The Arts – Page 4

May 29, 2018 Arianna Lambert Inspiring Students, Math, The Arts, Use of Technology

Are Artists Mathematicians Too?

I’ve always thought that the Arts and Mathematics were 2 separate things that never should meet. If someone was good at Art there was no way that they would be great Mathematicians and vice versa. Was I ever wrong! This year I’ve had the privilege of working with a co-op student in my classroom who is an amazing artist. She has truly engaged my students in activities that always seem to lend themselves to Math and this got me thinking more and more about the connection between the Arts and Mathematics.

Last year I was introduced to a Kandinsky Math Activity by a colleague in the TDSB, Amanda Brown. Blown away by how her students were connecting geometric concepts to Kandinsky’s Art pieces, I started to see more and more the value of helping students to understand sometimes abstract concepts in Mathematics through Art. I tried her activity with students last year and they loved it! This year, I’m giving it a try with a bit of a different twist with my current group and the conversations are rich and meaningful and students are understanding the concepts with more clarity.

You wonder what the activity is all about? Well, this is what we did this year.

I started by asking my students to think about Geometric Concepts that they were familiar with. They mentioned things like 2D and 3D shapes, attributes, lines, angles and we started to create a list of terms that they already knew and I added a few more based on the curriculum. I then asked students to think about some of these terms and we moved to create a word wall to help us. It was easy with familiar terms because they used pictures to describe what they knew of a circle or a square but when we got to a scalene triangle, it was a little more challenging. Some students took it upon themselves to find online math dictionaries to help them with the definitions and wrote them out for our word wall but still found them abstract. Where might we find a scalene triangle or need to know what one is in the real world? Now the fun was going to begin.

After taking look at some of the amazing abstract pieces created by Kandinsky and with a knowledge of Screenshot 2018-05-29 at 8.51.58 PM the terms we were going to be investigating, students were asked to look at some of his works and identify the geometric concepts contained within. They were amazed by the number of concepts that could be found in his works. They measured angles and classified them as acute, right or obtuse. They compared shapes and lines, some even realizing that some of the shapes were created by other shapes and lines intersecting.

Screenshot 2018-05-29 at 8.52.12 PM Once we had the chance to investigate Kandinsky’s works, we set off on a mission to try to create our own Kandinsky inspired works using Google Drawings. In pairs, students used at least 7 of the concepts that we were learning about to create abstract, labeled digital drawings.

After a little practice with a friend, they were asked to independently create their own work of Art using at least 10 concepts using paper, pencils, markers, pencil crayons and paint. We discussed how mood is created through the use of colour and they have been hard at work ever since.

It’s so refreshing to see all of my students – even the ones who don’t necessarily feel strong in Mathematics – thrive in experiences like these when the concepts taught are connected to the Arts or to real life applications of Math. When they’re fully engaged in the work and feel successful in their understanding, application and communication of the learning, that’s when I see my Artists come alive in the Math class in ways that are truly amazing. So, to answer my question…yes, Artists might very well be Mathematicians too! Screenshot 2018-05-29 at 8.51.44 PM

April 27, 2018 Arianna Lambert Inspiring Students, Inspiring Teachers, Music, The Arts

Our Journey In Music

Last month I blogged about Music and Identity and asked you to stay tuned because my students and I were on a mission to dig a little deeper into the power of song. Well, this month, we did just that. In my last blog, I was really excited to have the opportunity to be interviewed by Noa Daniel for the Personal Playlist Podcast and wondered how I might do something similar in my classroom with students as we were in the process of better understanding identity and the characteristics that shape who we are.

On a bright and sunny – well…maybe it really wasn’t bright or sunny – Monday morning, I shared my own Personal Playlist Podcast with students and asked them to consider their own three songs that would be considered notstalic, descriptive of their identity, and a pick me up. What made that morning bright and sunny was how eager students were to jump into it and find songs that resonated with them based on the 3 categories. As students spoke with one another, listened to song choices and read lyrics, there was a buzz in the room and it amazed me because while I know the power of music, it was evident right in that moment that students were really coming alive and energized to share about parts of themselves through song.

From songs like Brave by Sara Bareilles to This Is Me by Kesha, students were pulling out and sharing lyrics that were meaningful to them. It sparked conversations from some of my most introverted students about how they were feeling and what they were experiencing. In Brave, one student mentioned liking these lyrics:

“Innocence, your history of silence

Won’t do you any good

Did you think it would?

Let your words be anything but empty

Why don’t you tell them the truth?”

She stated that everyone should consider the power of their words, not only to bring others down but to be able to bring about change and to really stand up for who you are. This was the starting point for a discussion on when we hear something or see something that isn’t right, we should say something and not only that, make sure that you are living the words that you are speaking. It was very powerful and resonated with these lyrics from This Is Me:

“I am brave, I am bruised

I am who I’m meant to be, this is me

Look out ’cause here I come

And I’m marching on to the beat I drum

I’m not scared to be seen

I make no apologies, this is me”

The student who shared this song mentioned wanting to be brave although it is sometimes difficult because we are bruised by the words and actions of others. We spoke about marching to beat of our own drums and how it is sometimes hard because it isn’t always accepted or embraced by others. We spoke about the challenges that exist when we want to be seen and yet we are so afraid to stand out. How do we become those who make no apologies for who we are?

As if that wasn’t powerful enough, the sharing grew even deeper when our Co-op student shared her playlist which included a song that wasn’t in English. I assumed that it went without saying that students could choose songs in a different language but because I wasn’t explicit, students stuck to songs they knew in English. When she shared her choices, the room erupted with, “Well, I know this song that my mom used to play to me when I was younger. Listen to this…”. All of a sudden, students were sharing about themselves, their families and their histories through songs from different cultures and languages. Whether or not their peers understood the lyrics to the song, they understood the meaning behind it through the help of their peer. All of a sudden, it was connecting on a deeper level. Music really transcends all boundaries.

A few minutes before the bell rang for recess an announcement came on to say that it was an indoor recess due to the rain. There was no groan this time and students were eager to continue on sharing their Personal Playlist.

I have to thank Noa Daniel for the experience and connecting me back to music in a deeper way and ultimately allowing for my students to share their experiences through music. We’re in the process of writing a musical for tdsbCREATES on identity and our time spent examining our own song choices are really guiding us as we start to write our own lyrics to the songs in our musical.

March 31, 2018 Tammy Axt General, The Arts

Music Centres to support guided instruction

Just like reading and writing, music is a subject that needs built in time for guided instruction to meet students’ needs. While I have been doing guided instruction with a small group of students, the rest of my students have been working on skills that they needs to refine at Centres.

Here is what a lesson plan looks like in my class with Music Centres:

Grade: 4

Assessment for learning that informed this lesson: Students have written one piece of music on the staff 3 weeks ago. After individually performing their piece for the teacher, I have identified that playing the correct rhythm and blowing less on the lower notes are two areas of need with this class.

Grouping of Students: Students have been placed in heterogeneous grouping in order to support learning when doing independent practice.

Duration: This lesson will take between 3-4 classes to complete.

Curriculum Expectations:

Grade 4 music expectations: C1.3 create musical compositions for specific purposes and audiences (e.g., write a composition for recorder using musical notation on the five-line staff)

Minds-On Activity:

Think-Pair-Share

Ask students “When you have a new piece of music to learn, how should you learn it?

Review the following steps to learning a new song.

Read and say the rhythm of the song. (Ta, ti ti)
Read the notes of the song (B, G, E)
Read the notes according to the rhythm
Finger the song on the recorder
Play the song

Apply the steps to an eight-beat piece of music

Action:

Students will participate in 6 centres that focus on the development of skills required to write compositions on the 5 line staff.

Centre 1: (with Ms. Axt) Students will have guided practice in writing and performing their own 8 beat piece of music on the recorder following the steps for learning a new song. The requirements of their created song will be in line with their next steps from their previous assignment.

Centre 2: Roll and Compose. Students will compose their own piece of music by rolling a dice. They will record their piece on an Ipad with an introduction about how they make a good sound on the recorder.

Centre 3: Rhythm BINGO. One student will be the BINGO caller as others try to find their rhythm on the BINGO card.

Centre 4: Students will play the game musical snakes and ladders. This will help them review the beat quantities for each rhythm symbol.

Centre 5: Creating and recording their compositions. Students use cards provided by the teacher to write their own piece of music and record each other on the iPad for the teacher to review after class. Students will add an introduction about how they read the notes on the staff.

Centre 6: Rhythm Cat: Students will use the app on the iPad called rhythm cat. This app gets progressively harder as students can play more difficult rhythms. Each student will have their own tablet and headphones.

March 29, 2018March 29, 2018 Arianna Lambert Challenging Topics, Equity, Inspiring Students, Inspiring Teachers, The Arts

Music & Identity

This past week, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Noa Daniel for the Personal Playlist Podcast on VoicEd. I was asked to identify 3 songs to share: one that held a nostalgic value; one that gave a sense of identity; and one that motivates me. Even though Noa was kind enough to give me a lot of notice, it was difficult for me to find the right songs. When I did, it was amazing how they spoke to different aspect of me and had me thinking about how music is such a powerful tool for allowing us to be able to express our identities and sometimes say things that we have difficulty expressing. I started wondering how something like this might impact my students.

This year, our school was selected to participate in tdsbCREATES which is a program that connects local artists to classrooms in our board in order to shine a light on the Arts and careers in the Arts. Our Artist is a musician who has worked with schools to create the 10-minute musical. This year’s theme is Narratives of NOW – it’s about you, it’s about the world, it’s about time! Immediately, I thought about current issues in the world around us and how students have been speaking up to be able to create change. I also thought about the fact that change usually comes when we identify with a specific issue and so we have started to look at identity and how we might be able to use music to express our own identities and in our understanding of others around us. Today, students had the chance to use a Padlet to be able to add their thoughts on identity after having some time to consider for themselves by making notes in their journals. Many students said that identity is something that we can’t change and is a part of us and that our identities are what makes us unique. They determined that parts of your identity could be based on gender, sexual orientation, race, background, religion and family status. We came to the conclusion that there are many facets to our identities and that there are no two people that can have exact identities because they may also be impacted by lived experiences. It was such a deep discussion and sadly, we had to cut it short for recess.

Thinking about the work that we are about to do with our artist and my recent experience with Noa, my next step might be to get students to consider a song that speaks to their identity and to share the lyrics with us. I think we’ve gotten to the point in our class where we have a sense of respect for one another so that the sharing of songs may be valued and may help us to grow in our understanding of one another. I would be interested in seeing what songs resonate with them and the reasons why. I would also be interested in unpacking the lyrics – considering we will be writing our own for our musical – and seeing how lyrics to a song speak specifically to areas of identity.

I always feel as though I end my blog posts asking you to stay tuned but please do! Next month we will be getting deep into our tdsbCREATES project and I will be blogging about our progress.

Interested in hearing my personal playlist? Check it out this Monday, April 2nd, 2018 at 8:00am and at 7:30pm.

January 30, 2018 Tammy Axt Celebrating Success, Classroom Management, Learning About Your Students, The Arts

Don’t Give Up on a Tough Class

I have one class that is very tricky. It is a very large class with a lot of emotional, physical and academic needs. It is the two periods in the week that I wish I had a clone of myself so that I could meet everyone’s needs immediately all the time (with this class I might need an army of clones).

I would rate the autumn with this class as alright. We have had our ups and downs. Some periods have gone well. Some have not. The thing that has been most consistent with this class is that I refuse to give up on them and their ability to do well in Music.

I feel at this point in the year, I have tried so many strategies to get the classes running smoothly and find ways to support my weaker students. However, it wasn’t until this past week that I feel like I have made a breakthrough!

I have finally landed on a combination of whole group instruction, peer-supported creations and individual choice.

Getting to know the students has been an important factor in this positive change. I have had several conversations with many of the students about sports, animals, music and all of their interests. I have used that knowledge to help build a relationship with them and inform my decisions around content for upcoming classes. I know for one of my students who is having the most difficult time at school right now, he really loves sports. I am planning to do a basketball dance this term to incorporate his interests.

I also have some students in the class who are significantly below grade level. Many of these students are embarrassed to ask other students for help. They are weak in reading and writing and therefore, they are very reluctant to work with many of the students in the class. Last week, I went to each of them individually and asked if they felt comfortable with anyone in the class. I let them choose who their partner was and since they all had a say in who they were going to work with, they all had a level of comfort in working in the class.

I met with the classroom teachers about good accommodations that I could provide for their students with upcoming assignments. I have also conferred with the classroom teachers about medical needs and emotional needs.

I have built in the usage of many of my student’s strengths. Everyone has so many amazing skills and I have tried to highlight them. I have a student who can’t read but is great at tech. He is my technology advisor and the kid I send everyone to when we have problems. Another student can’t read either, but is an incredible singer and rapper. He can improvise at the drop of a hat and can generate ideas at a speed I cannot match. When we need lyric or rhythm ideas, we know who we can count on.

I have continuously worked on trying to improve the climate. Last week, before we started our partner activity, I had the students do the game Two Truths and a Lie with their partner to build a relationship with their new partner. Taking time away from curriculum to build climate has been worth the investment.

Using choice as a motivator has also worked exceptionally well. Students begged me to allow them to listen to music of their choice when they are finished their compositions. “For sure!” I said. We are developing a pre-approved list of music to listen to.

Ultimately, the most important thing is not to give up. Have a good cry, a particularly big piece of chocolate cake and a long phone call complaining to your friend about your difficulties. After that, analyze what is going on that is not working, and start a plan tomorrow. And if that doesn’t work, try something else on the next time. It might take time, but it is worth it!

January 13, 2018February 1, 2018 Michelle Fenn Constant Learning, Curriculum Planning, Inspiring Students, Inspiring Teachers, Occasional Teachers, Occasional Teaching, Professional Learning and Growth, Resources, The Arts

Teaching Dramatic Arts-Resource Recommendations

My first Additional Qualification Specialist was in Dramatic Arts. When I signed on at my current school board I worked as an overlay teacher between two schools and taught whatever I was assigned by the Teachers for whom I provided preparation time. I was mostly asked to teach art, drama, dance, and music. These curriculum areas are my passions but not all Teachers feel qualified or comfortable teaching these subjects. Drama seems to be one of those courses that some Teachers “tack on” for a week or two just before a reporting period and with good reason, they aren’t comfortable teaching it and it can become difficult to manage behaviour during dramatic arts.

Drama lends itself well to all areas of the language curriculum. There is a misconception that Drama and Theatre are the same thing and that scripts and plays are the end goal of the Dramatic Arts curriculum. However, there are many ways in which to incorporate Dramatic Arts activities into the daily language curriculum and you don’t ever have to mount a full scale production. Drama doesn’t have to be scary.

One of the best resources that I recommend to Teachers who have Dramatic Arts Anxiety is the DramaNotebook website. It has all of the Drama games you will ever need all in one place and is especially handy for Occasional Teachers for transition times. In addition, it has poems and scripts that you can access from 2 parts up to 30 parts. There is a sign up for a cost, but there is also many free items including 40 drama games for teachers.

Another great Canadian source for drama lessons is Larry Swartz. He is an Educational Consultant, author, speaker and Dramatic Arts specialist. His book, “Dramathemes” is in it’s 3rd edition and is used in many Education Faculties in Ontario. It not only provides “activities” but it creates units that are easily integrated into the language curriculum.

The Council of Drama and Dance Educators has a fantastic website and there are many free resources which are written by educators and can be accessed even if you are not a member of CODE. In addition, they have a conference each year held in the fall which provides opportunities to learn along with other Educators.

I would also highly recommend the Arts resources from ETFO. The Primary ETFO Arts and Revised ETFO Arts resources provide an integrated approach to all of the Arts. You can find them at Shop ETFO on the website by following the link below.

http://www.etfo.ca/SupportingMembers/Resources/pages/shopetfo.aspx

Revised ETFO Arts (2014) $23

Ref. #91.129 The Revised ETFO Arts book is a practical step-by-step handbook for junior/intermediate grade teachers who want to include the Arts in their classroom program by introducing all the elements of dance, drama, music and visual arts.

Primary ETFO Arts (2013) $20

Ref. #91.169 Primary ETFO Arts is a publication that features 10 picture books that will pique children’s interest with their universal themes, issues and questions. Each section of Primary ETFO Arts includes engaging verbal and non-verbal activities to stimulate imagination, communication and critical thinking.

I hope that these resources provide you with some ideas and inspiration. I am always looking for more. If you have some other resources to recommend; please add a comment.

November 19, 2017November 19, 2017 Michelle Fenn Celebrating Success, Combined Grade Classes, Constant Learning, General, Inspiring Students, Inspiring Teachers, Integration, Learning About Your Students, Math, Mentorship, Professional Learning and Growth, The Arts

Connecting Area and Perimeter to Art-Piet Mondrian

Whenever possible, I search for ways to integrate the curriculum to create deeper learning opportunities for students and connect to the world around them. It has always been easy to make connections between geometry and art. Measurement and art wasn’t something that I had integrated much before. However, in working with my Teacher Candidate from the Trent University Faculty of Education program, we were excited to see what the students would create. It only goes to show you that when teachers are able to work collaboratively, wonderful programming ensues for students.

We have been working on perimeter and area for a little while, but students were still having trouble figuring out the difference between the two concepts. We started by giving the students 9 square tiles. Students were asked to create a 3 x 3 array of square tiles and determine the perimeter and the area. The perimeter was determined to be 12 and the area determined to be 9. From there, students were given a number of different challenges to reduce the area but maintain the perimeter of 12. The challenges grew increasingly difficult.

1. Reduce the area by one square unit but maintain the perimeter of 12 units.

2. Reduce the area to 7 square units while maintaining the perimeter of 12 units.

3. Reduce the area to 6 square units while maintaining the perimeter of 12 units.

4. Reduce the area to 5 square units while maintaining the perimeter of 12 units.

5. Reduce the area to 4 square units while maintaining the perimeter of 12 units.

6. Reduce the area to 3 square units while maintaining the perimeter of 12 units.

After having the students share their different solutions we thought we would show the students artwork that Ms. Marchiori created inspired by Ellsworth Kelly’s “Colors for a Large Wall”. In a guided math lesson the students figured out the area and perimeter of different parts of the artwork. The way in which students figured out the answers to the area demonstrated that they had a much better understanding of the difference between area and perimeter than they had previously.

At this point, we wanted to get into the artwork and considered the work of Piet Mondrian. Piet Mondrian is famous for the work that he created using primary colours, horizontal and vertical lines and squares and rectangles. Perfect for working with area and perimeter and for incorporating the different elements of art.

Ms. Marchiori showed the YouTube video of Piet Mondrian’s artistic life in a nutshell. Afterwards, the students then created their own Mondrian inspired artwork using chart sized grid paper (6’X6′) and crayon. To continue our math focus, the students then had to calculate the area of each of the colours that they used and write that on the back of their art “plan”. From there, the students used acrylic paint on canvas with grids drawn in pencil to recreate their “plan” for their art.

A few of the finished artwork samples;

This artwork would also connect to fractions. Students could express their colour content in a fraction, reducing it to it’s simplest form and then compare which colours covered the largest fraction of the area of the painting. When the artwork is complete, the students will be adding an artist’s message about what they learned during the process about area and perimeter, about the elements of line, colour and shape and about Piet Mondrian. This week we will be creating Mondrian inspired artwork while exploring balance and colour in art using much of the same grid technique but with the medium of crayon resist and watercolours.

October 12, 2017October 12, 2017 Kelly.McLaughlin Curriculum Planning, Professional Learning and Growth, self reflection, Start of the year, The Arts

A new year…three new assignments

Hello all,

It has been a busy start to this new year of teaching! I am now a permanent teacher after 3 years of amazing LTO placements at my school in Ancaster. I have moved on now to teach a new subject, instrumental music. This involved numerous music lessons over the summer, making sure I knew the ins and outs of each instrument. I was very excited to receive this job as I have such a huge passion for music, even though I have never explored the instrumental side of it.

Starting the year up was not as bad as I had thought because the LTO in the class before me had done an incredible job of organizing the room and making sure the school has all the necessary instruments and equipment. Getting the room decorated and organized was so exciting because for the first time, the room was mine and not someone’s that I was taking care of for them! The thrill of your first permanent placement is more than I could have ever hoped for.

The first few classes of music were interesting because although I would have loved to get right into letting the kids choose their instruments, I know I had to start with the basics. Having a mentor would have been helpful during this time because I had little to no clue where to start. I had to recall things previous teachers had done that I had worked with in the past as well as I had asked people at Long and McQuade for some helpful hints.

Now that October has come, my students have now selected their instruments and yesterday was our first day actually playing them! How cool it is to have purposeful noise in a classroom. All those years where I was so focused on students working quietly have now come to an end. The noise was incredible. Even some squeaks that I heard that were a little hard on the ears were exciting to hear because for someone, that was their first official squeak on the first instrument they have ever played. It will be such an exciting journey and I am so thankful it has just begun.

I was also offered a second permanent job as a librarian so now I have that to juggle into my weekly schedule. I am also teaching a 4/5 split this year. The planning has not been too hard so far but it is hard to think about the one job when you are in the one school without having your mind wander off to thinking about the other school.

I know this is the year where having a 0.4 permanent is necessary to make the next step into a 1.0 permanent world, so I am grateful for the opportunity. Some days my head is swimming with ideas for a wide variety of things but having a Staples day planner has been essential to keeping all my thoughts down on a page somewhere.

That is all I have to share for now! I am so excited for this year and it has already gone by so fast. I just hope I have time to do everything the kids and I want to accomplish this year.

September 26, 2017 Tammy Axt The Arts

Learning lyrics the fun way

Learning lyrics to a song can be a time-consuming task. It can also be a task that is really challenging for some students. The repetitive nature of it can make it boring with a capital B. I know that my very heavy population of English Language Learning students find lyrics to songs difficult to remember. In the past, I have taken an approach where we repetitively sang the song over many music classes until everyone in the class had grasped the lyrics. This approach was effective at helping students to learn the songs, but I am not sure it made the experience fun for everyone involved. This year, I made a commitment to make the experience more enjoyable. Ultimately, when you are stuck on lyrics, it can be difficult to focus on all the other aspects of singing such as breath control, enunciation, and good singing technique.

The first song of this school year that we have worked on learning has been our school song. There has always been one line of the song that the students have messed up and I have tried repeatedly to get them to perfect the fourth line. However, it wasn’t until I added a bit of fun to the experience that they really had it. I brainstormed fun ways to learn the song before school started and lo and behold, the idea of two pool noodles and focusing on words from the song seemed to really make things work.

I started by singing the whole song for the students followed by echo singing parts of the song with the lyrics posted in the classroom. I then took the lyrics away and had the students complete the missing words in the song while I sang. For example, I sang Red, Red Willow we are so _______ and the students all chimed in “cool!” when I stopped singing. After I felt that they had a solid grasp of the song, we sang the whole thing from beginning to end as well as we could. Next came the part with the pool noodles. I had volunteers come up to the front where I had words from the song scattered over each side of the blackboard. I sang the song and they had to listen closely because when I stopped singing they had to hit the next word of the song on the blackboard with the pool noodle. Students all took a turn, some individually and some as a team effort.

The greatest part of this activity was that the students were really into thinking about the lyrics. We all learned the lyrics quickly and could really work on our technique in subsequent classes. One unexpected positive that came out of this game was that the students wanted to take over the teacher role. This meant that in all my classes, multiple students sang solos in the first two weeks of school. Talk about risk taking early in the school year! Making it more fun made the whole experience more enjoyable for all.

April 30, 2017 Tammy Axt English As Second Language (ESL), English Language Learners (ELLs), The Arts

Helping English Language Learners in Music

Music Class can be tricky to navigate for our ELLs (English Language Learners). Although music is really fun and engaging, learning lyrics to songs and terms for describing music can be challenging to remember.

Lyrics to songs can be difficult for ELLs as there are often slang words, incomplete sentences or words that are used in unusual ways. Lyrics manipulate grammar rules and each genre can have its own style of communication, depending on its origin. In addition to lyrics, vocabulary for music has the same challenges as many content subjects, which is that the vocabulary is often not used in daily life. You don’t hear people talking about how forte, vivace or legato a song was. As the vocabulary is only used for such a small portion of their school week, it is very hard to internalize.

My student population has around 70-80 percent of students on the STEPS of Language Acquisition. In trying to help my ELLs be successful in music class, I have used the following:

1) Song selection: My team is very selective when choosing songs to sing in class, and we are always looking to make sure songs are not too long, often repetitive and that new vocabulary is not too overwhelming for students to learn.

2) Patience: We take time to let students internalize one section of the song before we move onto the next. If we are learning a song that is a little longer, we only focus on one verse for part of a class and visit the next verse in subsequent classes.

3) Visuals: There are diagrams and visuals to support students in discussing music. (You can find mini posters about the elements of music on the website Teachers Pay Teachers). Also, illustrating a song can help solidify meaning.

4) Actions: We often add actions to many songs to help us understand the meaning of what we are singing.

5) Cooperative Learning: We do some whole group and teacher led instruction to learn some new vocabulary and lyrics. However, more often, students work together as pairs or groups towards internalizing the lyrics and their responses to music.

6) Use music that represents the culture and language of your students: Using songs from a student’s culture allows them to feel valued and they become the expert in the room. Finding authentic arrangements and scores can be difficult. Making a connection to a member of the community that can help you is a very important asset.

7) Make it fun: Ultimately, music should be a fun way to engage with language. So encourage the students to enjoy themselves!

Even though music can be challenging, it can also be very supportive when learning a new language. About 15 years ago, I decided to move to Japan to be a teacher. I ended up loving it so much that I stayed there for three years. In my own personal journey of learning a new language and writing system, music played an important role. I listened to a lot of Japanese music and bopped and bounced along to the music in my home, car and at school. New vocabulary stuck in my brain from the songs that I heard, and I enjoyed learning how new vocabulary was written in Kanji (the Japanese writing system) from the inside of CD covers. Listening to music was great as it was the one Japanese activity in my day that didn’t require a response from me. Music can play a very important role in the acquisition of language.