Use of music in the classroom has many benefits. Specifically, students are less self-conscious and often more engaged and excited to practice language skills when they involve singing. Research has shown that listening to and singing songs can have great cognitive and linguistic benefits to multilingual learners (MLs). Students can also practice language skills by analyzing, talking, and writing about music and lyrics. Each unit of Connect gives students a chance to experience and discuss songs and music-related concepts. Teachers introduce academic language that students can use to express their reactions to music. References Saricoban, A. & Metin, E. (October 2000). Songs, Verse and Games for Teaching Grammar. The Internet TESL Journal. http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Saricoban-Songs. html MUSIC Instructional routine • Explore and learn Preview the song with students, reading aloud the title. Ask students to predict what the song is about. Help students make connections between the song topic and the unit theme. Read with students the activities that follow the song and ask them to set a listening purpose. Then, have students listen to the song once through without looking at the words. Replay the song, modeling how to track the lyrics as they are sung. Ask students to share what they notice about the language (e.g. rhyme, repetition, familiar words and word parts). • Practice Play and have students sing the song line-by-line in an echo fashion once through. Then replay the song again, this time cueing students to sing along chorally. Discuss theme-related words and ask students to discuss how the song connects to the unit theme. Give students the opportunity to practice the song in pairs and then again as a whole group. Then, have students complete the activities. • Communicate Have students reflect in pairs, discussing what they learned from the song about the topic and about language. Have students list new terms from the song and ask them to generate 2-3 sentences using those new words. • Assess Monitor students’ fluency, pronunciation, and use of new terms throughout the musicrelated activities. Then use what you observe to inform planning of reteaching and reinforcement. Provide 1:1 or small group support as needed. Pay attention to students’ abilities to identify rhymes, pronounce terms accurately, and use new terms in the context of conversation. Txxxiii
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