The art of music has always been a social, cultural, and artistic phenomenon that brings people together on a common platform. Apart from providing entertainment, music can also be used for a wide variety of educational purposes. It is noticed that learning English as a language for young learners is not an easy process, especially for those who have a different first language. The social and cognitive needs of the students contribute to the complexity of the process of teaching the English language. Therefore, English teachers and educational institutions must offer a learning environment and help children learn the language through fun activities.
Songs and music are one of the most useful language-learning tools that can help teach the English language without putting too much pressure on students. One person in particular who has helped in this language learning process is Charles Goodger, who has provided parents, teachers, and young learners of English with original action songs through his organization, FunSongs Education Ltd.
Songs and music written and created by Goodger have proved to be powerful listening exercises while also bringing various advantages to the table. His songs have been widely used by teachers of various educational institutions to teach the English language and several important concepts in a fun way to younger and especially elementary students. One of the many advantages of involving songs and music in teaching the English language is that it will not only enhance student engagement but will also keep them motivated and energized throughout the language-learning process.
In today’s heavily globalized environment, the songs created by Goodger are even more essential as nowadays, the ability to converse and communicate in English has become increasingly important. Not only is it the world’s most widely used language, but it is also extremely vital in many aspects of daily life, particularly education, social interaction, and economics.
Charles Goodger, born on 10th January 1955, earned the reputation of a musician, author, and composer because of his various contributions to the field of music and education. In 1977, he graduated from Queen Mary College, London University, in Modern Languages and Literature (Spanish and French), and later acquired a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certificate from the Royal Society of Arts to gain more knowledge about different languages. To expand his horizons and learn more about music, he earned an RCM Music diploma (piano).
In 1996, he established a Windsor-based organization called FunSongs Education Ltd, with the main objective of promoting English teaching to children through action songs. He not only supervises the operations of his organizations but also writes language-learning action songs, puppet scripts, and teaching materials to engage and entertain students on an expressive and emotional level. He has also written licensed original language songs, raps, and chants for Young Digital Planet (Poland) and Aschehoug (Norway).
Apart from running his organization, Goodger has been serving at the Faculty of Education as an adjunct professor. Other than this, he has also served at the University of Bologna as a Collaboratore Esperto Linguistico (language expert) and as a committee member of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language – IATEFL. As a plenary speaker, he has appeared at multiple conferences, including Virtual Webcon Round Table 2014, Young Learners Conference, Free Online Conference CO16, Fall Blog Festival 2014, and Colloquium Preliminary program.
Throughout his career, he has organized action song workshops at international ELT conferences in various countries such as Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania, Russia, Latvia, England, Poland, Germany, France, China, Estonia, Spain, India, Israel, and Scotland, and has also developed teacher training and development courses for primary teachers of English in several countries.
Some of the songs which he has written and produced through his organization, FunSongs Education Ltd are “On Halloween,” “On Halloween JXA remix,” “I Love Christmas,” “Best for the World,” “best for the World JXA remix,” “A Song for Winter,” “Our Autumn Song,” “I Love Summer,” “Easter Spring Song,” and “Time to Play”. Goodger is a multifaceted individual who has also worked as an actor in projects such as Clara and Summertime and has authored several books, such as Trade & Business International (1991), The Language of Travel (1993), and Trade in Action (1994), to name a few.
Action songs created by Goodger have enhanced the English proficiency, motivation, and attitude of young learners and their teachers. Through his efforts in the educational sector and music field, Goodger has not only helped learners in enhancing their social skills, cognitive skills, memorizing and recalling skills but has also improved their language abilities.