coucoucircus.org - Bienvenue This site gives you access to the theme tunes and lyrics of hundreds of French TV programmes, in particular a lot of children's cartoon series.
Flash Video Big Books This is a great site for anyone interested in using story telling as a key component of their courses. Some free stuff but the books you have to buy are pretty cheap and excellent quality. Highly recommended.
Wordle - Create word clouds This is a fantastic little site for anyone wanting to be creative with Language. It creates key word diagrams on any topic in an arty way. It is a great way to introduce a topic or allow kids to create a keyword list to help them prepare for a speaking test
One of the nice things about writing a blog is that every now and again you can indulge yourself and simply express a personal view. This post has relevance I think to the contemporary culture that our pupils inhabit and to the kind of lessons we might create for them.
Hopefully it might encourage teachers across the curriculum to think about how to include a 'community' song or chant as a normal part of their lessons.
I came across this video of a wonderful choir called Perpetuum Jazzile so first, sit back and enjoy this before reading any further! All language is a communal experience - singing together proves it.
Before I saw this video I had been looking at Eric Whitacre's virtual choir beautifully singing 'Sleep'. I was treated to the obligatory ad which in this case was promoting a new album by the X-Factor runner up 'Cher'.
The juxtaposition of all that X-Factor promotes, sometimes agressive vaunting of the individual vocal star, set against Perpetuum Jazzile's ability to blend a range of voices into a very clever performance was telling.
Whilst like anyone else, I love a good Diva, for singing, solo effort isn't the norm. The name X-Factor should be a clue, it's the unsusual X-ception not the rule. For 99% of the rest of the world, enjoying singing is something that everyone can do as part of a group.
I have an ok singing voice. Actually to be more precise, it's ok if I ask it to perform solo. It's actually much better when I sing with others. Solo, and I have to pretend that it is something it isn't, that it has a wide range which it hasn't.
It's actually very good in the baritone range but pretty rubbish in the tenor range. However the only way I am ever going to understand this and appreciate my particular contribution is to sing with others.
I think we need a cultural counter-balance to the 'Diva' factor for our children. If they grow up thinking that singing is all about 'solo' brilliance and performance then they will never benefit from the amazing satisfaction that can come from singing with others. Understanding that sharing your individual voice in harmony with many others within your particular range is a deeply satisfying experience is a vital lesson we need to pass on to our children.
I believe that singing together is an essential part of living together as communities. It has been one of the glues that have bonded tribes since the dawn of time. Sharing a common song has always been a mark of identity. It is something personally I feel we need to recover far more widely in western society.
In September I'm talking at a Modern Languages Show and Tell at Cramlington Learning Village just north of Newcastle. I decided that I wanted to talk more about the whole concept of building class cohesion and identity through songs and chants.
My own limited experience of trying some of these ideas out have deeply impressed me with the response from the children and the positive atmosphere they help establish in lessons. The title of my talk is "The Singing Tribe - MFL class cohesion" so if you want to know a bit more maybe I will see you there.
The format is a little like a Teachmeet but this is for the whole day so the talks might last from 3 minutes to longer than the Teachmeet 7 minutes. You get to hear fantastic talks from some top people working in modern languages in the UK for FREE!
As an added incentive, the host for the day is Chris Harte and I understand that this will be his swan song as he is about to leave the UK for Australia. If you have never heard Chris speak, this will possibly be a last chance for a while. Get there if you can, I highly recommend it. Click here to find out more.
I find talks from the TED site fascinating. I picked up the this video via Laura Doggett's blog, http://lauradoggett.com/, a really useful site for anyone interested in all things techie and MFL. Anyone who gets companies to give them expensive kit to review has my respect!
So this video is from Patricia Kuhl and is entitled "The Linguistic Genius of Babies".
What strikes me here is that there is an emotional context to language learning that helps the baby filter out extraneous sound and home in on the sound patterns that bring a reward in terms of making human connections.
In my work with music and language learning, my theory is that music and song are excellent vehicles for connecting emotion to language acquisition, and it was interesting to see the role of human and emotional connection highlighted here.
What is also fascinating to see is that as we get older we 'retreat' and become 'enclosed' within our own cultural and linguistic systems. It becomes increasingly harder to break out of them simply because I think we have a memory bank that is filling up, even clogging up with stored responses to inputs. It's a hard-drive in need of a de-frag to free up space.
I suppose I see music, song and rhythm as kind of de-frag software for language learning. They 'slide' new language into children's brains, flying under the radar of their stored responses. They help penetrate into parts of their consciousness where new information can be retained without having to pass through all of the border controls of stored cultural and linguistic filtering.
So, the younger the child, the more uncluttered the memory bank, the more receptive to new input. The older we get, the slower we are to assimilate new sounds and structures that do not match those already in our memory bank.
In the push to promote Primary Languages in the UK, one of the strains on the initiative is that though children can very easily pick up new language, the teachers who have to be re-trained to teach them find it much harder to re-learn.
The real difficulty lies less in acquiring the lexical and grammatical syntax of the language but in being able to 'tune' into the different sounds and mimic them. Prounuciation is a key issue. Fear of sounding inauthentic is a serious inhibtor in Primary MFL teachers.
Here again I believe, but can't prove, that on teacher language re-training programmes, re-learning a language with a significant input from music, rhythm and song might help. Someone somewhere ought to research an initiative to examine whether this is true. Could a program be devised where this is an integral rather than a peripheral part of it?
Here is a short post in a continuing series on what makes a great foreign language song that engages kids.
Having blown the trumpet for quite a few other MFL songsters, on this one I'm puffing on my own! Shameless I know but there we go …
My first example isn't actually my own composition - it is perhaps one of the most widely used songs for Early Language Learners, 'Heads,Shoulders,Knees and Toes'
The point I want to make though in this post is that even very familiar songs can be given an added twist of your own that make them even more memorable.
Children love a bit of fun in a song, a chance to look and sound ridiculous. You can inject this element into songs that you already use with a bit of imagination.
First example then is this French version of 'Tête, Epaules, Genous et Pieds'. I'm grateful to the early learning website Speakaboos.com for permission to use the tune. I think it is a cracking version of it and like the hip-slapping country feel that I think perfectly compliments the fact children are pounding parts of the body as they sing!
I have overdubbed a French version of the lyrics using Mixcraftsoftware and added an idea that I use a lot when warming children's voices up for singing. When you get them to repeat 'oreilles' pull yourself up onto the tip of your toes as you say the word and slide your voice from low to high up the scale as you say the word. Children LOVE it. Here's the tune and the French Lyrics I use.
Lyrics:
Backing Track
Backing Track + Main Vocals
Backing Track + Harmony Vocals
Backing Track + 2 part Vocals
Download a zip file with all of the musical tracks and a powerpoint file of the song.
My second example is one of my own tracks which you are welcome to download and use for yourself. If you like it please leave a comment. It is a simple French numbers 1 - 20 song but with 2 elements in it that I know add a funny twist and add a linguistic context.
Here is the whole resource in a zip file. This includes a Samrtboard Notebook file of the lyrics. You can import it into Active Inspire whiteboard software if necessary. It also contains the song sung at different speeds, another favourite trick to keep children interested and willing to repeat an activity.
The lyrics at the end of the song have some inbuilt self-deprecation. As they finally get to 20 they are invited to lingusitically puff and pant their way to the top of the song: "Ca y est, c'est fini, c'est fini ENFIN!" The thing is that though you invite them to say "At last! We've got to the end of this song" they seem very happy to go back and repeat it all over again!
As for the humourous hook, for some reason, after the first 1-10, when the children sing 'la la la la' that is the bit that gets the loudest vocal and engages even the most distracted. Perhaps you can explain it to me. Ok, it's not French, they can sing at least this but why does that appeal?
One theory I have is that any excuse you can give to children learning a language to ham something up, exaggerate, lose their reserve and inhibition, is a great facilitator. Any good language learner has to overcome inhibition, reserve and be prepared to sound stupid. My theory is that both of these song examples are successful because of these in-built opportunities to sound ridiculous.
Perhaps you have examples of other songs that you have adapted to do this. Please share them here!
As Miranda's Mum would say, "Such fun!" (Follow the link if you don't understand the reference - my current favourite comedy show on BBC - the art of the ridiculous perfectly crafted)
I'm writing this post as a follow up to the previous post about Eric Whitacre's virtual choir. In that, I said that I have borrowed the concept behind all collective singing and am learning to apply it to language learning, that successful blending of many voices into one sound is incredibly powerful and emotionally rich.
This is my first attempt to try and explain what I mean.
First, and at the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, our voices are designed to help us 'connect'. It might be obvious but sometimes what is so obvious can be hidden from us because it is right under our noses.
If our voice is the greatest tool we have to enable us to connect with others and we as language teachers are all about helping cultural strangers connect with each other by finding a new 'voice', a new tongue / langue, then why don't we explore how the use of a 'collective' grouping of disparate voices in the classroom into one voice can empower language learning?
In the UK, the pressure to measure every child's progress against a set of markers whilst laudible in intention, has had a very negative impact on a key aspect of learning: It edifies the 'individual' at the expense of 'community'.
Fine, we all have to stand or fall eventually based on the sum of our personal efforts. But the most effective vehicle for achieving the highest degree of personal growth is to be part of a supportive community. If this wasn't true there would be absolutely no need for schools in the first place.
Learning works best in the classroom if it is a collaborative, supportive, encouraging 'group' experience. That is where powerful learning takes place. We need each other. We function best in communities. We seek them out. We thrive on recognition from others, we understand who we truly are when we understand what value we bring to those who surround us. If education is about anything, it is about helping children to understand where their true value lies in relation to the people in their world, given their unique set of skills and abilities.
Since I have begun to adopt the Call / Response singing techniques I picked up from Sing Up training I have noticed a powerful enhancement of this collaborative atmosphere in my lessons. A couple of examples of exercises I do in my first lessons with new classes might illustrate this.
My first job as language teacher is not to teach children to speak but how to listen. Without that they will never make real progress. Adusting your voice to mimic what you hear from a model is fundemental to successful language learning. Fortunately this is absolutely true of singing as well.
So whilst my first lesson involves a lot of speaking, its actual focus is on how to listen. I begin with French vowel sounds. I show children pictures of Maori warriors and the New Zealand Rugby team and find out what they know about the Haka. We tease out why they do this, and the concept of sounding powerful as one eventually emerge as they prepare for 'battle'. (By the way, if you want boys instantly on your side, try all of this!)
I show them a video clip from Youtube of the New Zealand team doing their Haka and the Tongan rugby team responding with their own chant. We look at the role of the 'captain' calling, why the team respond as one voice and why that is so powerful. What are they trying to achieve?
I then set them a challenge: during this first lesson, all they they have to prove to me that as a class they can respond as one voice and one group action to what ever I say and do as the 'captain'. Can they do this?
To demonstrate this immediately I teach them 4 praise phrases we will learn regularly to say as a group chant to anyone who does something well.
Fantastique / Super / Excellent / Génial.
I teach the first 3 to begin with explaining that they are the same as English words but pronounced differently (cognates are a great way to teach phonics btw) and their task is to copy the word and the 3 part action I do to that word BUT they have to do this is one voice. After a couple of goes very quickly they get the idea.
Usually on 'excellent' I hear someone adding the 't'. Without picking anyone out, I explain that I heard something wrong at the end of the word, we do it again and ask them to identify what the difference is between the English and French way of saying it. The point is that they have to 'hear' it as a group and are corrected as a group.
We then do the French Haka. They have to face me as their captain, half crouching, knees bent, hands on knees and looking fierce. I say the French vowel sounds in turn with a separate action for each: 'a' both hands pushed out in front, 'e' both hands pulled back into chest, 'i' both one hand moves up, the other down to define an 'i' shape, 'o' hands to the side with index finger of each hand drawing an 'o' circle in the air, 'u' the same index finger drawing a 'u' shape in the air.
You can pick out the French 'u' versus 'oo' sound at this point. One tip to teach this: get them to notice what they do with their jaw when saying the 'oo' sound (jaw drops down and forward) versus the 'u' sound (jaw is pulled back)
They then add consonants of their choosing and we re-do the Haka. I explain that there are 2 rude consonants that I hope they don't find so as not to embarrass me with predictable results and eventually 'p' and 'w' are added to the mix!
The point is that right from the word go, the children are learning this 'call-response' technique.
They are having to listen intently to copy me.
They are having to be aware of rhythm, timing and each other to speak with one voice.
They are learning that making these new sounds is comfortable as they can try them out as part of a group; this one voice that allows them the security of trying things out without making a fool of themselves. This is FUNDEMENTAL. If I have one regret in my years in secondary teaching is that I sprung far too early to requiring individuals to speak out loud on their own in front of a class. They should be able to practice everything as a group or in pairs before being required to produce on their own.
We then move onto a very simple group song on greetings which we sing unaccompanied. I use my hands to do pitch change gestures as I sing, they respond, again as one voice, and often copy my pitch gestures too.
When I ask them to tell me what some of the words mean in that song (bonjour, comment ça va etc) anyone who answers correctly selects one of the 4 praise phrases we have done. I say the phrase + 3 part action followed by the pupil's name + do a 3 part 'shimmy' to their name eg: Calvin would become
Everyone repeats the praise phrase and does the shimmy. This is a regular feature of early lessons. I vary it by eventually asking for volunteers to come to the front and lead the whole class in praising someone using a 3 part shimmy of their own invention. Often these are hilarious! Imagine what the child who leads the class feels like as they do this. Imagine what the child on the receiving end of the whole class saying well done in French feels like. This is very, very powerful and we do it in the first lesson.
Class chanting or singing to fantastic music builds a positive, supportive, collaborative community. Learn how to do it effectively and very quickly you will establish the kind of atmosphere conducive to real learning that previously it might have taken me a whole term or longer to achieve with all the attendant emotional wear and tear involved. Seriously colleagues, I believe these techniques can mean the difference between burning yourself out and being a relatively effortless but powerful teacher.
It has been the biggest accelerator to success in my own experience that I have ever encountered. What's more it is FUN! Enjoy.
(Please send a link to this article if it has helped you. If you would like me to come to your school or area in the UK to demonstrate these techniques, please leave your name, school and a contact email on this blog. It won't be published for anyone else to see as I have to allow publication of all comments.)
Here is the completed video of Eric Whitacre's virtual choir singing his composition 'Sleep'. Again I would just make the point that there is both power and beauty in people joing voices to sing as one. I teach this concept of 'one voice, many people' as a vital part of my language lessons' and it has had a big impact on what I do. I'll explain more in a further post. For now, enjoy!
This post is in response to a request made at a recent training event. I promised that I would upload a video instruction on how to use sound editing software.
The software I work with is NCH's wavepad. There is a free version of this and a paid for version with more advanced features. The free version is very adequate for most of your requirements.
The first thing I would say if you are new to sound editors is that even if you are unfamiliar with the interface, if you know how to select, cut, copy, paste anything in a Word document, you can do this with a sound in a sound editor. The keyboard shortcuts are the same:
For anyone who doesn't know Sylvia Duckworth, she is a French teacher in Canada experienced in using the AIM language learning program that places a strong emphasis on using the arts to build language structure. The core philosophy as far as I understand it is that language learning needs to be given an emotional context for it to become embedded.
This is easy if you are in the country where that language is spoken, hard if you aren't.
However using visual, aural and physical expression via gestures, movement, music and song, drama, storytelling, it is possible to speed up language acquisition and present the language in a fun, engaging context. If children like it, they'll learn it. Not an earth shattering concept but harder to achieve than say!
So, I have been casting an eye over some of the songs on Sylvia's Youtube channel and am picking out some songs that I think readers of this blog might like.
A big thank you to Sylvia for doing all of the powerpoints so well and for sharing them. Thank you to the composers for allowing them to be shared.
For the full caboodle, have a look at her site! A lot of potential for fun and meaningful language learning for new learners here I think!
All these songs display elements I have been trying to define that make them great songs :
Great tunes/music - TOP OF THE LIST!
A strong central idea that engages, a bit of a story not just a topic - this doesn't have to revolve around a person - Charlotte Diamond's 'Je suis une pizza' is a brilliant example! Things can be given a voice and a story too.
Quirky humour that children will love - Charlotte Diamond getting personally manhandled by the Queen and kicked out of Buckingham Palace for complaining about the miniscule sarnies, brilliant! IMAGINATION has to be BIG in songs for kids!
Seeing something from a child's point of view - John Demado's rap about feeling trapped in his house by having to do chores, the lament of countless generations of kids! Jack Grunsky writing a song based upon a single line that every parent knows, 'Look what I made for you at school today!'
Repetition - the opportunity for children to repeat the lines in 'Je suis une pizza', the frequent repetitions in Alain le Lait's 'En voici' song, the chorus in Max Maxwell's song 'Oh le printemps' - these repeats give an entry point into a song - you can simply ask children to sing along with these to begin with and use the rest of the song for comprehension games, hold up a card when they hear 'x,y,z' etc.
Use of rhythm to drive learning - Juli Power's inclusion of that part of her song where children are asked to count to 16 in time to the music. Sensing the 'pulse' of a song and keeping in time with it are essential musical skills.
For the more examples of songs, visit Sylvia's Youtube channel
I came across this wonderful site last night http://www.stephyprod.com/ that is absolutely packed with free resources based around some well known and original compositions.
With the songs there is a really well executed flash video animation to illustrate it. There are coloured image stills of the songs to download, clear line drawings to colour in, opportunities for children to colour in online, free downloads of the lyrics, free downloads of the mp3, free download of the karaoke version, in short a LOT!
Stephy also has CDs of his own songs you can buy via the site. You can see an example here that has a free download of the lyrics plus sample extracts.
To give you and idea of what is available here are the lyrics of a song he wrote called 'La Rock de la Sorcière'
Here are just one of the pictures available to support it
You can download the free flash animation of the song here
All the downloads for this song and story can be accessed towards the bottom of the same page. Scroll down until you see this
Finally a powerpoint of the song has been created that you can download for use in the classroom. You will need to download the free mp3 of the song from the site yourself.
You can find other children's stories on the site that he has written as well.
Here's another really useful site for anyone looking for song ideas. Kay has referenced the songs by paricular phonemes prominent in the lyrics as well as by subject matter.
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