Music in a Spanish Classroom

 

So this quarter I did not have any field experience yet, because I started working with a new teacher and that starts tomorrow, but I will share a highlight of what happened to me last quarter during the observations. I was observing a Spanish classroom. What I liked about it was that the teacher used music to engage them in their learning. The teacher played music when they worked individually on a task as a way to make if a more relaxing atmosphere and also they knew that when the song or two would end, they would have to finish their task. He played songs in Spanish to incorporate cultural aspect to the class.

Moreover, what was the most interesting is that he had them memorize different chants to Spanish grammar to popular music beats. It was a way to take boring out of grammar study. They also learned songs for –AR verbs, which was fun. It was for Justin Timberlake’s Bring the Sexy Back, instead it was Bring the Conjugations Back. It is definitely be something I would use in my teaching. Youtube is a great resource for such things.

What made me think differently with that experience is that teaching grammar does not have to be boring, there are other approaches. I will definitely take away that lesson into my own teaching and use activities that stimulate the brain and the body. I mean with music, you memorize and remember things better and also it’s fun. It helps those kids that learn kinetically if you involve movement and by hearing.

A conflicting situation I experiences was that during one of the games we played, I did not address a situation where one student gave a card to another, which caused that person to win in that group. Of course it upset one person and I think if I listened better and addressed that right away instead of let it glide over, it would have been much better. Sometimes you don’t think about those things, but you gotta make sure you are fair, even when it requires more work.