In this article we argue that in teacher education much of what you do withthe would-be teachers to help them learn English has a springboard effect, in thesense that it is replicated by the pre-service teachers in their practice, in much thesame way as they experienced it in the teaching- training course. We illustrate thisidea with the use of nursery rhymes in an Integrated English Practice first-yearclass.In this article we argue that in teacher education much of what you do withthe would-be teachers to help them learn English has a springboard effect, in thesense that it is replicated by the pre-service teachers in their practice, in much thesame way as they experienced it in the teaching- training course. We illustrate thisidea with the use of nursery rhymes in an Integrated English Practice first-yearclass.