My office is right next to a preschool, and for about an hour every morning they play English children’s songs at very high volume. They have all the classics — the Hokey Pokey, A Dog Named Bingo, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes — and some that generally wouldn’t be played daily, like Silent Night. The songs, combined with the cacophony that dozens of little kids anywhere in the world naturally produce, makes it a wee bit difficult to concentrate in the mornings.
One thing I wonder, though, is how the playing of English children’s songs to little Chinese kids will affect their development. For most of them it really is just unintelligible sound, with none of the educational value that such songs have for little English speaking children. I know that teaching English is important in China, but wouldn’t it be better for the kids to be listening to Chinese songs?
Maybe that’s just crazy talk.
