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Nursery rhymes are ideal tools for the English language classroom. Teaching English as a foreign language to young children calls for a different approach. Regular textbooks might not cut it when it comes to stimulating little minds. EFL teachers need to use short, lively, fun exercises to make the words memorable and grammar points particularly easy to grasp.

Young children always respond well to music and song so what better learning method than to incorporate catchy rhymes and songs into an EFL lesson? Nursery rhymes can often be learned with accompanying actions to make them even enjoyable for children to sing along to - which will of course help to make them memorable!

Old King Cole and his fiddlers three might be just what your EFL class needs!

Using nursery rhymes to teach English

Using nursery rhymes to teach English is a wonderful way to connect language with song and rhyme. Rhymes and songs can also be just as useful for adult learners as they can teach a lot about the culture of a country.

For example, the rhymes London Bridge is Falling Down and Ring o Roses have a strong historical significance, which can lead the lesson onto other themes and open up the lesson to many different teaching options.

English children learn a lot from nursery rhymes and songs, such as numbers, tenses, the names of animals, words that rhyme and much more. Remember Hey Diddle Diddle, Little Miss Muffet, Humpty Dumpty and so many more wonderful nursery rhymes.

Learning English through rhyme makes the lesson more fun. Of course, when activities are more enjoyable, children will be more likely to remember new vocabulary.

One two buckle my shoe
Three, four, knock at the door
Five, six, pick up sticks
Seven, eight, lay them straight
Nine, ten, a big fat hen

Eleven, twelve, dig and delve
Thirteen, fourteen, maids a-courting
Fifteen, sixteen, maids in the kitchen
Seventeen, eighteen, maids in waiting
Nineteen, twenty, my plate's empty.

One Two Buckle my Shoe is a great rhyme for EFL learning and can be used to help children and older EFL students learn their numbers and various nouns, adjectives and verbs and how they work together.

For example, a shoe can be buckled up using a buckle; you can pick up and lay out sticks - some great phrasal verbs.

The apostrophe is not only used for possessives but also to shorten words, as shown here: 'my plate's empty' means 'my plate is empty'.

Children can also do the actions for many of the lines in this rhyme to create even more fun and engagement in the classroom.

One Two Buckle My Shoe has an interesting and very simple rhyming structure that rhymes each second beat of the same line. For example, 'two' and 'shoe', 'four ' and 'door', 'six' and 'sticks', etc.

Old King Cole

Old King Cole can continue with many more verses, bringing in lots of different musical instruments.

This rhyme is perfect for practising the simple past tense, and for introducing subject and personal pronouns, adjectives and verbs - and of course musical instruments and who plays them!

Old King Cole rhymes the last words of the second and fifth line in each verse: 'he' and 'three'.

Wee Willie Winkie
Wee willie winkie
Running through the town,
Upstairs, downstairs,
In his nightgown. Rapping at the windows,
Crying through the locks,
Are the children all in bed,
For now it's eight o'clock.
Wee Willie Winkie introduces a range of vocabulary.

For example, the verb 'running', the clothing of a 'nightgown', and the features of a house in the 'windows' and 'locks'. It is also useful to discuss time, as here we hear about the time of '8 o'clock' in the evening.

Wee Willie Winkie rhymes the second and fourth lines of each verse. Rhyming words here are 'town' and 'nightgown', 'lock' and 'clock'.

Hey Diddle Diddle
The cow jumped over the moon; And the dish ran away with the spoon.
This nonsense rhyme is great fun and introduces some interesting vocabulary.

The word 'diddle' here is just a nonsense word without meaning, but this word is actually slang for 'swindle' or 'cheat' (e.g. to diddle someone out of something).

The 'fiddle' is another word for a violin. The crazy idea of a cow jumping over the moon is sure to capture children's imaginations, while the dog laughing is another wonderful animal image.

The dish and spoon are useful kitchen-related words. The idea of these two kitchen utensils running away together makes this rhyme perfect for children to use as inspiration for drawing pictures.

In Hey Diddle Diddle, the first and second lines rhyme ('diddle' and 'fiddle'), while the third and last lines also rhyme ('moon' and 'spoon').

Jack Sprat
Jack sprat could eat no fat,
His wife could eat no lean,
So between them both, you see,
They licked the platter clean.
Jack Sprat is a funny story of one person who only eats lean meat and another who only eats fat.

Teachers will need to explain the word 'lean' to help children understand the significance of the protagonists' opposite attitudes to their food!

It is also important that students know the word 'platter' means 'plate'. Students will like to play with the rhyming words - the second and last lines rhyme in Jack Sprat ('lean' and 'clean').

Do you think nursery rhymes are useful for language learning?

Which other nursery rhymes and songs are good for EFL lessons?

Students, have you used nursery rhymes to learn English?

Are there any words in this article you are unsure of?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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How to Use Nursery Rhymes to Teach English

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Nursery rhymes are ideal tools for the English language classroom. Teaching English as a foreign language to young children calls for a different approach. Regular textbooks might not cut it when it comes to stimulating little minds. EFL teachers need to use short, lively, fun exercises to make the words memorable and grammar points particularly easy to grasp.

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I created this video with the YouTube Video Editor (http://www.youtube.com/editor)

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Watch the video: SHARI'AH LAW by natebrazier1 on GoAnimate.

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BBC Bitesize - GCSE Religious Studies - The art of Islamic calligraphy

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Rageh Omaar explores the art of Islamic calligraphy.

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The Sunni and Shia sects agree on many aspects of Islam, however there are also large disagreements between both sides.

Shias look towards the rewards of the afterlife and value the celebration of martyrdom.

Shias - also known as Twelvers - consider Ali and the leaders who came after him as Immams.

Many believe in a line of 12 Imams, the last of which was a boy believed to have vanished in the ninth century in Iraq after his father was murdered... and they expect his return as the Messiah.

However Sunnis emphasise God's power in the material world, including the public and political realm.

What caused the divide between Sunni and Shia?

The 1,400-year split between the sects dates back to immediately after the Prophet Mohammed's death in 632.

Mohammed died without appointing a successor, leading to a split in the religion over whether its next leader should be chosen democratically or whether the Prophet's blood relatives should reign.

The Sunnis believed Mohammed's friend and advisor Abu Bakr was the rightful "caliph" of Muslims, while Shias thought that his cousin and son-in-law Ali was chosen by Allah to rule.

Abu Bakr held the title first until his death, while Ali was crowned caliph fourth after two previous rulers were assassinated.

But the split became more entrenched between Sunnis and Shias over who came next.

Sunni Muslims argue their interpretation of Islam follows the ways of Mohammed (the Sunnah), Shias claim Ali was the rightful first caliph and only his descendants could claim to be the true leaders of Muslims.

Both sides claim to be the one "pure" branch of Islam.

Are Sunnis or Shias a larger group or Muslim?

The majority of Muslims across the world are Sunni - making up almost 85 per cent of Islam's followers, while Shia Muslims remain confined to the Middle East.

Where can Sunni and Shia Muslims be found?

Sunni Muslims are spread throughout the world and make up the dominant religion in North Africa and the Middle East.

Shia Muslims on the other hand hold a majority in Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Bahrain - but there are also significant Shia populations in Yemen, Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria and Qatar.

Despite being members of the religious minority, the Saudi-backed Bahrain has long been ruled by the Sunni House of Khalifa.

Meanwhile, Iraq was ruled by Saddam Hussein - who was a Sunni Muslim - for more than 20 years, during which he savagely oppressed Shia Muslims.

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What is difference between Sunni and Shia? Ancient Muslim rivalry EXPLAINED

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The Sunni and Shia sects agree on many aspects of Islam, however there are also large disagreements between both sides. Shias look towards the rewards of the afterlife and value the celebration of martyrdom.

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Yunique walks around her Brooklyn neighborhood in stylish, loose clothing that skims over her body and a gray shawl that's delicately draped around a baseball cap.

It's not evident right away that she is dressed modestly because she is Muslim. The only giveaway of her faith might be if she decides to share her last name with you: Saafir, which means ambassador in Arabic.

She is 28 years old, born in Jamaica and now at home in Brooklyn. Saafir was first introduced to Islam when her mother converted to the Nation of Islam in Jamaica. She remembers being intrigued by how, all of the sudden, her mother seemed happier than ever before by going to the mosque in St. Catherine, Jamaica.

One day, her mother sat her down to talk about her love for her newfound faith and invited her to come to the mosque with her if she wanted to.
Saafir decided to join her. She says she instantly found "a spiritual happiness." She recalls feeling the pull to convert when she learned about Islam's emphasis on racial and gender equality, something that was already important to her at 11 years old as a result of being raised by a socially conscious family. She decided to convert soon after her first visit to the same mosque her mom visited in St. Catherine, now called the Islamic Council of Jamaica.
In 1999, after living in America for eight years, Saafir continued to explore her spirituality and experimented with being Mormon. Mormonism appealed to her because she saw a lot of similarities between Mormonism and Islam. She felt that the church didn't include blacks well, though. Last year, Saafir returned to Islam, finding it even more meaningful in her life than before.

"There was a yearning to go back to Islam," she explains. "I made a conscious decision that this was the religion I wanted to practice. Internally, it didn't sit well with me to not practice Islam while being queer," she says.

In some ways, though, it's still difficult to understand why Americans like Saafir decide to embrace Islam in the years after 9/11.

According to a 2010 study by the Association of Religion Data Archives, the number of Muslims in America increased by 67 percent in the decade following the Sept. 11 attacks. There were 1 million Muslims in 2000; by 2010 that number increased to 2.6 million. By 2015, there were 3.3 million Muslims in the US. Other studies say conversion and immigration from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are the main reasons for the dramatic increase.

It isn't that being a Muslim in America today is easy. Less than a month ago, an imam and his assistant were shot and killed in Queens, New York. Imam Alauddin Akonjee, 55, and Thara Miah, 64, served a mostly Bangladeshi community. Many people in the Queens neighborhood of Ozone Park believe escalating Islamophobia was the motive for the murders. Prosecutors are still investigating the possibility that it was a hate crime.

According to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, which gave its analysis of FBI data to the New York Times, the rate of hate crimes against Muslims in the United States has tripled since the Paris attacks and mass shooting in San Bernardino, California at the end of 2015 to 38 per month. In the years prior, there were 12.6 suspected hate crimes towards Muslims monthly.

And depictions of Islam post 9/11 in the news and popular culture are rarely flattering.

Media Tenor, a research institute that evaluates data for NGOs and governments, looked at reports by Fox, NBC and CBS from 2007 to 2013 to analyze how Islam was represented by the major media outlets. Over 80 percent of the media coverage on NBC and CBS was negative while over 60 percent of the coverage on Fox was unfavorable, with stories about international terrorism and conflict getting the most airtime. The study also found that in most cases, Muslims were not included as featured experts on Islam.

(See more recent examples of coverage of Islam on broadcast television, from Real Time with Bill Maher to CNN and Fox New segments.)

So why are Americans converting to Islam when, by some measures, the US is becoming increasingly intolerant of Muslims?

According to Asma Afsaruddin, professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Indiana University Bloomington, there's heightened interest in Islam in the last 15 years precisely because of the publicity surrounding it.

"Despite Islamophobia, thoughtful Americans who are curious about the real nature of Islam might go out of their way to discover the teachings of the religion from reliable sources," she says.

Afsaruddin, author of Contemporary Issues in Islam, says many students in her classes are drawn to the egalitarian aspects of Islam.

"They find it remarkable that there is so much emphasis on the equality of human beings and gender egalitarianism, particularly in the early history of Islam. If you have been a victim of social injustice, you're looking for ways to combat such issues, particularly if you're a young person."

A former student, Afsaruddin says, decided to convert to Islam after taking her class and being exposed to Islamic beliefs.

"For many young people, studying Islam comes as an eye-opener because there is such a contrast between the willful misrepresentation of facts sometimes in the media and what they encounter in scholarly books regarding Islam and its history," she says.

That was true for Teresa Kane.

In the spring of 2007, she was a graduate student at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She had 30 minutes left to choose a class in order to meet a student loan deadline. While flipping through the course catalogue, she came across an elective called "Islamic Religious Life" which piqued her interest.

Although she grew up Catholic and still wanted to continue a relationship with God, she disagreed with her church's views on same-sex marriages and divorce and stopped attending services. She kept studying her faith though, taking classes on eastern religions and on the Bible as literature. Islam was a subject of curiosity.

"All I knew was that if one in five people followed this religion, it couldn't be as violent and awful as the media portrayed," she says.

Kane was surprised to learn that the religion checked off boxes she didn't even know she valued. The more she learned about some of the core Muslim teachings around feminism, social justice and environmentalism, the more interested she became. Soon after, she decided to convert.

A Pew Research study tells us that about 20 percent of Americans who identify as Muslims are converts. Although most Muslims say that Islam is incredibly important in their lives, most adherents also agree that there is more than one way to interpret the teachings of Islam.

Having freedom to decide what kind of role Islam would play in her life is what finally convinced Kane, now 36 years old, to convert. She befriended a Muslim woman at George Mason University and she asked her if converting meant that she had to cover her hair and that she couldn't kiss people she liked.

Kane's friend told her, "That's just between you and God, sweetie!"
Also: More American than apple pie, Muslims have been migrating to the US for centuries

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Islamophobia is on the rise in the US. But so is Islam.

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Yunique walks around her Brooklyn neighborhood in stylish, loose clothing that skims over her body and a gray shawl that's delicately draped around a baseball cap. It's not evident right away that she is dressed modestly because she is Muslim.

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what's happening in the UK with Sunni and Shi'a muslims? from Paula

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Presented by Samira Ahmed Broadcaster

In collaboration with Dr Carool Kersten Kings College London

Presented by Samira Ahmed Broadcaster

In collaboration with Dr Carool Kersten Kings College London

Britain has an estimated Muslim population of about 2.8 million. Of these some 5% are Shia, the rest are Sunni. The historical split occurred 1400 years ago, following the death of Muhammad in Medina, in modern day Saudi Arabia. Muslims who wanted to select his successor, or Caliph, by following the traditional Arab custom (Sunna) formed into a group known as Sunnis. Others insisted the Prophet had designated his cousin and son-in-law Ali as his legitimate heir. This group was called Shia Ali, or 'Party of Ali', from which comes the word Shia.

While the main responsibility of Sunni Caliphs was to maintain law and order in the Muslim realm, as descendants of the Prophet, Shia Imams (spiritual leaders) also provided religious guidance and were considered infallible.

Recent tensions in the Middle East and Asia have been interpreted in some sections of the media as religious conflict between Sunnis and Shias. Although Muslims in the UK have been part of a united community with a shared experience of immigration, the relationship between these groups has recently been in the spotlight in Britain too.

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Sunnis and Shias have much in common from a theological perspective. The cause of recent conflicts lies mostly elsewhere.

The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims are mainly expressed through different religious practices.

For example, there are festivals which Sunnis and Shias do not celebrate in the same way, such as Ashura. For Shias, Ashura is a day of mourning which commemorates the martyrdom of the Imam al-Husayn. This is considered to be the defining event in Shia history. But for Sunnis, Ashura is a fasting day to remember the day Nuh (Noah) left the ark and the day that Musa (Moses) was saved from the Egyptians by Allah.

For centuries, there were only occasional instances where religious intolerance on both sides led to conflict.

Since the late 20th Century, complex political problems have been turned into sectarian issues by the parties involved, particularly in parts of the Middle East and Asia.

This has been the case in Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Syria.

Since taking political power in 1979, Iran's Shia clergy has been supporting the Shia Muslims of Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. This spreading influence has caused concern to the Sunni rulers of Arab countries with Shia minorities, such as Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, members of the Saudis' own Shia minority have complained of being treated as potential fifth columnists for Iran.

In 1980, Iraq - led by Sunni leader Saddam Hussein - invaded its neighbour Iran, which was led by the country's new Shia ruler Ayatollah Khomeini. Saddam wanted Iraq to replace Iran as the dominant state in the Persian Gulf, but he was also worried that the Iranian revolution could have a ripple effect among his country's Shia majority. The war between Iran and Iraq was one of the bloodiest of the century, with an estimated one million Iranians and up to half-a-million Iraqis dying in the conflict.

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Sunni and Shia Muslims: What is the difference between the two, and is there a connection between this age-old split and conflict around the world?

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http://www.allaboutreligion.org/origin-of-islam.htm

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16047709

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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suggested he and the US are ready to drive so-called Islamic State (IS) from its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.

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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suggested he and the US are ready to drive so-called Islamic State (IS) from its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.

Mr Erdogan said US President Barack Obama floated the idea of joint action against the militants when they met at the G20 summit in China.

He said Turkey would have "no problem" with such action.

Last month Turkey launched an operation inside Syria, targeting both IS and Kurdish rebels.

The US State Department would not confirm the details of Mr Erdogan's statement, but an official said it was important that "local forces" were involved in the fight to deliver "a lasting defeat" to IS.

"The actions that Turkey is currently taking along its border with Syria, with US support, is having the important effect of isolating Raqqa," the official said.

"That is a critical step in our ultimate objective to liberate Raqqa from Isil (IS) control."

Turkish-backed militia have driven IS from the border town of Jarablus, but Turkey has also been concerned with checking the advance of Kurdish forces whom it regards as terrorists.

The offensive continues, and Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli said Turkish forces might push deeper into Syria after securing a stretch of land along the border.

Mr Canikli also said 110 Islamic State and Kurdish militia fighters had been killed since the operation began.

Russia, which is allied to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said it was "deeply concerned" by the Turkish advance.

'What is necessary will be done'

Mr Erdogan's comments on Raqqa were published in Turkish media.

"Obama wants to do some things jointly concerning Raqqa," Mr Erdogan said. "We said this would not be a problem from our perspective.''

"I said: 'Our soldiers should come together and discuss, then what is necessary will be done'," Mr Erdogan added.

Mr Erdogan gave few other details but said more discussions would follow.

Raqqa's fall was a key point in the rise of IS as it seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, and is now considered the jihadists' de facto capital.

Between 250,000-500,000 people are still thought to live there, with brutal stories emerging of the treatment of civilians.

Analysis: By Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence & diplomatic correspondent

Through its large-scale incursion into northern Syria, Turkey has made itself a military player in the country.

But Ankara's move, directed in part against Kurdish forces backed by Washington, prompted serious strains in US-Turkey relations, already poor in the wake of the failed coup against the Erdogan government.

There is now a desire on both sides to improve ties and the suggestion from President Erdogan of US acquiescence in a Turkish role in the wider battle-plan to recapture Raqqa from IS is clearly part of this.

It would be an acknowledgement by Washington of Turkey's continuing strategic interest in Syria.

No details have been given as to what a Turkish role might amount to but clearly if Raqqa is attacked then the zone approaching the Turkish border to the north of the city needs to be secured to block the withdrawal of fleeing IS forces.

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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suggested he and the US are ready to drive so-called Islamic State (IS) from its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa. Mr Erdogan said US President Barack Obama floated the idea of joint action against the militants when they met at the G20 summit in China.

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Timeline of Islam

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The Suppressed & Hidden History of Islam

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A Short History of Islam: From Muhammad to ISIS

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This is a brief history of islam and ISIL (ISIS). It explains a short history of Muhammad and ends in 2014 with the rise of ISIS. Check out the companion video here! https://youtu.be/M8pxIM4sW3Q Check out Tristan's Channel Here! "Step Back History" https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxTdWpLJurbGlFMWOwXWG_A "ISIS Are Not Good Muslims" (companion video): https://youtu.be/M8pxIM4sW3Q I begin with the story of Muhammad and the first 4 Caliphs.

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Can you name the facts about Islam? Test your knowledge on this religion quiz to see how you do and compare your score to others. Quiz by newenglander

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A back street brawl between two young men with extreme and opposing views - men who would never take the time to talk, to listen, to understand each other. And yet... a conversation begins.

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Can you name the form of Islam, Sunni or Shia, from the belief or characteristic? Test your knowledge on this religion quiz to see how you do and compare your score to others.

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Young, British & Muslim: Abdiya - TrueTube

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Abdiya is the daughter of converts to Islam and believes that, for her, being British and being Muslim are inseparable. Courtesy of 4thought.tv