Significance of tickle rhymes for pre-school entrant: Action research abstract and sketch note

The National Education Policy- 2020 has introduced the system of 'Foundation Stage' of education beginning at the age of 3 years and culminating at the age of 5 years. During this 5-year schooling that combines 3-year pre-school and grades 1 and 2, schools can try out innovation and can have their own curriculum.

For the 3-year old foundation stage school entrant, tickle rhymes are crucial as evidenced by and action and a sketch note.

ACTION RESEARCH TITLE:

Tickle-Tickle Little Child: An Action Research in Vocabulary Building in English for Pre-School Children with Delight

ABSTRACT:

An action research was undertaken for re-introducing under-arm tickle with pre-school children (N=20; Age: 4-5 years; urban setting). It was done to rediscover the magic of tickle rhymes which have been forgotten due to formalization of educations and misplaced hurry to produce little adults. A tickle happens when a child is stroked delicately along with a poem or song for pleasant sensation of tingling or giggling along with causing delight or amusement. The challenge was adapting and converting the experience of tickle rhymes into learning vocabulary of English at the pre-school stage with amusement. Five tickle rhymes were adapted and introduced with each rhyme (Duration: 45 seconds) sung by the teacher successively for each child and ending with an under-arm tickle. Then it was sung collectively through echo singing method. Flash cards were used to develop the sight vocabulary of 20 words from the tickle rhymes. One rhyme was repeated for three days. After two weeks, it was found that most children (80%) repeated the rhyme at home and tickled their parents. A sight vocabulary test after two-week intervention was able to meet 80x70 criterion. The children also started talking about the school and the teacher at home. The parents (N=35) reacted positively (p<0.01, D.F.=2) to the intervention as revealed by the chi-square analysis

KEYWORDS:

Action research, pedagogical tool, singing skill, tickle rhymes, vocabulary building.

SKETCH NOTE: