Why do we enjoy singing and dancing?
… because it creates an emotional response.
Did you manage to join Catherine Cantin and Joe Dale with their webinar on Singing and Dancing in the Primary MFL Classroom? If you were unable to make it, don’t worry. You can watch it on Joe Dale’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfbjg9wuzLM
In an early section of the webinar Catherine considers an article in the Association for Psychological Science by Dr Levitin called “Why does music move us?” (2011). This states that music stimulates the cerebellum, a region of the brain that is crucial for motor control. The cerebellum and the limbic system are also associated with emotions. So music, movement and emotion are all tied up together.
Catherine then goes on to show why singing and dancing are such a powerful tool in language learning. So, give yourself permission to have a musical lesson that everyone will enjoy.
If you would like to know more about Catherine’s book, please click the link below.
21 Fun Songs to Teach French Phonics
Each song has a lyrics page, which doubles up as a colouring sheet, a worksheet and two audio tracks: one with vocals and one instrumental. To make teaching the songs even easier, there are videos for each of the songs to get your pupils up on their feet, singing and dancing to the tunes. The wall chart and frieze make reinforcing phonic sounds on a regular basis easy. The teaching notes offer some additional ideas on how to exploit the songs and possible extension work in the classroom and beyond
Catherine is confident that you and your pupils will enjoy singing, dancing and moving to these catchy French songs. We hope that you will also see the benefits in their oral, writing, listening and reading skills and, above all, in their confidence and motivation to communicate in French.
Why not try some of the songs with your pupils?
Follow the link below to see the related video. Have fun singing along and joining in with the actions. Please let us know whether your children like it.