19 ideas for integrating songs into your WL Classroom

I was recently asked how I integrate songs into my Spanish classes. Here is the much longer version of my answer. 

I consider, first, teaching just the chorus or a portion of the song. It’s an authentic resource, which is fantastic, but typically over the head of most of my students without lots of backwards planning. So, choosing just a portion is fine. My 9th graders still sing the chorus to Estrella de Mar (starfish) that I taught them in first grade when they were studying the ocean.

Next, I choose 5-9 structures I want to teach or emphasize. I choose cultural items whenever possible.  

We learn the structures via a story, personalized questions, images, actions, etc. I have students DO something with this language before actually reading or singing the song. Sometimes I run the lyrics through a world cloud app and have students predict the meaning of the song. Other times I simply have students identify and circle the target structures on their written copy of the song. Either way, students know which words and cultural topics are important in each song.

Below is a list of activities I use when teaching songs. I do not do each of these with every song . My students and I prefer variety. One thing that never changes is the focus on NEW vocabulary and grammar structures present in the song. I also do not allow students to mosey to the baño during a song. I stress the importance of DOUBLE input (reading and listening) so going to the bathroom is strongly discouraged.

• Listen to the song and students raise their hand/elbow/finger or show jazz hands when they hear the target structure. If they have cards with the new vocab, they raise the actual word when they hear that word. I usually don’t have the video on for this part as it’s hard to read when you can watch famous singers dancing on the screen. I just want them to follow along at this point.
• Listen to the song and students sing or act out the target structures as they follow along.
• Listen to the song and draw vocabulary or culture from the song. Another day, using their drawings, they listen and point to where in the song a certain word or cultural concepts appears. 
• Students fill out a cloze activity sheet while listening. We have purchased many from Zach Jones. If I do create my own, I make multiple cloze versions so we can repeat the activity. I challenge students to make their own versions of a cloze sheet and share it with a friend.  Easy to share the Google Docs.
• Divide the song up into 4 or 5 lines and give each portion to a pair, a table, a group, etc.

                    Each group...    (pick one or let them choose)    

• Videos themselves on their phone or my iPad singing their part. 
• Writes the lyrics of their portion on (huge, tiny or colored) paper.
• Draws their portion of the song and sings it 4 times.
• Creates actions to their part to teach to the class.
• Reads and sings their portion 7 times.

                  Then, the class listens again and each group highlights their section above.

• The class makes two lines so that each student has a partner. Line A reads/sings one part of the song and then Line B sings another part. After a few lines, I have one person move down from Line A so each student has a new partner.
• The Voice or some competition between groups of students.  Whomever sings w/ more emotion wins. Prizes to the winners if you are keen on giving prizes. Today winners received ACTFL shopping bags for their amazing performance. 
• The class makes a huge circle. Each students reads or sings along while walking slowly in the circle. Seems to take the pressure off while kids have to focus on reading and walking at the same time.  
• Show the music video. I use a version with the lyrics on the screen if possible. Good for karaoke, too.
• Duets. Class is divided into teams of two. Each team stands-up or stands on a chair, sharing one microphone/pencil while singing the song.  Very dramatic is the key to this one.
• Two truths and one lie.  Student reads/sings lines from a song and asks class/partner if they are true or false and class/partner responds.
• If you have lots of props, have students sing to the props.  Or, the props can sing. This is fun once a year and is perfect for shy kids.
• Students create a music video for a portion of the song. They add images and text to the words to the song.  This forces them to listen over and over again to get it just right. Google presentations works well for this.
• While listening to a song with lots of culture, students search Google to find high quality images of the cultural context. They then draw something similar on their song sheet. I play the target song while they are searching.
• Students use the new vocabulary from the song to either write a new song or create an original story. This shows me they have (or have not) truly acquired the new structures.
• A new idea for me is to have students tweet or blog just a portion of the song that resonates with them. They use SoundCloud or Audioboo to record and then embed the recording into their blog. They are careful to credit the artist when publishing to their blog.
• Students buy songs in iTunes and/or make YouTube or Spotify playlists of our class songs so they can practice at home. I also have a list of our current songs w/ links on our class website.
• Remix. Once we have a pile of songs under our belt, I have kids remix them and create their own songs in small groups. They love it.
• One of my favorites, since I often use storytelling in my class to teach vocabulary and grammar, is to add lines from songs to our stories.  The more recycling of this compelling input the better.  For example, when Ben saw the girl, she yelled: “dime que no” (tell me it's not true),  “mientes” (you lie)  or  “las olas me hablan de tí”(the waves remind me of you).  It's super fun and we are using the language in context. I either have the music cued up and ready to go, have a student pull it up on her phone quickly or have the entire class sing the line.

Hope this gave you something new to add to your music tool belt.  Please add (via a comment) what you do with songs. I’ve found it easy to find songs but more challenging to create varied activities so that students acquire the language to use for future communication.

Drawings from Latinoamerica by Calle 13

Blood, Teeth and Selfies: Engaging Elementary Language Learners

Here is my presentation from ACTFL this year in San Antonio. Thanks to all of you that attended. It was awesome getting to meet you. 

Actfl 2014 Blood, Teeth and Selfies from Leslie Davison

Sharing our mini presentations with our amigos in Singapore

Quick video of our class trying the infamous durian fruit and sharing truths and lies about our friends in Singapore. We sent off the link last week. We hope they enjoyed it. 

Infographics: Hitting all modes of communication

by yolsclemente.

Infographics, like the one above, are a fantastic way to present information in a visually appealing fashion and provide (thanks to the images and organization) authentic material that is more accessible to our second or third language learners. In addition to our students consuming/interpreting meaning from these authentic sources (WL Standard 1.2), they provide us another tool for producing/presenting/creating in the target language (WL Standard 1.3).

Here are a few ideas for teachers and students where the use of an infographic could be of value. 

• The classic Who am I? Novice Level assignment
• Music, cultural or historical presentations
• Syllabus, exam or assignment make-over
• Why learn another language?--Advocacy campaign
• Book talks or novel reviews (themes, new vocab, characters, culture, etc.)
• Passion Project-students pick something of interest
• DP Themes: Health, Leisure, Technology,  Global Issues, and Cultural Diversity
• Visual of the class story

My students and I have had the best luck with both

.

I've heard great things about Visual.ly but have't been able to figure out (user error, I'm sure) how to personally create my own.

Infographics are not meant to be printed. Maybe that's not accurate but a reality in my school with no color printer and the drive to reduce paper consumption. And, they look just awesome on the screen. My student, Luisa, asked proudly if she could put hers on her blog so others could see it. That's a good sign.

I'm looking forward to experimenting with adding a QR Code that links to questions, audio, video, etc. This will provide the opportunity for interpersonal communication (WL Standard 1.1) with additional authentic listening.

Here is a site with lots of infographics for Spanish. Pinterest has some fabulous examples as well.

Lastly, encourage your students to use infographics and visual data in their other classes. Although it may appear that everyone is doing it (I'm talking to my COETAIL colleagues); they are not. 

Good luck.  I'd love to see some fun examples in your WL classrooms hitting all the modes of communication.

Colors of Chichicastenango as a writing prompt?

I used these ten images to inspire my students during an in-class writing assignment this morning.  Students wrote original stories using new vocabulary and cultural elements from Guatemala.

We have been reading the novel Esperanza and just finished viewing the classic El Norte movie. The novel is fantastic but has limited images and the Oscar-winning film, produced in 1985, certainly did not do justice in showing the amazing color, fabric and scenery of Guatemala.

Although we have interacted with images of Guatemala like the famous Chichicastenango market during this unit, I thought a visual writing prompt might inspire students to be more creative in writing their stories.

Most students found the images helpful in some way.

Here is their feedback (translated back to English).

The images on the screen...

Helped me think.

Helped me add details to my story.

Gave me inspiration.

Gave me a specific setting for my story.

Gave me some ideas as to  where to begin.

Reminded me of specific events in Guatemala.

Helped create an image in my head.

Maybe not at the Modification or Redefinition stage of the SAMR Model of technology integration but  the feedback above is compelling enough for me to keep adding  images in new and unique ways to help my student acquire Spanish,  feel more successful, stay engaged with content and become more passionate about different cultures.

How do you say UPGRADE in Spanish?

These were Ben's exact words when I had the class shift their eyes toward the screen as we began class yesterday. Embarrassingly  I had been using an old mini white board to write my class agenda/objective for the day.  My pens are half dried-up, the board is stained with permanent scratches and my handwriting is atrocious. As much as I try to pump my students up with awesome content (like a Pirate), I was killing them with my lame text-based introduction of the material.

No more.

This is the UPGRADE.

Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app

Course 3 has motivated me to look for new and intriguing uses of images and design in my lessons. Ben's reaction to a simple upgrade* in how I shared the agenda inspired me to have the next three days of lesson plans ready to go.  That's a miracle in itself.  I'm usually looking for a marker just before kids are coming into class to write-out the agenda. Besides a more effective design, the addition of culture (Guatemala in this case) and the personalization with actual pictures of my students, I'll have a digital record of each day to review at any point. I'm using Keynote (it's faster/easier for me) to create and share with my students but I can easily move these agendas to SlideShare or Haikudeck (like I did for this post) for online storage, sharing or viewing. What super simple ways are you adding the power of images to your classes?

*mejor versión, nivel superior o actualización 

Happiness with Images

Inspired by the The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and the 100 Happy Days challenge I just saw posted on Facebook, my students and I are going to use the power of images to document what makes us happy over the month of April. In Spanish, claro.

This assignment should be personal, relevant and fabulous practice for communicating about self while hitting WL Standard 1.3 in the process. We'll also learn about the importance of using creative commons images and giving attribution.

Design is tough for me but I have no doubt my students will create some amazing projects with a little guidance and a few Zen design principles. I'm looking forward to sharing their creations with their parents, their pen pals and you all. 

Huellas Digitales

Compfight by Reza Vaziri

Huellas Digitales-Digital Footprints

I'm struggling with the desire to help my students learn about building positive huellas digitales while at the same time facilitating a Spanish class and improving levels of proficiency. Much of the language associated with Digital Citizenship is difficult to access for the level of my students. However, communicating (in more than one language) in a global society is one of the major goals for students studying additional languages. So, the topics are truly a perfect match.

I just need to backwards design a few lessons that will make our conversations on Digital Citizenship and huellas digitales more meaningful while also improving their ability to communicate in Spanish.

The plan is to:

1. Generate a list of language associated with technology to start using in class.
2. Use this poster from Edmodo.
3. Have my class of Native Speakers remix/reuse this video (alone or with partners) using voice, text (In Spanish) and their creativity to produce videos in Spanish I can share with my students learning Spanish.

Common Sense Media: Digital Footprint Intro from Joaquin E. Jutt on Vimeo.

4. Lastly, when more confident with the lingo en Español, I plan to have these older students connect with elementary students in Madrid, sharing the importance of building their huellas digitales. 

Gadgets and Widgets are Hooks for WL Classes

I've been experimenting with how to make our student blogs more interactive, communicative and personal while at the same time increasing our proficiency levels in Spanish. I thought the use of gadgets and widgets might help. Widgets are little pieces of code that run small programs on your website.  As for blogs, they are often housed in the sidebars. Widgets can run on any website while gadgets (widgets by definition) are created just for their own sites.  For example, Google Gadgets are for their site like Blogger.

Given so many choices out there, many students first chose PacMan or Donkey Kong to add to their site.  Not downplaying the choice of a game and lack of español, I then encouraged maps of Buenos Aires, weather reports, calendarios, translator programs, horoscopes, Vokis, newspapers and sports reports-ALL IN SPANISH. It's amazing the variety of choices!  All students found something of interest. A favorite, keeping in mind we live in the mountains of Colorado, was the Open Snow widget with over twenty language choices including Spanish from Spain or Latin America.

Students interpreted (Standard 1.2 for the WL teachers out there) authentic language but most importantly, their blogs are becoming more of an expression of who they are rather than just place for them to post their assignments. The variety of widgets on each blog brought more interest to each other's blogs which increased communication between the students.  Language such as How did you do that? and What do I do now? was practiced quite a bit (Standard 1.1).

As I look forward to adding more interactive hooks to our blogs, I think a playlists of their favorite songs with the Spotify widget is our next move.  Next, a Soundcloud widget for oral language samples and our class stories and would be a fantastic way to share with parents and administration how well the students are learning.

Adding a widget is simple.  I just added two to the right on this blog. Many options are included in your blogging platform which makes it easy.

If you are looking for something more specific (target language widgets), find the widget, look for words GET EMBED CODE, choose the TEXT Widget or Gadget under Appearances in your blog and paste the EMBED CODE.  Voilà!

Kiva for WL Classrooms

I first used kiva.org as part of a 5th grade Exhibition years ago with just a small group of students. It then became my go to item for gifts such as birthdays and Mothers Day. It was more recently when I thought about using it to help students acquire Spanish, learn about other cultures, and solve an authentic problem.  My COETAIL Course Two reminded me of the power of connecting, leveraging the web, and then sharing the outcome.

So, this is the process by which my Spanish IV (DP I) class went about helping Edgar with his car, Brenda with her store and José with his farming equipment while acquiring Spanish in meaningful ways.

1. Each student chose a Spanish Speaking country to investigate.  Next they...
2. Researched two or three people to support.  Although in English, you can also VIEW ORIGINAL LANGUAGE DESCRIPTION which is just awesome.
3. Chose a person or group to support.
4. Created a two minute Elevator Speech as to why their person should be supported.
5. Delivered the speech with a few pictures of the country, the owner and the purpose of the loan.  They used the subjunctive mood such as "It's important that..."  "I want you to..."  and "I hope that you..." to make their case.
6. The class took notes (en español) as to whom they liked best knowing they would have to cast a vote the end of all the pitches.
7. Students voted at the end of class as to whom they would support.
8. We then divided the class up among the top four winners.
9. Each person in each group chipped in 2-4 dollars to add to the $25 loan amount.
10. Once money was collected, each group officially made a payment toward the project.
11. Each leader/winner also reported back to the class when the loan was paid back.

A Motor, a Wedding, and Crossing the Border

Evan made a motor. It was so cool even though it didn't work. Thomas saved money to send to his former surf instructor in Costa Rica to help pay for his upcoming wedding. Vivian taught us about different types of rice in Central America. Gerson took us through his journey from El Salvador to Colorado earlier this year.

Content for Spanish class this past month was not typical of most Spanish textbooks.

My students just finished up their 20% Time Projects. As reported in a previous post, this was my second round of projects.  Their results proved inspiring content and rich language for our class this past month.

Students chose passions and interests to investigate by which they were able to improve their Español, connect with others, and save the world.

• Supporting nutritional organizations in Central America
• Learning more about the Bible in Spanish and reading stories from it to younger children
• Teaching karate to Spanish Speaking students
• Playing video games in Spanish with kids around the world
• Learning about fashion and design in Madrid
• Skiing through Chile
• Learning about the Spanish Guitar learning to play a song in Spanish

Student feedback

Wanting to know what my students thought of the project and not wanting to break into English, I sent them in the hall with another student who recorded their feedback in English. Here are a few examples of what they thought of the project.

My Reflection

My students' oral proficiency in Spanish improved because I was able to provide relevant vocabulary I knew they were going to need prior to their presentations. They didn't email me back,  it surprised me that,  and I had wanted to do... but changed my mind were common language structures we practiced and practiced before kids presented.  There are even a few more structures I'll add to my list for next time like I could not find or I realized that... Students (me included) also learned specific vocabulary tied to their topic and their interest.  This year's group was more comfortable with sharing as we discussed and modeled delivery and design. The reading of slides was highly discouraged. I didn't allow notecards, although a few students did bring up cards which I allowed reading the anxiety on their face. The biggest challenge for them was connecting with others.  Most students picked someone they knew or friends of friends as their connection.  I was hoping for more global connections or more specific communications with people specific to their particular passion. I get it. The concept of reaching out to strangers is difficult and even more so in a second language.  Next time I'll spend more time on how and why to make global connections.  We'll practice. I'll also give more time for student-teacher 1:1 conferences so I can individually help students brainstorm connections with similar passions or interests.  This, however, is a challenge for me as class sizes seem to grow and grow but I think maybe offering online Google Hangout hours could be an option. Lastly, I'll put a time limit (with a friendly bell) on the sharing.  Maybe something similar to a Pecha Kucha  (or shorter) because with classes of 30, it takes a while.  Some of my students felt comfortable going on and on. They were so darn cute that I didn't have the heart to cut them off.

What successes have you had with similar type projects?

Amigos en Asia

Course One: Final Project-Amigos en Asia

[gallery ids="33,32"]

Background:

My students in DP Spanish I were reading a book that mentioned a student attending a school Singapore. Most of my kids asked, "¿Dónde está Singapore?". Normal response for kids living in the US... A few more questions came up.  So, we decided to send letters to kids in Singapore to have our questions answered.  This connects well with WL standards.  We started writing letters (typing) when we realized we should just share the letter/doc with the students in Singapore.  A much faster option and we could include pictures and links. My students are NEW to a GAFE environment so the logging in, share settings, and creating links took a bit to sort out.

Here is the doc we used to choose a buddy and post our letter.  Our sister class in Singapore did the same and added their letters to the doc in response to what my students had first written. We also need a short intro so a few students made a short video introducing our school and our class.

The minute we had officially shared all our letters students wanted to know when we would hear something from our new friends. They asked everyday if I had received the letters so they could read them.  The power of connecting with someone on something personal is so powerful. They were hooked.

Upon reading their new friends' letters they immediately judged the Spanish level of their friends and had lots of cool comments.

• Wow, my girl is smart. Her Spanish is amazing.
• Cool, we take the same classes.
• She saw Maroon Five!
• He likes to ski, too.
• I cannot believe how many languages he speaks.

We used butcher paper to share out a bit what we had learned from our friends.

Next steps:

My students want to continue to communicate with their friends in Asia. They originally said they wanted to Skype with their new friends but most were nervous about their Spanish ability and more were just nervous to meet someone new.  So, we are going answer their questions, react to what they wrote, ask more questions and share more about our lives.  We will do this by making a video. The video will give us a chance to alter the Spanish audio if needed.  We can add subtitles as well. Lastly, closer to the end of the school year, we will hold a few Hangout Sessions where students can jump in and meet their friends.  We are always open, however, to any idea our school in Singapore may have on the process.

Reflection:

So far I've been extremely happy with the project. My students have improved their Spanish, learned a bit about International Schools, and have started the process of making friends with kids 1/2 way around the world.  They have also learned a lot about GAFE. And, they have been completely engaged in the process. I was a bit frustrated at first because I came from school where many systems (blogs, GAFE, etc) were built in. I'm using a lot of tech with my kids that is brand new to them.  I'd love more collaboration throughout the building in terms of use of tech. I found myself using more English than normal when I am explaining some of the new technology.  Also, I was unsure about the editing process for their letters. I followed our DP rubric  (as far as a grade) but wanted them to have the best letter possible as their audience was much wider than just me. Some didn't seem to care.  I was the one worried. I think I felt as if my students were an extension of me and I wanted to do a good job. I have to learn how to let my students be themselves while still providing enough guidance/español for them to be successful. I did correct some of the grammar in their letters even after they had "tried" to fix their mistakes.  I don't think I would have been so worried if the audience had only been me.  After reading their buddies' responses, I heard quite a few comments from my students as to wanting to do a better job next time. Most importantly, the message was more important to both groups than a proper conjugated verb. I'm looking forward to continuing with this unit/project.

 UbD Template

Round Two: 20% Projects in the World Language Classroom

Two years ago I first experimented with 20% Time in my DP I Spanish class.  I had just read Angela Maiers' A Passion-Driven Classroom, we had just finished a KIVA Loan project, and being a long-time A Whole New Mind fan, I decided to give it a go. I was not clear with my expectations but I did give my students 4 guidelines. 

2011 Guidelines

1. Explore your passion.
2. Solve a problem.
3. Connect with another person.
4. Improve your Spanish.

Thankfully, my students hung in there and did the best they could with little guidance from me in terms of format and grading. It was quite messy but the results were amazing!  One day in December a student handed me a folder and said, "I'm turing in my Proyecto de Veinte Por Ciento". The look on the other students' faces was incredulous. Was it due they all asked? I quickly recovered from the shock myself and said something like, "it's due when you think it's due" and took her folder with a smile.  I wanted to model for my other students that this is the true essence of 20% time. Of course I never would have expected a student to turn something in without it being  DUE.  We made it through the year and many of the projects were outstanding. Some better than others and I'm sure some students would have preferred I had just told them what to do. We also struggled through failure which seemed to be a new concept for my students. 

A few of our favorites:

• Using a blog to make online cookbooks in Spanish and share with students across the school.
• Teaching local Spanish-speaking elementary students, in español, how to play Volleyball.
• Meeting, virtually, students from Honduras to prep for a Service Learning Project taking place in Honduras and then sharing her findings.
• Connecting with relatives and friends in Argentina to make special foods (alfajores) to sell for National Spanish Honour Society.
• Digging deeper into a topic studied in a TOK class and then sharing her thinking with the class.
• Asking the class to make Holiday cards (in Spanish) and donate a few bucks, then buying and wrapping gifts, and then helping deliver the cards/gifts to local Spanish-Speaking students with little financial resources.
• Researching the perfect place (Chile o España) to spend a GAP year after high school and then sharing the results with us. She chose Chile and actually went.

I'm back at it again, two years later.  I thought the learning was so powerful that I submitted to present at ACTFL this coming November.  My proposal was accepted and I'll now have two rounds of projects to share with other World Language Teachers. I started last week with my DP Spanish I class. Here are the first changes * in the process this round.

2013 Guidelines 

1. Explore a passion you are interested in LEARNING* more about.
2. Improve your Spanish.
3. Connect with other people.
4. Save the world in the process.*

Side note: Expect to fail a few times in the process.

I'm looking forward to sharing publicly how this round of 20% Time goes for me and my students. Please feel free to share any experience you have with giving your students 20% Time in your classes.