Soy Yo

At this year's most recent middle school dance, I asked the DJ to play this song. When it came on, the kids screamed and started flailing around. (As much or even more so than for the previous Whip/Nae Nae, if I might say with a fair amount of pride.) Seeing the kids dance and sing along in Spanish was one of my high points as a middle school teacher. 

Here are some resources I have used with this song:

• Reading Activity (adapted from this article about Sarai, the girl in the video)
• Lyrics Training activity using Soy Yo (to sing karaoke or do a listening activity)
• Lyrics activity from Zachary Jones from his ebook, Cancionero 2015 - I use many of his activities (both free and purchased) and any of his ebooks have been well worth the money.
• Speaking of Zachary Jones, he has a great series of interviews called ¿Cómo eres? None with little Sarai yet, but one can hope. I used these as a somewhat independent listening activity and students liked them so much that I added it as an option to our monthly homework options.
• Another related song was Como soy by Manu Manzo, who does have a ¿Cómo eres? interview.

7th grade in particular has been a little obsessed with this song (I've caught kids singing it in the halls, and heard rumors that kids brought it up during some recent restorative circles in morning meetings.) I'm using some of that energy to kick off our 2nd trimester project about language & identity, connected with a skills unit on descriptions. More to come on that, hopefully.

Related resources bumping around in my files:

• Eres by Café Tacvba is another song I've used to introduce or review the conjugation of ser. Not quite as catchy as this one, but the kids still mention "that creepy black and white song.") 
• A few years ago (in my first dabblings in PBL) I had students find a song of their choice and use the lyrics to search for targeted grammatical structures. Here's my first attempt at that mini-project, which I may revisit.

Big Picture: Grammar & music

I'm still struggling to balance PBL and proficiency, especially when it comes to grammar & conjugation, but using music is one thing that has been consistent through my evolution as a teacher. Songs were what kept our heads above water during my early years of treading water in Detroit, as I gathered a collection of songs that drove my K-2 curriculum and used music (including the only alphabet song I can stomach) to engage some of my most challenging middle school classes. As I learn more about project based learning and how to let students learn by doing, music has been a great resource for experiencing verbs in their natural habitat. If a song is catchy enough the grammar structures will stick in students' heads, and if it is repetitive enough it can allow for some "DIY" grammar rules based on observations of repeated patterns in a song.

Finally, anything that makes students spontaneously yell things in Spanish I'll count as a success in the complicated, often-grumpy land of middle school language teaching.

Calaverita - La Santa Cecilia

It's that time of year again!

Chicano Park - Día de los Muertos, 2014

I have some absences coming up due to training, jury duty, and out of town weddings, and so I'm trying to come up with sub plans that are engaging. Luckily, it's Day of the Dead season, and there are lots of resources out there! Last year I shared some of the resources I've used, and a list that I've added to since then.

I just bought the Book of Life movie, which was released last year. I'll be leaving that with my sub plans. While researching resources for the film, I stumbled across a newly released song by La Santa Cecilia from nearby Los Angeles. I'm definitely going to use this to introduce the holiday and set the stage for when I'm gone.

I love so many things about this video. It includes many traditional Día de los Muertos symbols, as well as some not-so-subtle references to current events (did you catch Zombie Trump?) Most importantly, it conveys the spirit of the holiday and the underlying attitudes toward death.

It was Kara Jacobs who pointed me to this song and compiled several great resources. I will be using a revised version of the lyrics she posted, with questions that fit with my diverse student levels.

If you'd like a copy: Google doc here, or as a PDF here.

Paz y Libertad

Hello all! My posts have been a little sparse in the new year so far. I have been a little swamped with the end of the semester grades and report cards, but I'm introducing some things during the new semester and I'm hoping to share some of them!

In 3rd and 4th grade we have been beginning the class all year with a greeting song, but after a few months of that I think they are ready for something fresh and a little more involved. We are learning Paz y Libertad, by José-Luis Orozco.

This is from his album De Colores, which I love. I have both the book and the CD:

 

The book has the lyrics, music, and beautiful illustrations, but I wanted to make sure my students could understand the song they were singing. So I created a lyric sheets with some key words illustrated. (You can find the PDF here.)

I had my students see if they could read and understand the main ideas of the song, with the support of the pictures. We went through each verse individually, adding actions, and then sang the whole song together with music. It's simple and repetitive enough that the kids could sing along with the chorus almost immediately.

We also spoke about what peace and liberty mean, and real life examples of each (in a kid-sized context.) To wrap up the lesson I had kids illustrate one of the verses on the back of their paper. (Lots of people wanted to illustrate the last one.) I reminded them that they should illustrate what peace and liberty might look like in each of the situations mentioned in the song... so we didn't just produce pictures of bombs and kids fighting.

When we sing the song together, we'll use the lyrics sheets and illustrations as a listening activity - kids will listen for their verse and hold up their illustrations when we get to it.

Pie charts for all!

No más. Sí, mas.

For my kids, this was a successful (and meaningful) way to introduce a new song. I hope it can be useful to you, too!

 

Recordatorios Musicales: Music Cues

I've been trying to use music a lot more in my classes, especially with middle school. I've been structuring lessons, reviews, and assignments around music, as well as incorporating it into classroom management.

I was inspired by one of my coworkers, who is using music cues for math class. She uses popular theme music from television shows, played through this app. The app is nice because its designed for the classroom. (It doesn't automatically play the next song on a playlist, and you can set a specific time for the cue to begin.)

Here are the musical cues I've been using in my middle school classes, including links to the songs and the specific clips: Musical Cue Playlist. Most of these are from songs that students turned in as part of a project this past quarter, which helps with student buy-in.

• La Vida es un carnaval - Celia Cruz
•  Transition to groups. (20 seconds.)
•  Te extraño - Xtreme.
• End of class: Write down homework, get ready to be dismissed. (51 seconds.)
• La Tortura - Shakira.
• Get out homework, staple as needed, turn in to the correct folder. (1 minute, 22 seconds.)
• Pa' Bailar - Bajofondo y Julieta Venegas.
• Shut down computers and put away laptops according to our class procedure. (3 minutes, 36 seconds.)

Most of the lyrics are pretty carefully chosen, mostly because I think I'm hilarious. (Por supuesto, la tortura es la tarea... y no de excusas vivo yo.)

On that note, if anyone can rewrite La Totura to specifically be about lost homework, they will be my personal hero. (Fue una tortura.... perderte.) If I can get one of my students to take this on as a project, I will consider the year a success.

Technical tips:

I use Youtube and Dirpy to create clips from specific bits of the songs, but there are plenty of other similar tools out there, for all platforms. If you do use Dirpy, make sure you use the correct buttons. It is a free and ad-supported site, so it's easy to accidentally click ads.