ORIM based projects

Songs and rhymes for bilingual families

Led by Zohra Dabhad, Farhana Lorgat, Khalida Ravat and Safira Pandor

Songs and rhymes event

We ran a ‘Skills For School’ event inviting parents to join in with their children singing songs and rhymes. We invited siblings and ran the event twice at times convenient to the families.

Practitioners modelled spotting positive behaviours in every child. Parents and children used the ‘Wow!’ cards to recognise the learning. Parents took ‘Wow!’ cards home to spot their children’s learning at home.

Information about how we planned the event and parents’ feedback (PDF, 862KB)

Songs and rhymes CD and booklets

The next term, we extended the learning by running a ‘My Voice’ initiative in which families were invited in to sing their children’s favourite songs in English and Urdu. This was recorded and made into a CD with the written words which was given as a gift, to every child.

Outcomes

The main outcomes were that parental involvement has grown and grown. Parents said that they really felt like partners by being consulted about the times of the sessions and that they enjoyed seeing other parents, as well as practitioners, model effective strategies for early literacy.

The children have become very confident with their songs and rhymes and early phonics. The staff team have built up a consistent and co-constructive relationship with their parents which was recognised as outstanding in their recent OFSTED inspection.

Parents’ comments

“We tell the story verbally and look at the pictures with my daughter who is three years old. I think that it’s really important to make the story real for the child by using different tones and pitch of voice, eg, to sound excited when something exciting is happening.”

“We read in English a bit but occasionally have to use Punjabi to explain or to translate … or sometimes ask a question. I also use the pictures to help understanding.”

“Instead of TV I have started to look at menus and labels on food with my child. He has got very excited when we go out shopping and now I make the list with him. It doesn’t have to be about expensive toys.”