![]() Music is what sparked my initial interest in Spanish. Thanks to Ricky Martin I wanted to learn every lyric to “Livin La Vida Loca” not only the English version but the Spanish one too. Therefore, when it came to deciding what high school to go to, one that offered Spanish was on the top of the list. I enjoy singing but I am not a gifted singer. I was in the choir at primary school and did have my debut as a soloist in my intermediate’s production of “The Jukebox”. However, after spluttering on the smoke machine during my big entrance of the play, I decided singing solo just was not for me. Until I became a teacher. Now at least once a week you can walk past my classroom and see my Spanish students and I singing a song to practice/memorise new content. Actually, nearly always after I have taught the senior students something new, they will ask me to teach them a song so that it sticks. Using song in the classroom is a really useful tool for learning. Songs are repetitive and catchy and if you can remember the tune, the lyrics generally just follow. The good thing is you don’t have to come up with songs yourself, I guarantee for whatever topic you are doing you can go to youtube and search it + song. For example I just searched “alliteration song” and came up with this gem below. Alternatively, you can search the topic + rap. I usually teach the song to them first before having a few goes singing along with the video. It will take a few run throughs before it really sticks. The songs the students love the most though are the ones that are to the tune of popular songs. I teach my students how to conjugate in the present tense with a song to the tune of Gangnam style (below left) or another one to the tune of Justin Timberlake’s "Sexyback" (below right). If after learning the song they forget how to conjugate, I just ask them to “remember Gangnam” and most can sit there and recall it.
If you want to take it to the next level, you can try inventing your own song with actions. I did this for teaching the students the prepositions. A few years ago, I used to go into the Spanish NCEA exams and read the listening passage (before they changed it to a CD). I distinctly remember a passage that was giving directions for students to follow on the map. It was full of prepositions and I knew my ridiculous song had worked as I could see them mouthing the lyrics to see which way they should go next. The ultimate would be getting the students to create their own song. Most students really enjoy it and they are concentrate on learning the lyrics so much that no one has ever complained that I am off key or sound awful (perhaps they are too polite). Whether they like it or not it is effective and is a great tool – not just for juniors but for seniors too. ![]() If that hasn’t convinced you enough then have a look at what my students have to say about it here: https://flipgrid.com/e11671 or watch some of my students singing here:
Let your inner Beyonce come out!~Abbie Law
1 Comment
6/8/2017 02:25:50 pm
Ha you are a great soloist Abby. I can still remember the German songs I learnt at school.
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