Age group: Nursery 2

Concept: Tempo
Topic: Social/Cultural awareness ideas/topics
Number of Children: 8
Duration of Lesson: 30 minutes

Rationale:

Since Deepavali is around the corner, it is a good chance to remind the children that we are
living alongside people of diverse ethnicity and cultural background. Therefore, the songs that
are picked in this activity reflects the thematic issue of the importance of harmonious living in
Singapore.

Objectives:
1) Children will be able to move along according to the tempo (fast or slow) of the song.
2) Children will be able to use instruments to make music in a fast and slow tempo.

Environmental Setup:
Children will sit in front of teacher while instruments will be placed next to teacher. During
activity, children will be standing at different places.

Tuning-in ( 5 minutes )
1) Teacher sings ‘Hello Song’ (refer to Annex 1).
2) Since the musical instruments are in a bag, teacher can shake the musical instruments
and asks the children to make some guesses about what they are going to do.
3) Afterwards, introduce the word ‘tempo’ to them.
4) Ask them if they know what the word means and proceed to explain it if they are
unsure.
Example:
- Has anyone ever heard of the word ‘tempo’?
- What do you think it means?
Can someone show me what you think it is?

Main Activity ( 20 minutes )

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 1) Before explaining, teacher distributes the instruments to the children.
2) Demonstrate to the children what is slow and fast tempo by asking them to shake their
musical instruments while following the lead of the teacher who will be clapping.
3) After that, test their understanding by only saying the words ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ to see if
they shake their instruments accordingly.
4) When everybody is very clear of the concept, teacher tells the children that they are
going to play a game.
5) But before teacher explains and conducts the main activity, remind the children of
safety rules.
Example
- No pushing.
- No rowdy behaviour like shouting excessively.
- If do not follow instructions, time out.
6) Teacher proceeds to explain how the game works. Children are to move around the
classroom and shake their instruments according to the pace of the song that the teacher
sings-The more we get Together (refer to Annex 3). When the music stops, they have to
freeze in position.
7) The song is being sung in different languages.
8) Teacher can ask for volunteers to sing too to create a sense of involvement and
inclusion.
9) In the last 5 min of the activity, teacher informs the children that it would be their last
song before they have to gather back for a recapping session.

Closure ( 5 minutes)
1) After the 5mins, teacher tells the children to place their musical instruments back into
the bag and sing the ‘Make a circle, round and round’ song so they will sit in a circle
for the closure.
2) When everybody is seated in the circle, teacher lets them rest for awhile and casually
asks how they are feeling.
3) Afterwards, proceed to check their understanding of tempo by re-asking them what
slow and fast tempo is about.

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 Example
- So can anybody tell me what you have learnt today?
- (If someone says tempo) Great! Can you tell me what is it about?
4) Again, asks them to demonstrate it by using their hands to clap to the tempo set by their
teacher.
5) To end the lesson, sing the ‘Goodbye Song’ (refer to Annex 4).

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 Annex

Annex 1
Song: Hello Song

Lyrics
Hello _____,
Hello _____,
Please clap your hands 5 times!

Hello _____,
Hello _____,
Please give a friend a high-5!

(Continue until every name is being said)

Annex 3
Song: The More we get Together

Lyrics
(English)

The more we get together

Together, together
The more we get together
The happier we'll be
'Cause your friends are my friends
And my friends are your friends
The more we get together
The happier we'll be

(Malay)

Bila kita berkumpul,

Berkumpul, berkumpul,
Bila kita berkumpul

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Bersuka ria.
Kawanku kawanmu,
Kawanmu kawanku.
Bila kita berkumpul
Bersuka ria.

(Mandarin)

Dang wo men tong zai yi qi

Zai yi qi zai yi qi
Dang wo men tong zai yi qi
Qi kuai le wu bi
Ni dui zhe wo xiao xi xi
Wo dui zhe ni xiao ha ha
Dang wo men tong zai yi qi
Qi kuai le wu bi

(Tamil)

Naam Ondru Koodi Yerunthaal

Koodi Yerunthaal, Koodi Yerunthaal

Naam Ondru Koodi Yerunthaal

Magilchi Adaivoom

Yen Nanban Unn Nanban

Unn Nanban Yen Nanban

Naam Ondru Koodi Yerunthaal

Magilchi Adaivoom

Annex 4
Song: Goodbye Song

Lyrics
Goodbye _____,
Goodbye _____,
Please clap your hands 5 times!

5
Goodbye _____,
Goodbye _____,
Please give a friend a high-5!

(Continue until every name is being said)

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 Evaluation

The objectives of the learning plan are to be able to teach the children to move and play the
instruments according to the tempo of the song. They successfully understood the concept by
portraying it through the performance during the game. The moved and shook their instruments
according to the tempo of the song.

Most importantly, they were able to learn the concept of tempo through a fun and engaging
game. They enjoyed the game because it was filled with joy and laughter as they were playing
the game. Some even said they wanted to play longer because it was so fun.

However, there were some challenges faced.

Despite reminding them at the start of the game about the safety rules, they still ran around the
classroom. Though it was not very rowdy, they failed to adhere to the rules and it was quite
challenging to get them back to walking because they were having a lot of fun. However, to
control the situation, I stopped the game now and then to remind them about the rules. It did help
the situation a bit even though the running still continues here and there.

Another challenge is when the children were involved in the singing of songs. The other children
had trouble hearing the child sing because he sang too softly. This actually caused some
confusion amongst the children as they were unsure of the tempo of the song but I assisted the
child and sang the song together with him so that the whole class could hear.
And there were indeed successes during the teaching.

The children understood the concept of tempo so well that they not only apply it to their speed of
walking and the way they play their instruments, but also their voice level. During the actual
game, when the song was sung in a fast tempo, you could hear all the laughing and excitement
but when the tempo was slow, they whispered and kept their noise level to a bare minimum.
They were able to apply what they have learned onto something else which is an indicator that
the lesson was a success.

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There are some improvements that I would make to my learning plan. Since there were instances
when they failed to follow the rules or move when they were supposed to freeze or not following
the tempo, instead of just giving reminders, there should be another rule to solve the matter.
Whenever the children fail to adhere to the rules, they are to step out of the game for 30sec
before they can continue playing. This would decrease the chances of them breaking the rules
because they would want to refrain themselves from having to leave the game halfway.