My students love listening to music, it is almost like their headphones are another appendage. If they had their way, they would leave their headphones in all day, and now with the influx of AirPods and the like, it is even easier to just slip them on. In response to my students’ love of music, I play a song everyday in class. My department had been doing this long before I arrived and now with YouTube it is even easier to find songs!
Asking Why? is an important question to ask about everything we do in our teaching practice. So the question: Why do we sing in Spanish class? is one I’ve personally contemplated and talked about with my students. The first answer my students usually give is: Because it is fun! Which is true, it is a fun way to begin class and transition into Spanish. However, there are also deeper reasons for singing. From a linguistic point of view, we sing because it helps with pronunciation and language acquisition. Our mouths are more relaxed when we sing, so it is easier to make language specific sounds. It helps train our bodies to reproduce those sounds in normal speech. I also intentionally select songs that reinforce specific vocabulary and grammar, so students can see them in a more authentic context. From a cultural point of view, it gives students exposure to a variety of music. It is important that they realize that Spanish-speaking music has just as much variety as English-speaking music. I often tell my students that they don’t have to love every song we sing, just like they don’t like every genre of music in English. I intentionally select a variety of songs with the intention of finding at least one song each student will like. So often in the US all Spanish or Latin language music is grouped together into one category, while in reality it is so much more diverse than that. To highlight that diversity, I love to use the Latin Music USA series from PBS. With songs like Despacio and artists like Camila Cabello, Spanish-speaking music is becoming more prevalent in US culture. My students frequently tell me about the songs from Spanish class they’ve downloaded or excitedly share how they heard one of our songs outside of class. Exposure to Spanish-speaking music grows their knowledge and exposure to the wide world around them.
I use the same song for 3-5 days, using my students’ interest as a gauge. The more they enjoy the song, the longer we sing it. I’ve found there are some songs that are favorites every year, like Jesse y Joy’s Chocolate, and others whose popularity fluctuates from year to year, like Selena’s El chico del apartamento 512. My department is careful to not repeat songs between levels so that students experience as much variety as possible. However, once a student reaches Spanish 5, they’ve sung multiple songs by the same artist so they know them by name and have their favorites. Each level has a specific song packet with all the songs for the year so they have the lyrics to all the songs. We sing a song for multiple days so that students become familiar with it and can improve their singing each day. Usually the first day students just follow along in their packets, but by the final day they can easily sing along. My expectation is that students always at least follow along, but I encourage them to sing even if it is just quietly to themselves so they can practice pronunciation. Depending on the song, I sometimes show the music video, assuming it is school appropriate. My first year teaching I learned the hard way to always preview music videos! Just because a song is clean doesn’t mean the video is!
Here is a YouTube playlist of songs I use in class. To find new songs I ask my students for recommendations or listen to music streaming sites that randomize the songs they play so I get new ideas. Like I said before, there are some songs that every class seems to love. Here are a couple of my students favorites:
La Bamba by Los Lobos: This is the first song I sing in Spanish 1, because lots of students have heard it before and it is an easier one to sing. I love to use the Chicano Wave episode from Latin Music USA to introduce La Bamba and its writer Ritchie Valens.
Chocolate by Jesse y Joy: I swear this song is magic! There is something about it that calms even the most rambunctious class. I love to play this song during work time and watch my students sing along without even realizing.
María Isabel by Los Payos: It is an old but a goodie and the kids love the video.
Sofía by Álvaro Soler: This is the most requested song by my Spanish 5 students. Honestly, they love every song by Álvaro Soler!
