WHAT ARE THE BEST SONGS FOR TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES?

I strongly advocate the use of music in the foreign language classroom (See my previous blog post) not only because it is so fun and engaging, but also because music is so very effective. However, not all music works for all levels. For example, songs that are:

Mariachi musicians like those on "Mariachi y Más" 

•  too hard (very difficult vocab)
•  sung too fast for the level
•  have nasty, street or too dialectical vocabulary
•  incorrect grammar
•  nasty or otherwise inappropriate (drugs, crime…) content
•  nonsensical
•  just plain bad

… will probably not help your students learn much. Using the right kind of music and at the right time and level helps music work its magic much more easily.

There are some music snobs that insist that only “real” songs be played in their classroom. I LOVE using authentic music in my class, but at the lower levels it is harder to find music that fits all my criteria. The general sequence and criteria of the types of music I suggest for optimum usage are:

1. Simple rhymes, rhythmic “ditties” or mini chants. They are very easy, fun, and they help at the very beginning lower the affective filter, help with pronunciation, pre-teach (incidentally or purposely) grammar and simple word order.

Musical Echoing

Some good mini-chants or snappy sayings can be found in various languages. Click below:

Spanish Snappy Sayings

French Snappy Sayings

Italian Snappy Sayings

2. Simple children’s songs (check for nonsense or surprisingly difficult words)

3. Musical chants that teach or review elements of your lesson (grammar, vocabulary, other content)

      Some unique musical chants in various languages can be found by clicking on the links below:

       

 Musical Arabic

 Gesang, Rhythmen und Reime ( in packets)

Canti, Ritmi e Rime

Cantos, Ritmos y Rimas

Cantiques, Rythmes et Rimes (in packets)

4. Educational songs made up to teach something. Many people, mostly teachers, make up cute and appropriate songs. Listen to them before you buy. I have heard many that are bad, forced translations of English songs, very amateurishly recorded, sung by children (which doesn’t work well for older students although children’s songs sung by adults do), sometimes even with horrible accents.

Italian musician like those
on Canti, Ritmi e Rime

5. Popular or traditional songs that accent something by its constant repetition or perhaps weird yet cool way of expressing it. Sorting through all of the songs out there in the Spanish, French, Italian, German world can be daunting task  but worth it if you find the right good and powerful song.

6. At upper levels (4 or AP) I go more for culture, beauty and especially songs that represent the country’s heart and soul. I don’t mind using older, classic songs that EVERY ONE, no matter the age form that country knows and loves.

Andean musicians from "Gira musical
por el mundo hispánico"

7. Sometimes songs without words can also be played for their mood altering qualities (calming, exciting, danceable) or used to discuss the many musical genres available in the country or even the typical instruments used.

Two very cultural and lovely collections of traditional music with good extension exercises and readings are:

Mariachi y Más (7 song Bundle and Book)

Mariachi y Más (16 songs book and MP3)

Gira Musical Por el Mundo Hispánico

Read also:

How to  Effectively Use Music in the Spanish, French, Italian, ESL(and other Foreign Languages) Classroom...

Click to see more of Lonnie Dai Zovi's products

Using Music (Chants, Rhythms and Rhymes) in the Foreign Language Classroom 

Using music, chants, rhythms and rhymes to teach foreign language is like having a secret (stealth) weapon! Not only does my "research" of 40 years of teaching, prove it; scientific research proves that using music (and singing) is twice as effective as traditional foreign language learning. The words learned through music sticks to the learners brains effortlessly.Even brain research shows that music is great for language learning. Unfortunately not all language teachers have been enlightened as to the efficacy of using music in the classroom. In my many years as a conference presenter, I have met people who don't use music, chants, rhythms or rhymes in their Spanish, French, Italian, ESL , German classroom. Their reasons are that they "don't have time " to do so, they "don't know how to", their "students don't like to sing" and a few other sad excuses. I feel sorry for their students, but I also realize that if they read this blog (and the blogs that follow) they might, fortunately for their students' sake, change their minds. 

WHY USE MUSIC TO TEACH?

Maracas like those used
in Cantos, Rimos y Rimas

ALL HUMANS NEED MUSIC. All cultures throughout the ages have embraced and developed music, rhythms and even rhymes. These range from simple drum beats with gourd maracas to complex symphonies.  As individuals, our love for music and rhythm begins even before birth. We hear or feel the heartbeat and later the breathing of our mother, and continue developing our love further when our mothers sing, say silly things in a sing-song voice and rhymes (“This little piggy went to market…”)

MUSIC IS GREAT FOR LEARNING – Howard Garner writes that music is one of the strongest of the multiple intelligences. I have seen the proof very often in my classes. Sometimes they use the exact phrasing found in the songs. Sometimes a word is substituted, yet appropriate. My young daughter had learned one of my "ditties" or Snappy Sayings and used it quite appropriately when for the first time in a long time, the family was together eating in a restaurant. "Todos estamos aquí, todos estamos aquí, queremos comer sí, sí, todos estamos aquí" She had substituted the "Comer" for the original "aprender". I have been teaching for so long that I get emails from many of my previous students. Most of them state that they learned so much and attribute it to the many songs we used in class. 

Besides being pleasant and very effective, music is also mood and emotion altering. Music can motivate the bored and calm the over - excited. Music lowers the affective filter (or makes people less stressed and more uninhibited) so that even the reluctant learner can and will learn more easily. Special ed. students learn very easily with music. Author and teacher Irene Brouwer Konyndyk in her book Foreign Languages for Everyone  writes (about why music is so effective for her learning disabled students), “ I believe that music embeds learning by bypassing rational cognition.” This might also be why brain damaged, stroke victims and others can communicate by singing their message when they can’t  speak  normally. It helps special need students, but the regular ed. students benefit by learning with music, too.

Conga player like those
recorded in Lonnie's chants

MUSIC AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES -  A lesson taught through music (chants, rhythms or rhymes) is learned more willingly and permanently. I’ve seen and heard students during tests quietly singing parts of songs to access  the needed vocab, phrases or even grammar points. One girl on a student trip to Spanish let the group know that she had a headache by singing part of a previously learned song. “Me duele la cabeza, ¿qué hago yo?" Some of the kids sang back “Toma aspirina y olvídalo”. (From Cantos, Ritmos y Rimas) Will she always sing when she has a headache? No, but because of the chant, she’ll say it correctly.

Upcoming Blogs (Partial list) :

What are the Best Songs for Teaching Foreign Language? 

How to  Effectively Use Music in the Spanish, French, Italian, ESL( and other Foreign Languages) Classroom 

Active Grammar

Old School Methodology or New Tech for Your Class?

Should We Use Textbooks or Not?

Teaching Art Effectively and Actively

Is traveling with Your Students for You?

Reading in the Lower Level Language Classes

To see many of Lonnie's products in many languages and subjects. click here