Music as a teaching strategy

Citipointe International  ELICOS: to prepare international students for entry to Citipointe Secondary School

 Key interest: to find ways to accelerate English language acquisition

My story …  Personal experience …

Literature findings Music-based, multi-modal activities enhance learning ability and maximise language learning and retention.

Literature findings  Music enhances rote memorisation – especially Through music, by engaging a pleasurable enables the targeting ofinlearners vocabulary and with helps second language acquire     

meaningful target language and retentive elements of in experience, learners are relaxed andcan their inhibitions grammar, routines and patterns be modelled vocabularyand and grammar. rhythm. about acquiring a second language are lessened. context. Music, for most students, is an enjoyable experience. Music within a multi-modal approach is most effective Through while students are more relaxed, they canmusic, provide positive feelings/emotions which Through music, as students songs,more for e.g. combinations ofacquisition. words, music, arelearning: also more attentive than repeatedly usual, and sing therefore, enhance L2 (second language) their confidence level rises. illustrations, movement. receptive to learning. Music’s positive feelings/emotions lead to a pleasurable Through music, and songs in particular, students areof experience, a sense of community and an increase exposedL2 to confidence. ‘authentic’ examples of the second student language.

Available resources? Looking for resources that would model normal spoken English well.

 Many designed for younger children with less English

 Not really suitable for our teenagers

 Needed to create own resources more suited to our context

Opportunities for Teacher PD

Action Research  Outstanding PD  Time to plan, act, observe, reflect and change

 Improve current practice by planning, developing, trialling and evaluating strategies and resources

If I Had a Hammer

2nd Conditional

Non musical teacher

Speaking GOAL: to help improve speaking fluency

 Pronunciation, stress, linking and intonation  Focus on the MUSICALITY of English

Reading Comprehension Music based activities as a ‘doorway’ to develop Reading Comprehension skills. Student benefits:

 innovative approach Teacher benefits:

 upgraded understanding

 improved teaching and learning  learned how to create, administer and analyse assessment tools specifically designed for this program

READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS

Strategies/processes

LITERAL ANALYSIS B. READING FOR GIST . skimming . structures, text patterns . mental imagery/visualising . finding main idea/supporting ideas . determining importance (eg. Research)

Prediction Preparation: for text & vocabulary Continuous in text: Predicting, monitoring, verifying, revising predictions

C. READING FOR DETAIL . finding details . self monitoring . activating prior knowledge ) for deeper understanding . making connections ) . summarising/paraphrasing INFERENTIAL COMPREHENSION A. PREDICTION . predicting / verifying . activating prior knowledge ) for making better predictions . making connections ) . monitoring/revising predictions . textual genres D. MAKING INFERENCES . inferring? from word/sentence/etc . mood . character . recognising metaphor DEEPER CRITICAL ANALYSIS E. EVALUATION . personal eg. enjoyment . determining importance/summarising . drawing conclusions . synthesising . making generalisations . identifying author’s purpose . identifying bias/propaganda . author’s effectiveness

Activate prior knowledge at word, sentence & text level: topic, vocabulary, word knowledge, text type/features, author’s style etc. Making Connections develops as prior knowledge is activated Teacher&Self-questioning: Self-monitoring of comprehension & understanding – ongoing internal conversations for autonomous repair of meaning Visualising See, hear, feel, smell scene/character/event Asking and Answering Questions Self questioning – the heart of effective reading

Timeline with groups Term 1

Term 2

Term 3

Term 4

Research RC literature principles

Pre surveys

Post surveys

Investigate commercial kits

The Ride A & B comprehension test

The Ride C & D comprehension test

‘Normal’ RC test

Introduction of Music Doorways lessons

Development of Music Doorways lessons RC skills development progr. Newer group

Control (exiting) group Continuing group

Measurable student outcomes Reading Comprehension: Control, continuing & new groups 35.0 30.0 25.0 20.0 Av. results / 38 Continuing (ABCD) Control (AB) Newer (CD)

15.0

A 13.6 20.8

B 22.1 29.8

C 24.7

D 27.9

Continuing (ABCD) Control - exiting (AB) Newer (CD)

27.2

29.9

10.0 5.0

The Ride A and B (start Term 2) w/out dictionaries - with dictionaries

The Ride C and D (start Term 4) w/out dictionaries - with dictionaries

0.0

A

B

C

D

Test average results / 38

Chinese teachers Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) - Brisbane, Australia

Components of the Course TESOL Lectures: Lectures in teaching English to speakers of other languages

Mentor Program: Participants are assigned mentors from our teaching staff Classroom Observation: Participants observe local classes Outings: Weekly outings to places of cultural interest and scenic beauty

Homestay: Living with an Australian family gives daily opportunities to develop English conversational skills.

Exploring ways to accelerate English language acquisition Using music based, multi-modal activities

 to accelerate English language acquisition: grammar, speaking, reading comprehension

 to increase engagement alleviate stress in learning

and teachingenvironment

iBook innovation  On-going iBook project, for teachers’ classroom use and students’ self-study

 Includes teachers’ notes, annotations, links to web, imbedded ppt sync'd with song, IWB pages, student worksheet etc

 Creating iBook of key lessons or series of lessons  Apple Mac technology, iBooks Author

If I Had a Hammer