Language Can Be to Students’ Ears By Patricia Koning Music EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is the first in a series on using the arts in the language classroom. Here, we focus specifically on using music to enhance the acquisition of language skills and cultural competence. In the April issue of The Language Educator, look for an article on using theater and drama in language education. hen David McCall came up with the idea for “Schoolhouse Music doesn’t just fool students into enjoying the study of W Rock!” 40 years ago, he was tapping into what is now a verb tenses, it also activates parts of the brain used in the study well-known phenomenon—the connection between music and of language. A whole body of research has shown that learning learning. McCall noticed that one of his sons was having trouble music and learning a language employ similar cognitive pro- remembering multiplication tables, yet had memorized the lyrics cesses. Dr. Joanne Loewy, director of the Louis Armstrong Center to countless rock songs. for Music and Learning at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New Many studies—as well as a generation of kids who grew up York City, has conducted extensive research on music therapy. with “Schoolhouse Rock!” interspersed among Saturday morning Her findings, however, are relevant for language teachers. cartoons—have demonstrated that music aids learning. Teachers Her concept, the Musical Stages of Speech, proposes that of all subjects use music to calm their students, set a mood, and language should be considered not in a cognitive context, but focus concentration. in a musical one. She describes the cries, babbles, and coos of Music is especially useful to language teachers. In addition an infant as “the earliest dimension of language that is used to the “general learning” uses, music can reinforce language and understood by children.” If music is a guiding principle in and grammar lessons, encourage creative thought in the target acquiring a first language, it follows that music also plays a role language, and provide a window into the culture of the target in acquisition of subsequent languages. language. Author Susanna Zaraysky believes that music has enabled her “For me, it’s a no brainer,” says Nicole Naditz, a French to quickly learn new languages. She first became aware of this teacher at Bella Vista High School in Fair Oaks, CA. “I personally phenomenon when studying Portuguese as a young adult. “I was love music, so I use it to liven up my classroom. The silver lin- listening to a Portuguese radio station every day while driving ing is that music can be an excellent way to practice vocabulary to and from work. Without even realizing it, I was picking up and grammar structures.” vocabulary, grammatical structures, and pronunciation,” she For Nancy Gadbois, a French teacher at Cathedral High School recalls. in Springfield, MA, music brings an almost magical transforma- She had similar experiences with language acquisition and tion into her classroom. music while living in Budapest, Hungary, and Sarajevo, Bosnia. “When the music comes on, the kids think they are on holi- In 2009, Zaraysky turned her experiences into a book, day,” she says. “They think it is time for fun and games. We might Language is Music (El Idioma es Música in Spanish), and has as well be tossing a ball around the classroom—they just don’t given presentations on her ideas at the U.S. Department of State associate activities using music with the other learning we do.” 32 The Language Educator n February 2011 a b o v e : Nicole Naditz and her class sing carols in French. Lesson Plans = Two Grammy Tickets and universities including Stanford University and the University of When Nicole Naditz became a high school French teacher 17 years California, Berkeley. ago, she never guessed that her classroom plans would one day land Her book is a collection of tips on using media (e.g., listening to her a seat at the 2011 Grammy Awards. “This is one way that music music and radio podcasts, watching TV and movies, participating in has energized my classroom,” she says. “My students formed a com- online language exchange and community events) to learn a second mittee to decide what I should wear!” language. She suggests that passive activities, like listening to a radio Last fall, Naditz entered the first annual Jane Ortner Educating station in the target language while driving or keeping the television Through Music Awards, facilitated by the Grammy Museum’s Education news on in the background while preparing dinner, can pay big dividends. Programs Office. The award was established to honor Jane Ortner, Every language has a beat, says Zaraysky. “If you listen to the who the Grammy Museum describes as “a devoted and beloved public language as music and pay attention to the rhythm, flow, accentua- school teacher who recognized the critical importance of music in the tion, and timing of the words, you are more likely to easily learn the education of students at all levels.” language and have a good accent,” she explains. “We can also learn The contest is designed to honor teachers who use music as a way to grammar by listening to music because the sentence pattern in music teach content standards. A panel of teachers and music industry profes- lyrics is likely to stick in our memory. We are all like our own radio sionals judged the submissions based on creativity and teachability. stations emitting sounds and hearing sounds within a certain range What caught Naditz’s eye was not the chance to attend the Gram- of frequency; we have to expand the range of sounds that we hear in mys on February 13 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, but the fact order to speak in another language.” that the top submissions might be included in an online or print re- source available to all teachers. “My aim was to make it into that re- Music in the Classroom source, so that when it comes out world languages will be right there Just like any other educational tool, teachers must carefully work mu- alongside English, math, and other subjects,” she says. “Language is sic into lesson plans and use it to support desired outcomes. Naditz a core skill, but it is virtually invisible in general resources.” breaks her lessons into activities for pre-listening, while listening, The majority of the submissions came from English Language Arts and post-listening. “Pre-listening is important, even with Advanced teachers, but the submissions represented all grades and subjects. classes,” she says. “You have to prime the students for the vocabu- Naditz overshot her goal, winning the grand prize for her submis- lary or grammar structures you want them to understand.” In her sion, “Note-worthy Language: Using music to build second language pre-listening activities, Naditz likes to give her students a preview of proficiency and cultural knowledge.” the song they are about to study to get their minds working. Using Her 15-page submission covered pre-listening activities and using wordle.net, she creates a word cloud from the song’s lyrics and has music to practice learned vocabulary and structures, demonstrate her students predict the theme of the song. Or she will show students understanding of learned vocabulary and structures, facilitate student a music video with no sound and have them guess at the story line. creativity in the target language, provide a window to authentic For teachers just starting to incorporate music, the general advice cultures that speak the language, and study themes of cultural and is to start slow. “Look for a song with simple lyrics and take baby societal interest. In an appendix, she gave examples of how a teacher steps. Try to develop one song a semester and soon you’ll have a might implement these concepts using “She’s Leaving Home” by John repertoire of a half dozen songs,” says Gadbois. “And you don’t need Lennon and Paul McCartney. a huge catalog of songs. I often use the same song for all of the dif- “I’m happy for the opportunity to get world languages into the ferent levels that I teach. For lower levels, I’ll supply a word bank for public view,” says Naditz. “And the Grammys? That’s a once in a cloze activities and take away that support with Advanced students.” lifetime experience that I won’t pass up.” Olga Mancuso Skeem, Italian teacher at John Hanson French Im- Note: Look for an account of Nicole Naditz’s Grammy experience in a future mersion School in Oxon Hills, MD, has had great success with opera. issue of The Language Educator. The Language Educator n February 2011 The Language Educator n February 2011 33 Language Can Be Music to Students’ Ears Lone Ranger theme. But that opera also provides a venue to discuss Switzerland’s history and the broader themes of independence and tyranny. In 2008, Skeem began using books developed by LaMa House Publishing. Using vivid illustrations, the books present well-known operas in abbreviated form simultaneously in four languages: Italian, English, and two others from among French German, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. Using video, images, and Skeem also finds opera useful in boosting confidence in younger Italian lyrics, Olga Skeem students. “With beginners, I work on basic vocabulary that they’ll teaches Rossini’s “La hear in a selection,” she explains. “Then when the students recognize Cenerentola” to students at International Elemen- ‘bravo,’ ‘bravissimo,’ and other similar expressions repeated in The tary School at Dundee in Barber of Seville, they feel like they are conquering the language.” Greenwich, CT.