
PART III.
USING RHYMES OF MOTHER GOOSE FOR LEARNING AND
TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Nursery Rhymes are part of a great oral tradition of story-telling. They
have been passed down many generations and have entertained millions of
children across the world. Nursery rhymes exist for a variety of reasons: they
can be educational, with each rhyme encouraging counting, recognition of
animals and everyday objects; they can be historical in context, for example
mentioning kings and queens.
One of the benefits to doing nursery rhyme activities with children is that
nursery rhyme activities actually increase a child’s vocabulary The reason for
this is that there are many words in the nursery rhymes that children do not hear
in everyday language, some of these words are nonsense words, but there are
still a lot of words that nursery rhymes use that are regular words that we just
don’t use in every day communication. So by learning these words the children
are expanding their vocabulary.
Another great benefit to nursery rhyme activities is that many times they
become the first sentences that children speak. Basically what this means is that
nursery rhyme sentences are easy to learn so more often than not children go
around repeating the nursery rhyme sentences. And these rhymes are actually
reinforced through the nursery rhyme activities. And because the children are
memorizing these rhymes they are actually developing the building blocks for
speaking and reading.
Another way that nursery rhyme activities benefits children is that it helps
kids figure out the English language. A nursery rhyme has simple vocabulary
and a catchy rhyme. Children can quickly learn to sing along with a nursery
rhyme, and nursery rhymes are often used to help young children build up their
vocabulary. Since counting is often integrated into a nursery rhyme as well,
children can also start to learn to count using nursery rhymes. They also show
children how to find and keep a beat, and can be used to get children to start
reading.
Nursery rhyme activities will also help children learn about the letters of
the alphabet, the sounds of the letters and sounds of various words. These are all
building blocks for learning to read and write later on in life. By planning lesson
plans around the nursery rhymes you are creating a fun learning environment for
the children to learn about the different letters and the sounds that they make,
you are also associating those letters with a fun activity which makes learning
those letters easier for children. By playing with the short texts of rhymes,
children explore the mechanics of the English language. They find out how
language works and become familiar with the relationship between the 44
sounds of English and the 26 alphabet letters – information which helps them
when they begin reading to decode the sounds that make up words.
Another huge benefit to nursery rhyme activities is that it teaches young
children about poetry. By introducing the basics of poetry at a young age
children are more receptive and some of that information will stick when they
get older and get into more in depth lessons about poetry. But Mother Goose and
other nursery rhymes are a basic introduction to poetry. These rhymes introduce
children to how some poetry rhymes, how it flows or the rhythm of the poetry.
A rhyme, for young children, is a complete, short experience. It is like a
compact story: it has a beginning and an end, and its own content.
Young children, who learn English, want to communicate immediately in
English and are frustrated that they can’t say what they want. Rhymes give them
the opportunity to feel that from the first sessions they can ‘say a lot of English
and say it quickly just like adults. Learning to speak English may seem daunting
to some young children; knowing rhymes can provide motivating stepping
stones that encourage them, especially in the early stages of learning English,
when they feel progress is not fast enough for them.
Besides Rhymes are portable playthings. Parents and children can say them at
any time or in any place to change a mood or fill a bored moment with fun.
Rhymes need no toy, equipment or even a book to set a scene; they depend on
the sound of the voice reciting the language to stimulate play. Some may be
accompanied by physical actions, which help to understanding and act as an aid
to memorization. Young children, who are sometimes shy about speaking
English, often begin to speak by sharing rhymes with an adult.
But it is not just learning to read and write that makes nursery rhyme
activities so beneficial for children. There are other skills that the children will
learn through doing nursery rhyme activities. In fact many nursery rhyme
activities are going to encourage and develop children’s fine and gross motor
skills. And how those skills are developed depend on what activities you are
doing. There are a lot sites in the Internet which propose different activities
which are connected with Mother Goose Rhymes. Through the use of search
engines you can find endless possibilities for nursery rhyme activities. The best
thing about using the Internet is that most of the websites that are going to be
giving to you through a search is that most of those websites are going to be
available for you to use for free.
Mother Goose crafts are commonly used in conjunction with teaching
children the rhymes because it helps them to commit these rhymes to memory
and also to enhance other motor skills in the process. Simple activities such as
coloring provide a good base for making more involved crafts such as collage
pieces and crafts with moving or three-dimensional elements. For example, in
the Mother Goose tale of the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, you can start by
having the child trace or draw the profile of one of his shoes. Color this shoe
outline as if it were a house that an Old Woman and her many children could
live in. Now, to add more complexity to it, use an old shoe lace and string it
through the shoe where the laces should be. Now glue or tape the shoe to a
larger piece of paper and color in the backyard or a scene with all of the
characters in the rhyme. Mother Goose crafts can also be used as a fun group or
class activity. For example, you can keep with the theme of Humpty Dumpty
and create a craft out of papermache that can them be used as a piñata.
On the second of October we celebrated The Teachers’ Day in our school.
Traditionally in this day the pupils of the tenth and eleventh forms teach lessons
instead of their teachers. As a part of our experimental work we conducted the
lesson of English using nursery rhymes. Such as it was the tenth lesson in this
form, the children only began to study English, they learned the letter of the
alphabet, drew the picture of the pond and sang the song about the fish. It was
the rhyme of “Mother Goose”.
One, two, three, four, five,
Once I caught a fish alive.
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
Then I let him go again.
"Why did you let him go?"
"Because he bit my finger so!"
"Which finger did he bite?"
"This little finger on my right."
First of all, we repeated the numbers from 1 to 10. We used the moves of
the hands for the showing the numbers.
Secondly children have learnt some new words: fish, finger, pond.
And finally kids were really interested and motivated to study English.
( see photos in the attachment )
Also the rhyme “Once I caught a fish alive ” we presented to the ninth –
formers during the lesson we analyzed this poem from the grammar point of
view. The pupils have understood that poem is written in the Past Indefinite
tense, because there are the irregular verbs :
1. Caught - the base form is catch
Catch [kætς] – caught [k‫נ‬:t] – caught [k‫נ‬:t]
2. Let – the base form is let
Let [let] – let [let] – let [let]
3. Bit – the base form is bite
Bite [bait] – bit [bit] – bitten [bitn]
The poems contains two interrogative sentences:
1. Why did you let it go?
This question in the past simple tense consist of auxiliary word did and
the main verb let in a base form.
2. Which finger did it bite?
This question in the past simple tense consist of auxiliary word did and the
main verb bite in a base form
So the nursery rhyme ,, Once I caught a fish alive” is the good example for the
learning past simple tenses ( positive and interrogative form) and practice of the
numbers. We can use this poem for the pupils of the second form, for warm-up
and learning the numbers.
As we see Mother Goose Rhymes are perfect for small kids. The English
textbook for the third form by Oksana Karpiuk contain the Mother Goose
Rhymes as a part of playtime section. There are ten rhymes at pages 15, 19, 47,
48, 70, 106, 109, 139 and 142.
Actually, Mother Goose Rhymes are useful not only for small kids, we can use
them for learning grammar rules too. In the additional materials there is the table
of all Mother Goose Rhymes. We defined the verb tenses of each of them, we
sure it will be helpful for all teachers. (see the appendix)
Conclusion
If you close your eyes and picture Mother Goose, who or what do you see? Is
your Mother Goose a human woman or is she a personified goose? What does
your Mother Goose wear? Who is with her, and what is she doing? Is she flying?
Is she reading? Is she old or young? Is she contemporary, or is she old
fashioned? Who or what surrounds her? Nobody can answer all these questions
properly. Because everybody has own opinion about the origin of Mother
Goose. But everyone can tell you some rhymes from her book, and this is more
important.
In the given work was presented the history of Mother Goose and her
rhymes, the linguistic analysis of some the most popular poems and songs.
Based on anthropological evidence that nursery rhymes and tales by Mother
Goose date from prehistoric times, and have spread over the world with the
migrations of races and the forgotten commerce of many thousands of years.
Regardless of their malevolent words, the nursery rhymes that were popular
years ago, and still are today, can in fact be placed into four categories of
entertainment.
The oldest children's songs of Mother Goose are lullabies, intended to help
a child sleep. As a result they are often simple and repetitive.
Nursery rhymes also help children learn about the letters of the alphabet,
the sounds of the letters and sounds of various words. These are all building
blocks for learning to read and write later on in life.
Some rhymes belongs to the group of rhymes that have made their way
into the nursery from adult riddles. As the answers to these adult riddles became
obsolete, so too did the riddle.
There is some special group of rhymes which contain the names of queens
and kings. As usually all these poems have the story about the life of monarchs.
The language of the Mother Goose Rhymes has a lot of peculiarities such
as: archaic words, rhymes of the verbs, sounds of birds and animals etc.
Learning to speak English may seem daunting to some young children;
knowing rhymes can provide motivating stepping stones that encourage them,
especially in the early stages of learning English.
Appendix
Appendix
There are many different variations of the Mother Goose Rhyme “Humpty
Dumpty ”
Шалтай-Болтай
Сидел на стене.
Шалтай-Болтай
Свалился во сне.
Вся королевская конница,
Вся королевская рать
Не может Шалтая,
Не может Болтая,
Шалтая-Болтая,
Болтая-Шалтая,
Шалтая-Болтая собрать!
Samuil Marshak
***
Козак Мамай скакав за Дунай,
Та гепнувся так, що луснув геть вкрай.
Вся кiннота Дорошенка,
Усе вiйсько Морозенка,
Нi братчики-запорожцi, нi батько, нi мати
Не можуть Мамая до купи зiбрати.
Ukrainian Rhyme
***
Шива, смеясь, танцевал пред Повелителем Речи.
Триединый же Шиву низверг: возникновенье и гибель.
Все боевые слоны, конь из коней, Уччхайшравас,
Всё повелителя Индры золоторотое войско
Семя великого Шивы не собрало. Не посмело.
Indian Rhyme
***
Шао Дай Баодай прогуливался по великой китайской стене,
Размышляя о несовершенстве мироздания,
И упал, заглядевшись на полет одинокой серой уточки.
Самые почитаемые мудрецы во всей Поднебесной
Десять тысяч лет собирали его в поте лица,
Но когда их труд был закончен,
Оказалось, что юношу зовут Шао Бао Дайдай.
Chinese Rhyme
***
На голой ветке
Сярутаи сидит одиноко.
Осенний вечер.
Порывистый листобой.
Сярутаи падает тихо,
Как слеза в кадку пруда.
Все люди сегуна Ямато,
Все самураи бессильны, -Плотно сомкнул он рот.
Japanese Rhyme
***
Шайтан Саддам сидел на дувал, понимаешь.
Шайтан Саддам с дувал и упал, понимаешь.
Вся эмирская конница,
Все другие уважаемые люди в эмиратах, понимаешь,
Не могут шайтана, не могут Саддама,
Шайтана Саддама собиратъ, ах, понимаешь.
О наисладчайшая из роз в саду моих наслаждений.
Arabian Rhyme
Appendix
This is the table of the most famous Mother Goose Rhymes with the explanation
about history and grammar peculiarities.
#
Mother Goose Rhymes
1. As I was going to St. Ives,/I met a man with
seven wives..
Verb tenses
Comments
Past continuous+
past indefinite
2. As round as an apple,/As deep as a cup..."
Present indefinite
As…as
3. Baa, baa, black sheep,/Have you any
Present indefinite
The slave trade;
wool?"
medieval wool tax
4. Blow, wind, blow! And go, mill, go...
Present indefinite
5. Bow, wow, wow,/Whose dog art thou?..
Present indefinite
6. Bye, baby bunting,/Daddy's gone a-
Present perfect
Lullaby
hunting..
7. Cat came fiddling out of a barn.
Past simple
8. Cobbler, cobbler, mend my shoe.
Present indefinite
9. Cock-a-doodle-doo!/My dame has lost her
Present perfect =
shoe..
Future indefinite
10. Come, butter, come..
Present indefinite
11. Cushy cow bonny, let down thy milk.
Present indefinite
Old language
+future indefinite
12. Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John.
Past indefinite
13. Ding, dong, bell,/Pussy's in the well.
Present indefinite+
past simple
14. Farmer went riding/Upon his gray mare.
Past simple
15. Girls and boys, come out to play..
16. God bless the master of this house
17. Hey! diddle, diddle,/The cat and the fiddle..
18. Hickory, dickory, dock..
19. Higgledy, piggledy, my black hen.
20. Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall..."
Past Indefinite
21. Hush-a-bye, baby, on the tree top.
Lullaby
22. I had a little nut-tree, nothing would it bear
23. I had a little pony,/His name was Dapple-
Riddle
Past Indefinite
gray
24. I have a little sister, they call her Peep, Peep
25. I saw a ship a-sailing,/A-sailing on the sea..
Past Indefinite
26. In marble walls as white as milk.
27. Intery, mintery, cutery-corn.
28. Jack and Jill went up the hill
Past Indefinite
Norse mythology;
Louis XVI of
France and Marie
Antoinette
29. Jack be nimble,/And Jack be quick
Imperative
statements
30. Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep.
Present Perfect
31. Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn
32. Little Jack Horner/Sat in a corner
Past Indefinite
The rhyme may
have been adapted
to satirise Thomas
Horner who
benefited from the
Dissolution, but
the connection is
speculative.
33. Little King Boggen, he built a fine hall..
Past Indefinite
34. Little Miss Muffet/Sat on a tuffet
Past Indefinite
35. Little Nancy Etticoat/In a white petticoat.
36. Little Robin Redbreast/Sat upon a rail
Past Indefinite
37. Mistress Mary, quite contrary.
Mary Queen of
Scots or Mary I of
England
38. Old King Cole/Was a merry old soul.
Richard Colebrook was widely
known as King
Cole in the
seventeenth
century
39. Old Mother Hubbard/Went to the cupboard.
Past Indefinite
40. Once I saw a little bird/Come hop, hop, hop
Past Indefinite
41. One, two,/Buckle my shoe..
Numbers
42. Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man.
43. Pease-porridge hot,/Pease porridge cold.
Opposites
44. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled
Past Indefinite
peppers.
45. Polly, put the kettle on.
Imperative
46. Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, where have you been?
Present Perfect
47. Robert Rowley rolled a round roll 'round.
Past Indefinite
48. Rock-a-bye, baby,/In the tree top
Future Simple
The Egyptian god
Horus; Native
American
childcare; antiJacobite satire
49. Simple Simon met a pieman/Going to the
Past Indefinite
fair
50. Sing a song of sixpence,/A pocket full of
rye.
51. There was a crooked man, and he went a
Past Indefinite
crooked mile.
52. There was a man in our town,/And he was
Past Indefinite
wondrous wise.
53. There was an old man, who lived in a
Past Indefinite
wood.
54. There was an old woman/Lived under a hill. Past Indefinite
55. There was an old woman tossed up in a
Past Indefinite
basket..
56. There was an old woman who lived in a
Past Indefinite
shoe..
57. There were three jovial huntsmen..
Past Indefinite
58. Thirty days has September.
Months of the year
59. This is the house that Jack built.
60. This little pig went to market..
Demonstratives
61. Three blind mice! See, how they run.
Numbers
Mary I of England
Appendix
There are a lot of archaic words in the Mother Goose Rhymes. As usually there
is no translation of these words in any dictionaries. Here is a glossary of some of
them.
Bairn - a child; son or daughter
Baldpate - one who has a bald head
Banbury - town in Oxfordshire, England, formly noted for the number and zeal
of its Puritan inhabitants, still for its cakes
Baw ejaculation of disgust, aversion of contempt; probably first directed against
tastes or smells (bah!)
Bawbee - of doubtful origin: has been conjecturally identified with baby
Beaten - struck with repeated blows; trodden, worn hard, bare or plain by
repeated passage; well-worn, trite
Beck - brook or stream, used in literature to connote a brook with a stony bed or
rugged course like those of the North country in England; a mute signal or
significant gesture, especially one indicating assent or notifying a command
Bee - a busy worker; a ring or torque of metal, usually meant for an arm or neck
but in one case used as a finger ring
Blithe - mild, gentle, kind, merciful; the external manifestation of one's own
pleased or happy frame of mind, and hence even to the state itself
Bough - bough of a tree is an exclusive English development; one of the larger
limbs/offshoots of a tree, a main branch -- also applied to a smaller branch;
branch of a family.
Bow - an inclination of the body or head in salutation and in token of respect,
reverence, submission, etc.; an obeisance; dwelling, habitation; a stock of cattle
on a farm, a herd
Bowl - globular vessel to hold liquids, rather wide than deep; a sphere, globe,
ball
Brickbat - a fragment of brick, less than half its length; the typical ready missile
where stones are scarce
Brown Paper - coarse, stout kind of paper made of unbleached materials;
chiefly used for wrapping
Bunting - term of endearment; meaning may possibly be as in Jamieson's
'buntin', short and thick, as a buntinbrat, a plump child
Caper - a frolicsome leap, like that of a playful kid; a frisky movement,
especially in dancing
Chopper - one who chops or cuts into pieces; an instrument used for cleaving or
cutting up; a machine gun or gunner; a helicopter
Cock-horse - apparently a nursery term, applied to anything a child rides astride
upon, a stick with a horse's head, a hobby-horse, anyone's leg or knee; mounted
aloft, perched up
Cockle-shells - shell of a bivalve mollusc; usually a single valve of a shell
Comfits - a sweetmeat made of some fruit, root, etc., presented with sugar; now
usually a small round or oval mass of sugar enclosing a caraway seed, almond,
etc.; a sugar plum
Craft - strength, power, might, force; intellectual power, skill, art; occult art,
magic
Crown - the top part of the skull, the vertex; an ornamental fillet, wreath or
similar encircling ornament for the head worn for personal adornment, or as a
mark of honour or achievement
Crumpled Horn - bent together by compression, incurved, crooked; bent
spirally, curved
Curds - coagulated substance formed from milk by the action of acids, either
naturally as when milk is left to itself, or artificially by the addition of rennet,
etc., made into cheese or eaten as a food
Dame - lady, mistress, feminine of lord, master; a female ruler, superior or head
- superior of a nunnery, an abbess, prioress, etc.; lady of the house, a housewife;
the title of women members of the order of the British Empire
Dicker - number of 10; to barter, exchange
Diddle - to walk unsteadily, as a child, to toddle; to sing without distinct
utterance of words; the sound of a fiddle
Dob - variant of dab -- to set or put down with a sharp, abrupt motion, throw,
fling down in a rough, careless, untidy manner; to betray, inform against
Dock -solid, fleshy part of an animal's tail; enclosure in a criminal court in
which the prisoner is placed at his trial; to cut short some part, especially in the
tail, hair, or similar appendage; to curtail
Dollar - English name for German taller, a large silver coin of varying value,
current in the German states from the 16th century; equal to three marks
Gammon- the ham or haunch of a swine; ridiculous nonsense suited to deceive
simple persons only; to feign, pretend
Gay- of persons, their attributes and actions; full of or disposed to joy and mirth;
manifesting or characterized by joyous mirth
Hay-cock -a conical heap of hay in a field
Hayrick- a haystack
Horn -the hollow horn of an animal (without the core) used as a vessel or a
musical instrument, with senses thence developed; a non-deciduous excrescence,
often curved and pointed, consisting of an epidermal sheath growing about a
bony core, on the head of certain mammals, as cattle, sheep, goats, antelopes,
etc., and serving as a weapon or defence
Hush-a-bye- child's name for 'sleep'or 'bed'; a word used in lulling a child
Knave- a male child, a boy/lad employed as a servant; in playing cards: the
lowest card of each suit, bearing the representation of a soldier or servant, the
jack
Linnet-a common and well-known song bird, Linota cannbina, of the family
Fringillidae. Its plumage is brown or warm grey; but in the summer the breast
and crown of the cock become crimson or rose-colour.
Malt -barley or other grain prepared for brewing or distilling by steeping,
germinating and kiln-drying, or by gelitinization, etc.
Marry- join in wedlock or matrimony; to join for life as husband and wife
Master-a man having control or authority; one having direction or control over
the action of another or others
Merry- of things: pleasing, agreeable; causing pleasure or happiness, pleasing,
delightful; of persons and their attributes: full of animated enjoyment, joyous,
mirthful, hilarious
Muscles- any one of the contractile fibrous bands or bundles, having the
function of producing movement in the animal body, which conjointly make up
the muscular system
Packet- a small pack, package, or parcel: in earliest use applied to a parcel of
letters or dispatches, and especially to the state parcel or 'mail' of dispatches to
and from foreign countries
Pall- to beat, strike, knock (down); to become faint; to decay, waste away, rot; a
rich cloth spread upon or over something; a garment, a vestment
Patty- patty-cake; a patty
Pease the earlier form of pea
Peck - a measure of capacity used for dry goods; the fourth part of a bushel, or
two gallons
Pie- a chattering or saucy person, a'chatter-pie'; a dish composed of meat, fowl,
fish, or vegetables. etc., in and/or covered with a layer of paste and baked
Pip- variant of pipe; common name for the seeds of fleshy fruits, as the apple,
pear, orange, etc.
Pokers -an instrument for poking or stirring a fire, consisting of a stiff metal
rod, one end of which is fitted with or formed into a handle
Pother - a choking smoke or atmosphere of dust; a disturbance, commotion,
turmoil; mental perturbation of tumult; trouble, fuss, display of sorrow or grief
Rook- a black, raucous-voiced Europeanand Asiatic bird, nesting in colonies,
one of the commonest of the crowtribe, and in the north of Britain usually called
a crow; a cheat, swindler, or sharper, specifically in gaming
Shroud-loppings off a tree, branches or twigs cut off; to clothe; to give shlter or
housing to; to hide from view, as by a veil, darkness cloud; to put a shroud on (a
corpse), lay in a shroud; hence to prepare for burial
Spin- an act of spell of spinning; rapid or lively movement; abbreviation or
spinster; to draw out and twist the fibers of some suitable material, such as wool
or flax, so as to form a continuous thread
Stile - an arrangement of steps, rungs or the like, contrived to allow passage
over or through a fence to one person at a time, while forming a barrier to the
passage of sheep or cattle
Summary- of a statement of account: containing or comprising the chief points
or the sum and substance of a matter; performed or effected by a short method;
without delay
Sweetmeat-sweet food, as sugared cakes or pastry, confectionary; preserved or
candied fruits, sugared nuts, etc.; also globules, lozenges, 'drops,' or 'sticks'
made of sugar with fruit or other flavouring or filling
Threescore- three times 20; 60
Tuffet- a hassock or footstool; tuft; a hillock, mound
Vinegar - a liquid (consisting of acetic acid in a dilute form) produced by the
acetous fermentation of wine and some other alcoholic liquors or special
compounds and employed either pure or with various admixtures in the
preparation of food and in the arts, etc.; to treat with vinegar in some way; to
add or apply vinegar to; to restore by means of vinegar
Whey - the serum or watery part of milk which remains after the separation of
the curd by coagulation, especially in the manufacture of cheese
Wright - an artificer or handicraftsman, especially a constructive workman;
desert, what one has deserved; to build, contruct, repair
Appendix
This is a list of the video materials from the CD.
Mother Goose is reading her book of the stories.
Part 1. The sheep story
-Little Boy Blue
-Little Bo Peep
-Baa Baa Black Sheep
Part 2. Mother Goose on a farm.
-Cock Crows in the Morn
-Pipe, Cat, Dance, Mouse
-Hickety, Pickety, My Fat Hen
-Little Bird
-Little Pussy
Part 3. Mother Goose steals a horse from the possibly abandoned farm, and
subsequently produces a baby blue carriage for it to pull.
-This Is The Way They Ride
-Banbury Cross
-This Little Piggy
-To Market, To Market
Part 4. Mother Goose has brought the audience to the outskirts of a unknown
town to spy on merchants and shoppers. There, she implores any people within
earshot to "enjoy the market" with her. Shall they?
-Do You Know The Muffin Man
-Pat-a-Cake
-Cobbler, Cobbler
-Pease Porridge
-Simple Simon
-Rub-a-Dub-Dub
Part 5. A thunderstorm moves in on Mother Goose, prompting her to protect her
down with a rather sheer parasol. By the time the rain stops, she hears London
calling
-It's Raining, It's Pouring
-Doctor Foster
-Rain, Rain, Go Away
-The Eency Weency Spider
-See-Saw, Sacridaw
Part 6. Mother Goose trespasses onto the grounds of the royal castle
The Queen of Hearts
-Pussycat, Pussycat
-Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Part 7. At last, Mother Goose has publicly acknowledged that her universe
within a book is fundamentally disturbed. Still, she promises to bring us to a
serene suburban neighborhood to recover from picking peppers.
-Old King Cole
-Hector Protector
-Humpty Dumpty
-Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe
-Jack Sprat
-Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater
-Old Mother Hubbard
Part 8. Mother Goose has taken a liking to the children in this neighborhood.
They appear to have no parents present, and thus are left alone with her.
-Jack and Jill
-Mary Had A Little Lamb
-Little Jack Horner
-Little Miss Muffet
-Little Tommy Tucker
-Elsie Molly
-Georgie Porgie
-The Girl Who Had A Curl
-Jack Be Nimble
Part 9. At the end of a lengthy, tumultuous day, Mother Goose decides to lull
herself to sleep with nighttime songs. She won't leave, however, until after one
very scary wipe.
-The Man in the Moon
-My Son John
-Wee Willy Winky
-Hey Diddle Diddle
-Rock-a-Bye Baby
-Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star