December 05, 2007	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 24, 1428

LONDON: “I’d like to (.....) the world to sing in (.......) harmony. I’d like to (....) it in my arms and (....) it company.”

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to learn things when you sing them?

British education experts have, and now a new national singing programme called Sing Up has been launched in primary schools to help young children learn through song.

Experts say that as well as helping language development, action and counting, songs can also improve motor-skills and maths abilities in very young children.

Sing Up’s website (www.singup.org) went live last month and has already built up a wealthy ‘song bank’ of traditional and new songs for teachers, parents and carers to use with young children.

This week, the group is running advertisements in British newspapers which feature well-known songs with words missing, challenging the reader to recognise how much easier it is to learn things if you sing them.

The Sing Up website also features a “song of the week” and aims to use singing to investigate different cultures and religions as well as different areas of skill.

For help with maths and learning foreign languages, it has “A Douze” for counting up to 12 in French, and for learning more about geography and culture, it has a Namibian folk song called “Halima Pakasholo”.

“Singing ... builds a child’s self-esteem, promotes teamwork irrespective of age, gender, and background, celebrates diversity, facilitates self-expression,” said Goodall.—Reuters