Although educational games and tablets have increased in popularity among children, it is important that parents do not overlook the benefits gained from traditional teaching tools, like nursery rhymes. KBYU Eleven, an educational television service, notes that nursery rhymes play a critical role in developing children’s language, cognitive, social and physical skills. These are crucial skills for children to possess as they enter preschool and kindergarten. For example, nursery rhymes include many components that help a child develop their language skills. Phonics is essential for children to understand as they begin to read and nursery rhymes help expose children to vowel and consonant sounds. Children can sing along to songs and practice pronouncing words correctly in rhythm. Several classic nursery rhymes use words that may be uncommon to children in today’s era which can increase a child’s vocabulary.

Nursery rhymes contain rhymes and patterns, which can help develop a child’s memorization, an important cognitive skill. Children also begin to notice how events happen in sequence through the stories contained within nursery rhymes. Sequence and patterns are two underlying components that help children learn simple math skills such as counting. Children can increase their physical activity by listening to nursery rhymes, such as, “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”, which allows children to act out the song. Physical movement during the song also helps develop a child’s coordination. As children try to pronounce new words, their mouth and tongue muscles grow, which is important for physical development.

The content of nursery rhymes is also beneficial for a child’s social and emotional development. Various emotions are expressed throughout nursery rhymes, which gives children the tools to identify emotions and relate to others. As a child acts out a song, they use their imagination and strengthen their creative skills. The bond between a parent and child can also be strengthened when a parents sings and acts out nursery rhymes with their child.

Tony Stead, senior national literacy consultant for Mondo Publishing in New York expressed that, “Listening comprehension precedes reading comprehension. In order for a child to understand what they are reading, they have to be able to hear the language first. A lot of the traditional rhymes, such as ‘Jack and Jill’ and ‘Humpty Dumpty,’ were repetitious and allowed us to memorize basic structures and patterns in the English language, then put it together. It’s important that young children learn to memorize through verse.”

Children’s Media Studio understands the importance of nursery rhymes and has created several videos for classic nursery rhymes. Several nursery rhymes focus on phonics, counting and physical movement. The videos also include words on the screen, which encourages children to read and sing along.

Descubra Inglés is designed to help Spanish speakers learn English. The series can be downloaded in the Google Play Store and features teacher lessons as well as alphabet songs. The app is available for free here! Descubra Inglés features two teachers, Maestro Javier and Miss Cathy. The voice of Maestro Javier is played by Kevin Arellano. The teacher lessons emphasize phonics and letter pronunciations in both English and Spanish. Maestro Javier introduces the lesson with the alphabet letter pronounced in both languages, as well as an English word that begins with the letter.

The translation of the English word into Spanish is also featured so Spanish speakers can learn new words in English and understand the words used in the alphabet song. After Maestro Javier’s teacher lesson is complete, the teacher lesson from Miss Cathy is played to illustrate the use of the letter in English. After the teacher lessons are complete, the letter is then further illustrated through a lively alphabet song.

Kevin, whose background is in audio engineering, recorded and translated all of Maestro Javier’s teacher lessons. The translation and recording process took approximately three months to complete. Kevin worked diligently to correctly translate and form the content of the teacher lessons. “The biggest challenge was creating content that would be easily understood by children who are attempting to learn English as a second language,” says Kevin. After the translation and recording was completed, the animation was created for the series, which was then created into an app.

Kevin has participated in several other opportunities to teach children throughout his life which included substitute teaching for middle school math in his home state of Texas and teaching children English phrases and phonics in Nicaragua during a mission trip. He’s found that he has a knack for teaching and learns new information as he teaches others, which has shown through his work of Descubra Inglés.

Descubra Inglés is a series that Kevin is honored to be part of. “I’m Hispanic myself, so my favorite part about Descubra Inglés is that I can give back to people like myself who are learning English as a second language,” explains Kevin. As more Hispanic children start the process of learning English, the team at Descubra Inglés uses the universal language of music to make the experience engaging and fun.