August 30, 2009
hen I first started teaching, I understood that music could be a highly effective way to teach language, but I couldn’t figure out how to introduce it in a way that wouldn’t repel the students. Sure, there were a few classes that enjoyed singing, but most were annoyed by it.
I still remember my first year of teaching when I tried to get 8th graders to sing one of Barbara MacArthur’s Taco songs. I passed out the lyrics, popped on the music and yelled, “Clase, ¡Canten!”
One problem — They had never heard the song before.
They didn’t know the melody, words or rhythm. Of course, some students attempted to appease me by moving their lips, and others looked desperately at their paper, hoping to avoid eye contact with me, but most would just look at their peers and laugh.
Seeing this lack of interest, I changed tactics. Thinking that the missing ingredient was a good role model, I ratcheted up my own enthusiasm, singing extra loud and getting in students’ faces, attempting to intimidate them into a fun learning experience. This basically solidified their view of me as a complete and total loony. When my enthusiasm failed to ignite the class, I resorted to threats. I said, “Ok, class, I better hear everyone sing this song with energy, or else we’re going to have to sing it five more times!! And remember, have fun with it!”
Well, you can imagine how it went from there. I never got that class to learn the song. In fact, that class lost interest in music for the rest of the year.
So, how do you expose students to music without letting them make a communal decision that it’s stupid, embarrassing and a waste of time?
In this article, I’ll give you a few tips, tricks, and activities that often work for me.
DISCLAIMER: There is no magic remedy. A small minority of classes will always be negative towards music. However, I find that these techniques are great for putting the swing classes into the right frame of mind.
As you read this article, I encourage you to leave your own comments. Do you have a trick that works for you? To comment, you must be logged in.
- Page 1 – Introduction
- Page 2 – Lyrics Sheet
- Page 3 – The Performance
- Page 4 – Concrete Instructions
- Page 5 – TPRS
- Page 6 – Verbally Fill in the Blanks (and a game)
- Page 7 – Karaoke Videos
- Page 8 – Closing
Too much clicking? Combine everything onto one page
Gracias Sr. Wooly,
Your tips are great. We have been enjoying your songs in class and the students request it daily, but now you offer some great advice and I look forward to applying them. Especially the “crawling all over the desks” part. jejeje.
Keep up the incredible work.
Sr. Kent de la Chalupa
I fully agree with you about setting things to music that you want them to remember. My principal last year in one of his visits, took up some maracas and sang with us. He reminded me this fall that he still knew “fui, fuiste, fue.”
I found that some verbs can also be learned with the Mexican Hat Dance main refrain music. Verbs like “Estoy, estás, está…” fit to the rhythm — but only if one includes the vosotros form.
I do admit to the kids that they’ll hate me forever, but music works!
Thanks for the great ideas! My students LOVE “Guapo”. We draw Victor and talk about what he’s really like. We sing it and the boys take turns acting out Victor’s role and the girls are the “Victorettes”. This quarter I think I’ll have them bret out into groups and perform the song with props of course, as a presentational assessment. They will videotape it and then we’ll watch them all in class. Gracias Sr. W!
One of my classes found an explanation for “Sam” not having enough time to get to el baño before class…he was talking with friends at the supermarket while looking for a special pink apple that could “rap” “Feliz Cumpleaños” to give to Mr. Bill, his math teacher. He finally found the special apple at Disney World, where a vacationing classmate sold him the apple for $250. Mr. Bill estaba muy contento…pero Sam no tenía la oportunidad para ir al baño antes de la clase de español. Now that you know the background, you can see that “le traeré una manzana” is quite an offer from Sam! Thanks for the inspiration!
Hi! I just wanted to share something that has worked really well in my class. We did the invitation song and after listening and singing the original, I put them in pairs and then they changed the lyrics to other vocabulary words–like jugar al futbol, ver la tele, etc. Then they presented to the class–with fake phones, props, etc. It has been so fun!!!!