Hey friends!
The amount of diversity we will be encountering
during our careers as teachers will be outstanding. We will get the chance to
work with a plethora of young people who all have unique backgrounds and
cultures. This type of diversity also means that we will be working with
students who speak English as a second language (ESL). I find myself wondering
what are we doing as teachers to ensure that these students are actively
engaged and able to cultivate knowledge from lessons that are not in their
native tongue. I also asked myself how I can draw from their knowledge and
experience and incorporate it into daily lessons that will allow them to share
their culture with their peers and myself.
What I believe I will find with further research is
that teachers will supplement verbal communication with kinesthetic gestures
and visual cues. Kinesthetic strategies could be used to feel time signatures
(4/4 vs. 3/4), clap rhythms, demonstrate phrase shape, learn scale degrees
(solfeg), etc.
Visual images included into daily lessons should help with students
ability to connect musical notation and ideas to something visual. Visuals can
also be used to help with lyrics to songs and lessons about music from other
cultures.
These links do not all discuss ESL learners in the music classroom specifically but rather they address how music is used in an ESL classroom to help facilitate learning. These resources will help me identify strategies that I may use in my own teaching to help engage those students who do not speak English as their first language. The classroom is becoming more and more diverse in the variety of ethnic backgrounds it's students come from. This reason alone means that there is a constantly increasing need for teachers to have strategies for teaching to those students who may have the ability to learn via verbal communication.
Hey Allison,
ReplyDeleteI think that's great that you're looking for different ways to include ESL students in what will most likely be a mainly English-based Music curriculum when you begin teaching. If students who have ESL learning characteristics are in combined classes with only English speaking students that also opens up the opportunity for the ESL students to teach others about their own musical culture like you said, as well as the language they know best. I also really like your thought about including kinesthetic learning and visual cues to bridge that gap. Looking forward to seeing your future posts!
Brad
Hi Allison. It was refreshing meeting you in person yesterday. You raise some important issues related to language learners and music in the post. I do, however, think your more recent focus on folk music will be a much easier topic to explore but still very rich. I look forward to reading and hearing more soon.
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