Monday, February 11, 2013

Language Experience in Music for ESL, Workshop at Hawaii TESOL, Feb. 16, 2013



Summary:
Breathe new life into ESL classes by capitalizing on the power of music for self-expression and social communication. This workshop focuses on music as both content and process for developing classroom instruction and task-based projects. View sample lessons and locate resources for both low tech and high tech music-related activities. 

Full Abstract:
Music is a form of universal communication that offers an emotionally satisfying, intellectually stimulating, and culturally uplifting vehicle for learning English. As a content area, it affords an interdisciplinary opportunity for thematic approaches that are historical, anthropological, literary in viewpoint, or which apply the principles of musicology and musicianship to the language learning experience. Through the process of music creation, its appreciation and performance, teachers can get their students to work cooperatively, and communicate more meaningfully.

This workshop will show how an ESL language course can adopt music activities at any level of language proficiency for developing their students' English language skills. The innate enjoyment of music helps in learning to communicate through self-expression and through a variety of learning styles. While mainly practical in aim, the session will briefly explain the process of integration of content, learning strategies, and also developing intercultural competence via several sample music-based instructional tasks. Addressing instruction that supports language growth, and creative self-expression is a special consideration. 


Nowadays, music-related content and the tools to create, record and share musical performances are widely accessible through the use of computer technology, and mobile IT (iPod, iPhone, and iPad), as well as with human voices, our bodies and simple hand-made instruments. Resources for planning and adding further music-based activities will also be presented. This workshop can benefit any teacher, whether novice or experienced, in applying content-focused, task-based instruction more successfully, particularly those who have a strong interest in music of various genres.

Resources:

Making Instruments

Shakuhachi:   the Japanese bamboo flute

How to make a PVC (plastic pipe) shakuhachi
http://www.fides.dti.ne.jp/~sogawa/englishpagepvc.html
What does the shakuhachi sound like?   Listen to a beginner player.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjJ6DomgoA8
How to play the shakuhachi  (Japanese bamboo flute)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lupPlCAkao





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