Singing is an essential in a FLES class. I devote the first five minutes of every class to singing. Singing is fun and relaxing, and so lowers the "affective filter" to allow more new language to be acquired. However, finding "sophisticated," "non-baby" songs for third, fourth, and fifth graders that relate to the theme at hand and have lots of repetition, rhyming words, and substance ("meat") for lessons is a real challenge!
Over the years, I have found two outstanding sources for such songs:
1. CANTOS PARA JUGAR with tapes by Francisco Aquino from Spain
The following are the really popular ones for the various grades -- "Un kilómetro a pie" (4), "Tres viejecitas" (5), "En la casa de mi abuela" (3), "Vamos a la mar" (3), "Una sardina" (3), "Mi tío" (4), "De allacito" (4).
There are so many other great tunes that I will try for a change next year! This is a goldmine of great creative songs from with lots of suggestions on how to develop the songs, along with cute illustrations for physical movement. There is a tape that comes with each volume, and there are songsheets included in the 100+ page manual as well. Senor Aquino narrates a bit before each song. A child announces the number of each song before each song begins, too, which is good for listening practice. This is real treasure for FLES Spanish teachers.
2. ALL SONG COLLECTIONS by José Luis Orozco !!!
Click on link on the right to view all his albums and hear
sound files of songs, too.
Top student favorites include "Juanito" (Volume 3), "Al tambor" (Volume 3), "Las
hormiguitas" (Volume 4), "De San Francisco" (Volume 4). "La bamba" (Volume 5), "Las mañanitas, (Volume 5), "De colores" (Volume 5), "El jarabe" (Volume 5). "El Tepic" (Volume 5).
This Mexican-American gentleman from California has the touch! His smooth, appealing delivery and fresh accompaniments appeal to both children and teacher.
The children learn these songs by acting them out with props, costumes, other visual aids, and authentic musical instruments WITHOUT the printed lyrics at first. Then, after many weeks, once the lyrics are sung well, I present the lyrics in print. The song then becomes the basis for indirect grammar lessons and word substitutions. For fourth and fifth graders, I sometimes present the print lyrics as cloze exercises or "missing vowel" fill-ins.
I carefully choose my songs so that there are separate second, third, fourth, and fifth grade songs. But you would be surprised to see how delighted fifth graders are to sing old favorites. I use songs that appeal to ME first of all and that are "pegajosas" / catchy (easy to learn through lots of repetitive lyrics and rhyming words) and not too long. And, importantly, I try to find songs that are related to the theme we will be studying and find out the country of origin for each song, too, to reinforce map skills. I record each song on one side of a 10-minute tape which makes it easy to file and retreive when necessary on my tight schedule. These tapes are available in the catalogue of Crystal Springs Books:
For fifth grade, because we concentrate on México, I also use other traditional Mexican tunes like "La cucaracha," too. There are many variations of this particular song on the Internet!! I modify the lyrics or create as needed once the class learns the basic tune. We even act out a funeral processions for the poor cucaracha for the final verse.
At the end of the unit, the students make a small bilingual songbook to take home after each song has been "learned and experienced." Each line of the English lyrics appear directly next to the Spanish ones, satisfying one of the requirements of a second language acquisition theory called Suggestopedia. Children can already sing the song in the L2 and have a good idea of the main ideas and thrust. With the appearance of the English lyrics, they now have the satisfaction of knowing its "complete" meaning (especially students who are high achievers). The making of the songbook is a mini-project which the students individualize in various ways. Sometimes, a song is the basis for an assessment take-home for parents to check and observe.
I find that choosing music is a VERY PERSONAL THING. A song that I may "like" may not please another teacher. I find that it is necessary to get recommendations of CDs first from other teachers; then I borrow them from the library (or other teachers) to have a listen, or I find their website or Amazon.com and listen to snatches there, if possible. Above all I insist that the songs I play are performed in good spoken Spanish (native or near native speaker) as a model for the children.
I select lively songs with a strong beat with lots of repetition that are not too long as I like the children to role play the lyrics and learn it quickly so we can substitute other nouns and verbs in the lyrics and act them out, too. I teach simple dancing steps along with the song, too. Music is an essential part of my FLES teaching. I would be miserable without that perfect song to look forward to singing at the beginning of each class.
Have fun singing with your students!
