Rhymes

Rhythm is very important for speaking English well. And it's especially difficult for Japanese learners of English, because English and Japanese are very different.

Rhymes (rimes) (e.g. hen - pen - den) are also very useful for learners of English (including native speaker children) because they help us learn the sound system and increase our vocabulary.

Learning short rhymes teaches us rhythm and rhyming. Here is an example. Can you guess where it is from?:

Three rings for the elven kings under the sky

Seven for the dwarf lords on their dark thrones

Nine for mortal men doomed to die

One for the dark lord on his dark throne

No? Well, here's the last part:

One ring to rule them all

One ring to find them

One ring to bring them all

And in the darkness bind them

That's right. It's Lord of the Rings. Here's a question for you: How many rings are there? Here's another rhyme:

Two and a quarter pounds of jam

Weigh about a kilogram

What do you think that's about?