Using Music in the Foreign Language Classroom
by Roberta Young

It seems that of all the multiple intelligences that teachers try to incorporate into their lessons, "musical" is the one they feel most uncomfortable with. Maybe too many of us have had the experience of being criticized by a music teacher during our school days. I have heard so many teachers tell me apologetically that they have no sense of rhythm or can't sing in tune. Sometimes I can coax them into showing me (and sometimes I can't help but agree) but many, many times they turn out to be very capable and I wonder how they came to form such a low opinion of their abilities. Anyway, I think students often benefit when teachers make the effort to use music in the classroom.

There are a few different ways that music can be used; I'll try to rank them from easiest to more challenging:

1) Mood Music
Play music to set a mood (and lower students' "affective filter"). For example, in a unit I'm planning on Buddhism in Japan, my first lesson will start with students walking around the classroom looking at photographs of Buddhist temples. While they look, a CD of Japanese bamboo flute music (which is sometimes used for Buddhist meditation) will be playing. I got this idea from a French teacher who plays a tape of Debussy (a French impressionist composer) to introduce a unit on French impressionist paintings.

2) Chants
Chants are harder than turning on a CD but at least you don’t have to sing in tune -- there is no melody. Chants just means setting whatever key points you choose to focus on (vocabulary, grammar, verb conjugations, etc.) to a rhythmic beat. It can also involve echo/response i.e. Whatever the "leader" (usually the teacher) says, the "chorus" (students) echoes back in unison. Here is an example that I use:

Part 1: Teacher Leads (T=teacher, S=students)
T: I eat.
T: Tabemasu.
T: I don't eat.
T: Tabemasen.

T: I drink.
T: Nomimasu.
T: I don't drink.
T: Nomimasen.
 S: I eat.
S: Tabemasu.
S: I don't eat.
S: Tabemasen.*

S: I drink.
S: Nomimasu.
S: I don't drink.
S: Nomimasen.*

Continue with a few more verbs.

Part 2: Students Provide the “Answer”
Using a new set of verbs, on the * lines, let the students lead by saying the "answer" first. The teacher echoes to confirm that the answer was correct and to keep the rhythm.

T: I speak.
T: Hanashimasu.
T: I don’t speak.
*S: Hanashimasen.
 S: I speak.
S: Hanashimasu.
S: I don’t speak.
T: Hanashimasen.

Part 3: Students Lead/Teacher Echoes (OR - Divide class into 2 groups, one leads the other echoes)
Using a list of verbs posted on the wall (that we've been building since the beginning of the unit), the teacher points and the students lead. This is like Part 1 with the roles reversed.

3) Songs
Use a song if it contains vocabulary, grammar or culture on a topic related to the theme of your unit or if you are planning to build a thematic unit on the song. It’s important to realize that just playing a song or even playing it until the students can sing it does not guarantee that any language learning will take place. The song must be made comprehensible. Examples:

A) Limit the focus when the song contains too much.
At New Year’s (Japan’s biggest holiday), I play a traditional song called “Oshougatsu” (New Year’s Day). The song is loaded with vocabulary related to traditional games that children play at this time. My goal is to have my students learn about these games but I don’t really need them to learn all the Japanese vocabulary. (It would take too much time.) The only vocabulary I really want them to learn is “oshougatsu” so that we can talk further about the holiday. If I just played the song, they would be very bored and inattentive since they don’t understand the words. So, I do a “focused listening activity.” I play the tape and have them make a tally mark on a piece of paper every time they hear the word “oshougatsu.” I also have one student do it at the blackboard. When the song is done, I ask them if they agree that the person at the blackboard did it correctly. Usually at least one person disagrees - which is good because then I play the song and tell them to try again with a different volunteer at the blackboard. After doing this two or three times, they know the word “oshougatsu” plus they are starting to enjoy the melody. So now, I have them look at the Japanese words and a translation and tell me, in English, some of the traditional games of the New Year season. I recommend this activity of focusing student attention narrowly on just one word if the song is very full with more vocabulary than they can understand but the song can be used to teach some vocabulary as well as something about the culture.

B) Simple Songs with Limited Vocabulary
Play a tape of a song like “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” to introduce vocabulary. (I know the song in French and Japanese. I’m not sure about Spanish.) Do the TPR that goes with it and make (i.e. strongly encourage) the students do it too. Try to sing along and get the students to sing too. This kind of song contains only 8 basic vocabulary words. It’s not necessary to translate the song into L1; the movements explain everything. (This song can be used as a springboard for a Health unit - “Doctor, my head hurts.” etc.) Some other simple, limited vocabulary songs focus on numbers, colors, time of day, months, seasons and the Japanese “alphabet.”

C) Songs with Repetitive Grammar
Use songs with repetitive grammar pattern to introduce the grammar. One song that I use is called “Asa Okitara” (In The Morning When I Get Up). It’s full of present tense verbs. (I brush my teeth, I eat my breakfast, etc.) Although it is a children’s song, my high school students do not seem to have a problem with it. Then, by varying words, they can create a lot of sentences to talk about their daily activities. Another song with a repetitive grammar patterns is a hand-clapping game called “Akachan Datta Toki” (When I Was a Baby). For these songs to work as teaching tools, the students have to learn what the individual words mean so they can use the grammar to create new sentences. Otherwise, they can sing it 100 times and still not know anything that relates to language learning. I often listen to tapes as I drive to work and make mental notes when I hear something I think I can use in the classroom.

D) Songs that Contain Already Familiar Vocabulary or Grammar
Choose a song that contains familiar vocabulary or grammar. Type out the lyrics but leave out the familiar words. Have students listen and try to fill in the missing words. You can give them a word box listing the possible choices. You can also tell them the context of the song before playing it so they have a better idea what they are listening for. After a few hearings, go over the answers. Then, ask them what the song is about. See if they figured out what any of the other words mean. Extend the song further to introduce new vocabulary or language patterns.
The J-Pop song “Sanpo Michi” by Judy and Mary has a grammar feature that I think would interest students who are beyond the complete beginner level.
First, have students listen to the song focussing on the number of times the phrase “sanpo michi” appears and on the particle that follows. The phrase occurs six times. Four times it is followed by “niwa;” two times it is followed by “dewa.” There is never a final verb. Question: What verbs could be used to complete the sentence? How does the particle help us to understand the implied mood and message?

4) Building a Thematic Unit
An entire thematic unit can be centered around a song. I’ve never done this in Japanese but in ESL we studied the ballad “Anathea” and filled out a story chart: characters, setting, plot, problem, solution, and mood. I’m thinking about doing the “Sukiyaki” song in Japanese class (Ue o Muite, Arukou). I think that was the first Japanese popular song to cross over to America. We could listen to the English version, learn the original Japanese version, compare and contrast the two versions and, in the process, learn a song. We could also talk about the song itself: the composer and recording artist as well as the time period/history of the song. For a culminating project, we could go to a karaoke bar and have a Sukiyaki song marathon.

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