April 24, 2025
Thursday Edition
Empowering Dual Language Immersion educators with best practices, relevant research, classroom tips, and fun ideas that will inspire you into, through and beyond your teaching week.
Our Craft
Everyone loves music. Adults love music, children love music, and I even think my dog loves it when I play music while cooking. It seemed natural for me to incorporate music as a daily routine in my kindergarten classroom, where most students didn't speak the target language, Spanish. I initially chose songs to engage my students, but quickly learned that it was a fun and easy way to teach vocabulary. Each morning, we began the day singing this song, Hola, Hola ¿Cómo estás? and ended the day with this song, Adios. I taught my students how to greet each other and say goodbye through a song, not a directed lesson.
Teaching Language Through Music
Research tells us that learning language through music helps the language learner acquire vocabulary by immersing students in the language. Repetition of songs also results in language learners memorizing words, which can then be transferred or used in speech and help in developing listening skills.
Music and Culture
Teaching students songs that connect to the culture of the target language is a way to integrate sociocultural competence into our instructional day. Another favorite in my class was the Spanish nursery rhyme, Los pollitos dicen. We sang the song each morning, after the Hola song, using gestures for certain words. Once the students knew the song well, I used the song to develop oral language skills. We would sing a part of the song, and I would stop at key places and ask students questions that they answered chorally. For example, we sang Los pollitos dicen pio,pio, pio...I stopped and asked, Qué dicen Los pollitos? and the class would respond chorally pio, pio, pio...we would continue...Cuando tienen hambre, cuando tienen frio...I stopped and asked ¿Qué tienen los pollitos? The class responded chorally...tienen frio y hambre. Also, once the students knew the song well, I wrote the song on chart paper and hung it in the classroom for them to sing/read with a friend. Here's a Caribbean version of Los pollitos dicen.
Connection to the DLI Pillars
Learning language through music addresses all three DLI pillars, it develops bilingualism and biliteracy,
it can be used to develop vocabulary that can lead to improved comprehension skills, and it can connect to the culture of the language.
Music is Motivation
The most compelling reason to include music in your instructional day is to motivate students to use their new language. For our youngest learners, learning songs can be used to develop vocabulary; for our older students, learning songs can also develop vocabulary, but can also be used to analyze language, grammar elements.
Or simply sing because it's fun!
Sometimes, doing something fun with our kids is just what we all need! You're not going to turn it into a lesson. You're not going to assess it. You're simply going to spend a few minutes singing and dancing with your student because it's FUN!
Language Development through Music
Testing season is here! Music is fun for students and will give them a welcome reprieve from the stress of testing. Read more HERE on how music develops language or HERE on ways to use music in your classroom.
Here are some fun songs in Spanish:
For TK-1
Bartolito
Bartolito es un gallo que cuando canta hace los sonidos de otros animales
Quien esté feliz
Esta canción es una version de la canción If You're Happy and You Know It
For All:
Vivir la vida
La Bamba
Interactive Read Aloud
Interactive Read Alouds provide an opportunity for both
oral language and vocabulary development.
Celebrate the Earth & Spring
Yo soy Tierra Amazon
Lola planta un jardín Bookshop Amazon
Curiosidades sobre las plantas Amazon
Critical Consciousness in DLI
EdSource reports that Texas enrolls more Multilingual learners in their bilingual programs than California. Ensuring Multilingual learners have access to bilingual programs is an essential practice for Dual Language Immersion. California's Proposition 227, which targeted Multilingual learners, made it more difficult for Multilingual learners to enroll in bilingual programs. Many districts shut down their programs when the Proposition passed in 1998. Dual Language Immersion programs have steadily grown since Proposition 58 was passed, which overturned Proposition 227 and gave California public schools the green light to enroll all students without restrictions. California legislators recently introduced Assembly Bill AB 865, which would allocate funds for dual language programs. Click HERE to follow this bill's path through the legislative process. New York offers bilingual education grants for their public schools offering a bilingual education option, as does Texas with its Bilingual Education Allotment.
Upcoming Conferences
For registration information. Click HERE
Directory of Dual Language Programs in the U.S.
Dual Language Schools.org counts 4894 Dual Language programs across the United States. There are more programs than are listed. Check the link above to see if your school is on the list.
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