Get them chatting, get them chatting,
Get them raving, rhyming, ranting,
Get them prancing, get them dancing,
Get them talking!
-Patti Lozano

Have you decided to teach your children a second language? You have made a wise choice. Our country is well on its way to becoming bilingual, whether the second language is Spanish in the western and southern states or French in the states closer to Canada. The question is, do you want your children to enjoy learning the second language of your choice? And do you, as a parent, want to enjoy learning the language with them? Do it with music. By the time you finish this article, I hope you will be convinced that learning Spanish or French or any other language can be fun when you include the amazing ingredient music.

Think back: have you taught your children your favorite nursery rhymes, such as "Mary Had a Little Lamb" or "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep"? Do you still remember the tunes and did you sing the rhymes to your children? Can they remember the tunes and words as they grow older? Most of them do just as you did. That is the wonder of music. Once learned, it stays in our brains forever.

Now try this idea with a common Spanish expression, such as "Buenos días, ¿cómo estás?" Good morning, how are you? You pick your own tune, and sing it over and over - and watch it stick.

Patti Lozano and I experienced the marvel of music vividly in classroom settings. I served as Coordinator of Foreign Languages for an independent school district in Houston, Texas, while Patti was television teacher for elementary students who had no live Spanish instructor to teach them. Together we developed an elementary program that incorporated songs based on basic Spanish vocabulary taught in elementary grades. When the children were tested at the end of the school year, they remembered the songs, both melodies and lyrics best, and, with prompting, they recalled more of what they had learned.

This discovery led Patti to develop more songs to help children learn and retain Spanish. Ultimately this led to the formation of our publishing company, Dolo Publications, Inc., with emphasis on music in language instruction. All of her songbooks include a CD for immediate recall and practice.

We certainly were not the first to realize the importance of music in learning foreign languages or any other subject. Plenty of research has been done on the subject by educators and scientists. Georgi Lozanov was among the first to discover that music can cause the mind to become more relaxed and more receptive to learning. You may already be familiar with the brain research conducted by Eric Jensen, Howard Gardner, and others that has shown that all brains possess varying degrees of intelligences: verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, music/rhythmic, body/kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Howard Gardner also has stated that "of all forms of intelligence, the 'consciousness-Altering' effect music and rhythm on the brain is the greatest."

Perhaps the music/rhythmic intelligence is unique because it alone inherently and actively involves the other six identified intelligences. Patti Lozano, author of Get Them Talking (Dolo Publications), is a musician, teacher, and composer. She explains the power of music in nonscientific terms below:

· Verbal/linguistic: Words take on a special beauty when placed carefully and sparingly in a song. A few words go a long way in verse. Every phrase in a song has a strong purpose and meaning, leaving students much to think about and discuss.

· Logic/mathematical: Music brings pictures to our minds. We can leave the pictures and colors in our brains or we can transfer them to paper as we listen to the melodies.

· Body/kinesthetic: Music makes us clap, tap, stomp, snap, click. Music makes us move. Music makes us feel. Music makes us dance.

· Interpersonal: Singing is a group activity. We listen to our voices in relation to everyone else's, whether singing in unison or in harmony. Singing rounds is a particularly precise activity. We must listen closely to the other groups' rhythm, tempo, and pitch in order to execute ours. We perceive and react to everyone else's emotions triggered by music and singing: joy, sorrow, excitement, silliness, serenity -

· Intrapersonal: Yet, as much as we love singing in a group, we also love singing alone. Do you sing in the car? Do you sing in the shower? Do melodies and phrases run through your mind as you walk through the mall? Music is an intense personal activity as well as a community one.

Now that I have taxed your brain with semi-scientific explanations of "why" music is important in language learning, let's get to the practical "how"!p>

There are many ways music can be used in language instruction. I will concentrate on the two simplest ones that you can use immediately in your home or classroom: chanting and singing. Again, most of the ideas in this article originated in Patti Lozano's Get Them Talking.

Chanting
Whether or not you are working with your own child or a group of children, chanting will break the ice when you utter new sounds unfamiliar to the student. You can make it sound like a rap, accompany the sounds with hitting the table or clapping your hands, or develop a simple rhythm. For the example I gave previously, "Bue nos dí as, ¿có mo es tás?" (don't worry about the punctuation; they can learn that later), notice where the emphasis lies-on the italicized vowels. That's where you clap, hit the table, or whatever you decide to do. It might be fun for the kids to have a little drum to keep pace. A simple way to do it is to clap with the middle and pointing finger of the left hand on the palm of the right hand. It establishes the rhythm. Repeat each sentence at least five times to allow the words to sink in.

You don't need a tune for chanting, just your normal speaking voice. Patti also suggests, for variety's sake, to use an "emotional" chant. You pretend a certain feeling, such as happy, sad, angry-just use your imagination. You act it out and then your kids act it out.

Still another way to vary the chant is to change your voice level to high, low, medium. Use your arms as a guide. Lift your arm high to indicate a high voice, medium for regular speaking level, and low for a deep voice. If you switch around, the kids really have to keep up, and they love it. This works great with individual sentences or groups of sentences.

Chanting is a good way to approach singing, especially for children who are timid or think it isn't "cool" to sing. Little children have very few inhibitions, as you mothers and dads already know. Once the youngsters have learned the designated vocabulary by chanting, they'll be ready to sing.

Singing
When studying a foreign language, it is important for both the teacher and the student to feel relaxed about what they are doing. Too many adults gave up the study of language because they felt awkward and hated the grammar memorization and the endless workbook exercises. With music all of this changes. Even grammar can be a joy when it is done in rhythm. The secret is that you sing with a purpose. The song revolves around the vocabulary that has to be learned. If it can be acted out along with the singing, so much the better. Again, I want to quote Patti Lozano, who has worked out seven effective steps to successful singing with chanting. Some of these steps can be simplified if you are working with one child or a small group of very young children.

1. Distribute the song lyrics to the students. It is best if the lyrics have illustrations so the young child can understand what the song is about.

2. Read through the lyrics, concentrating on one verse at a time, and discuss any unfamiliar words or phrases.

3. Everyone gets a beat going by tapping one or two fingers in the palm of the other hand.

4. Chant the lyrics rhythmically, one verse at a time.

5. To gain fluidity with the lyrics, chant the lyrics in many different ways.

6. To gain further understanding of the lyrics' meaning, act out the verbs or the basic story line.

7. Finally, play the CD or audio-cassette for the group. Allow them to listen quietly or to sing along immediately. Their motivation level is high at this moment, and they certainly know the lyrics well enough by now! Now is the time for everyone to sing!

I have tried to give you a short review of the importance of music when learning, both with scientific and practical information. Have I convinced you of the importance of music for learning? Foreign languages are learned best when a child is young. Young minds are like a sponge and good pronunciation follows right along. Not only do they learn quickly but, with the added motivation of hearing the language in a song, seeing illustrations, and acting out what they hear, they retain the content. Think of all the fun your family can have together singing and learning a new language at the same time! Give it a try! You'll love it!

References
Gardner, Howard. Art, Mind and Brain: A Cognitive Approach to Creativity (New York: Basic Books, 1982).
Jensen, Eric. Joyful Fluency: Brain Compatible Second Language Acquisition (San Diego: The Brain Store, 1998).
Lozano, Patti. Get Them Talking! (Houston: Dolo Publications, 1999).
Lozanov, Georgi. Suggestology and Outlines of Suggestopedia (New York: Gordon and Breach, 1979).

Renate Donovan is the president of Dolo Publications, Inc., an educational publishing company that specializes in books and CDs that combine music and language teaching. Patti Lozano, her daughter, is the composer and author of the books. For more information, please contact Renate Donovan, Dolo Publications, 12800 Briar Forest Dr. #23, Houston, Texas 77077-2201; 1-800-830-1960; or see their website at www.dololanguages.com.