The Language Experiment

Using music as a daily language learning tool

• Season 1 • Episode 11

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#11 - Discover the harmonious world of language learning through music in this episode of The Language Experiment. We shine a light the multifaceted benefits that music offers, both in fostering language skills and creating family connections. Unveiling the correlation between musicality and foreign language acquisition, we reveal how melody and rhythm aid in memorization and pronunciation. From children's songs rich with engaging content to the unexpected confidence boost music provides, we delve into the emotional and cognitive advantages of incorporating music into daily routines.

Tune in to this enlightening episode to uncover the transformative potential of music as a companion in your language learning adventure.

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Kaisa:

Hey everyone. Welcome back to a brand new episode of The Language Experiment.

Camillo:

Hey everyone. This week we want to talk a bit more about how music can strengthen your child's language learning, as well as other aspects of life, and share with you how we use music in our daily life with the kids. As we have talked about before on the podcast, music is the ultimate language learning and teaching tool. But the cool thing about music is that it is not only good for language development, but it has plenty of other benefits as well.

Kaisa:

So what exactly is the connection between music and language learning? Well, it turns out that past research has provided evidence that individuals musicality levels expressed by singing instrument playing. And or perceptive musical abilities are significantly associated with their foreign language learning, particularly the acquisition of phonetic and phonological skills, meaning pronunciation, speech imitation, things like that on the neuro level. Both skills utilize a wide array of overlapping brain areas, which are also involved in cognition and memory. But let's bring it down to a more practical level. Song lyrics are made out of language and not any kind of language. In children's music, the language used is particularly interesting and age appropriate for the kids.

Camillo:

Exactly. Children's songs are often about animals, colours numbers, feelings, activities, or nature. Which just happen to be things that little kids are interested in and in the process of learning about songs can also be like stories. And that narrative nature makes them attractive to kids because they love listening to stories

Kaisa:

And what is something that many kids' songs have repetition. For example, think about the song Five Little Ducks. I think it's a good example because I feel like it's this well-known song that has been translated to multiple languages, so most people know it. I would assume. In that song, the same verse repeats over and over again until no ducks come back. And then there's a turning point in the story after which all the ducks come back. This song is a great example of combining a narrative, some repetition animals and numbers with an easy to remember. Melody,

Camillo:

melodies make it easy for kids or adults to memorize words and phrases, which is why learning songs in a foreign language can even give adults a head start in language learning as opposed to only studying grammar. Would you say that you can see more in Portuguese? Then you can speak in Portuguese, Kaisa. At least that's my case for finish.

Kaisa:

Yeah, I can definitely sing things in Portuguese that I would have a hard time producing otherwise. It's almost like when you sing in a foreign language, you're making sentences without thinking, which would be impossible to do when you're speaking. even when you're fluent in a language, you need to think quite a bit about how you want to say something. I guess you could try to do the same thing by learning a bunch of poems by heart and then reciting them. Which would be you producing a bunch of sentences without thinking, but I think the lack of a melody would make it harder to memorize a bunch of poems as opposed to songs. But I think there is something really special about learning songs in a foreign language. At least for me, learning songs means that while the lyrics to a song that I know might not be inserted directly into my active vocabulary in that language, I feel the song lyrics I've learned are somewhere just waiting for me to use them like they're sitting on a shelf somewhere. And when I'm looking for a way to say something in Portuguese, for example, they're already a part of my knowledge base and I can choose to use them where they fit. Because When you have heard something and you know what it means, and you've also said or sung that same thing, maybe even multiple times, then you basically know it. How was your experience learning French back in Brazil? Camillo, you used to listen to a lot of music as part of your studies, didn't you?

Camillo:

When I was learning French in, in Brazil, I didn't have that much time in my hands to, learn the language. If you're listening to this podcast for the first time, you might not know that when I decided to come to Canada, I didn't know French at all and I had a really short window to learn the language, to be able to go through an interview with an an immigration agent. And to be able to do that, I started to immerse myself in Brazil in French. That was really hard and music helped me a lot going through that journey. As I mentioned a few moments ago, music, melody, the repetition helped me to understand a lot of things within the French language that I was having difficulties to learn. Only going into the classroom. whenever I was trying to learn French I was listening to French music. I was trying to understand what they're saying on these, songs. Sometimes I was even singing the song or the chorus that I've heard a lot. But without even knowing what I was singing. And only after a few months, I started to make the connections between what I was learning in the classroom. With what I was already saying and repeating in the car, going and coming back from the French course. I absolutely love the fact that listening to music, repetition, even if you don't understand what you actually saying, singing, it just helps you to. Absorb that language in a easier way. Your ears get used to the intonations get used to the rhythm of the language. it helped me a lot.

Kaisa:

that's really interesting. all of this to say that music can have a huge impact on language development. Think about it. How much easier is it for you to memorize the lyrics to the songs of your favorite band as opposed to some grammar rule in a language you're learning? It's exactly the same for kids. Learning through music is the most fun way to learn, in my opinion.

Camillo:

I agree with the most fun way to learn. At least. I had a lot of fun learning French that way. Another benefit of music is that it helps your kid develop their growth and find motor skills. When kids or Brazilian people hear music, they can't help themselves from dancing and singing along. It is what it is when you listen to music with your kids. Come up with your own dance choreography or sing some action songs, meaning sing songs that allow you to do a series of movements associated with this song and its lyrics. It is a great way to be active with your kids because kids love to move. I'm not sure if you noticed that, and you can observe them getting better in their movements and develop strength and their motor skills over time.

Kaisa:

There are lots of Finnish kids songs that encourage kids to move or dance a certain way, and the movements or postures will build up over the duration of the song. There's also this color song where depending on what color you are wearing, you need to do different things. Like if you're wearing something red, it's your turn to jump to the melody of the song and things like that. These kind of songs are great because they combine listening to instructions, so what they're asking you to do in the song with movement and being silly. Our daughters love all kinds of music, but I would say they are especially fond of all kinds of action songs. Another benefit is actually relationship building. I think this is super important and not something that everyone thinks about, but for our family, for example, music is one of the few ways that we are able to bond with each other all at the same time. Of course there are many other ways such as physical touch or talking about how we feel about each other. But when you're a family of two adults, a five year old and a one and a half year old, it's a bit difficult to do it in a way that everyone feels included and understand what's going on.

Camillo:

There are many things that us adults and our five year old can talk about, but our baby might not be able to get on the same page with the rest of us. If on the other hand, we start singing a song together or start a random drumming session during dinner. Or singing an action song and start accelerating our actions. After every verse, we are immediately on the same page. No words are necessary. Engaging something musical normally results in all the four of us hysterically laughing together and we will actually be laughing at the same thing. This is something that will change over time as our kids get older, but for now, this is the best way for us to strengthen our relationship by being silly and laughing together.

Kaisa:

When we do this together, I always look at our younger daughter, our baby, to see how she's reacting, and I can see her looking at us one by one and imitating what we're doing and doing her hilarious shrieks of joy. I can imagine those moments solidifying her understanding of us being a group that's doing things together and responding to each other, and her being an integral part of that group. I think it's so sweet.

Camillo:

It is indeed two funny and so adorable related to relationship building. There is also the benefit of teamwork that comes with music. When you get into the habit of engaging with music as a family, you'll notice that doing something together often requires communication, coordination, and cooperation. Everyone has to sing or take part in the dance routine, and sometimes it, it is necessary to take turns when singing or drumming the dinner table. It's actually a great exercise for teaching kids that if you want to do something fun with a group, everyone needs to cooperate. This is also excellent preparation for later music education or musical hobbies. Bands, choirs and orchestras all demonstrate a high level of teamwork and cooperation. That's how they can achieve a shared goal, which is to make music. That sounds fantastic.

Kaisa:

I think it's such a good lesson that can be learned with music. It should be thought from birth all the way through university and beyond. Teamwork skills are so important because they force us to not only think about ourselves, but also others. It has been scientifically proven that humans are much happier when they're working together as opposed to working by themselves and competing against each other.

Camillo:

And another benefit of music is that it builds confidence and self-esteem. Engaging in music activities has been proven to make kids more confident as it allows them to express themselves in a safe and creative way and learn new skills.

Kaisa:

This is especially true for our older daughter. She's quite shy around people that she doesn't know, but when she's just with us, she sings and dances and does a lot of silly things. She comes up with her own songs and nursery rhymes, which is a great outlet for creativity. Also, we just went to see her daycare graduation a couple of months ago, and I was blown away by how our daughter was singing and dancing with her classmates for several hours in front of an audience of parents that she didn't know, and there was not a trace of her usual shyness. I almost couldn't believe it was her. This is why music and dancing are magical. In my opinion. They can give our kids this extra courage and confidence that we might not think they have. This is why music should be a part of everyone's upbringing and education because it supports kids, their self-esteem and overall wellbeing.

Camillo:

And since we're talking about benefits and benefits are never too much, another one. Is that it helps kids and us adults regulate our emotions. We all know how a sad or beautiful song can make us emotional or how an upbeat song can get us in the mood. By engaging with music. We can teach our kids the music is a tool that they can use to manage their emotions and something that they can reach out to. When they need

Kaisa:

comfort, music and singing can have a calming effect on children, which is often why we sing lullabies to them before we put them to bed. Music can also work as a good distraction and help kids focus their attention, or alternatively forget about their discomfort that they're experiencing in a certain moment. I often sing to our youngest daughter when changing her diaper. Which for some reason is something that she really hates these days, or when she doesn't want to take a bath or when she gets distracted while eating. It's not a silver bullet that works every time, but in general, I'm able to get my baby's attention quite well whenever I sing to her.

Camillo:

We also have one bonus benefit for you listeners. We sort of talked about it already in the beginning and in one of our previous episodes. Music is a great tool for your partner to learn your language and vice versa. Listen to music in your partner's language with your kids. You can also listen to known kids' music with your partner. Let them introduce you to good music from their home country, or go ahead and explore whatever genre you are into. But in their language,

Kaisa:

listening to Brazilian music has helped me a lot in learning the language. We listen to it quite a bit at home and when we're in a car driving, and sometimes I even listen to it on my own because there are lots of different Brazilian genres and musical movement that I enjoy. In the beginning, I barely understood anything, but then as I started learning the vocabulary bit by bit and always kept asking you what something meant, it became a lot easier. These days, I listen to songs looking for things that I don't know or understand yet, and when I find something, I might look it up or I might not, but I'll make a mental note of it and I'll wait for that verb or word to come up somewhere else, which will hopefully help me figure it out, or at least put it in the right context. So it's this meandering journey of discovery.

Camillo:

To me in Finnish is a little bit harder because, I don't have any background where I can relate to. But listening to the kids song and singing those songs with them taught me a lot and taught me a lot of vocabulary, especially when it comes to. The word of kids and everything that happens around them. I can these days sing a full song in Finnish where a Finnish person will understand everything that I'm singing. But I have no idea what I'm saying. some of the words, I do understand some of the music. Some of the songs, I will understand their context, but essentially I do not know I'm singing, but I'm singing correctly. And this helps me to work on my pronunciation, on my understanding of how the rhythm of the Finnish language goes and whenever words. Sentences, happen around the house because you Kaisa are talking to the girls. I can immediately pick up and say, oh, I've heard that before. I start getting familiar with Finnish like this. the more I listen to Finnish music, the more vocabulary I learn, and sometimes I don't even know what I've just learned.

Kaisa:

The more, the more you listen to it, the more connections you're able to make. Yeah. And I think when you keep doing that, soon you'll be on the next stage. So soon you'll be understanding what you're saying. Absolutely. Hopefully. Yeah. But it's, it's, it's a really different, it's a different way of learning a language. It's like you're coming from a different direction. So you're saying something but you don't know. What you're saying yet as opposed to not knowing what you're, sort of, what you're supposed to say, but not being able to say it.

Camillo:

Absolutely. And this is something that is really interesting these days, after five years of heavy finish in the house, because when we are taking the girls to daycare, for example, and we're listening to songs, I can immediately understand. Words that are being sang in songs that I have never listened before, and I know, oops, that one. I recognize that sentence. I recognize, or that expression is familiar to me. And then I put the song in context. I can also, like I do often ask you, what is this song about? Again, just to reassure that I did understand the context and oftentimes I'm correct.

Kaisa:

Yeah, that's a really good indication that this music approach is working and it's really helping us develop each other's languages. those were the benefits we wanted to talk about today, but we're not done yet. We have a couple of tips for how you can easily make music part of your everyday life and routine in case is not a part of it already. Before we did what we're about to talk to you about, I was having a hard time integrating music into everyday life. I am fairly musical. We actually are as a family, and I knew singing to the kids is really beneficial, but most of the time I was having a hard time coming up with songs to sing and I often couldn't remember the lyrics to the songs that I wanted to sing. So here's something that helped us.

Camillo:

We started by creating a shared Spotify playlist where we added songs both in Finnish and Portuguese. Before doing that, we did some research on kids' music from our home countries, listened to a bunch of kids' bands and chose many of them to be added to our playlist. We also added some old children's songs that we grew up with. Although we mostly focused on newer music or modern versions of those old songs. Now every time we encounter a new band that makes kids music in either one of our languages, we add their songs to our playlist. I think it currently has some hundreds of songs. If I'm not mistaken, we don't exclude French or English music. But we mainly keep it for music in our own languages.

Kaisa:

We play songs from that playlist every day. When we drive the girls to daycare and back, we play during dinner or when we're playing with the girls and they often want to listen to the songs from that playlist when they're taking a bath or a shower. We don't play music all the time because silence is also very important for the kids' ears and brains, and we try not to play music when they are really focused on something or right before they go to sleep. The playlist has helped us insert music and both of our languages into our routine in a fun way, and every new song is a new opportunity to start singing or dancing together or initiate that drumming session that everyone wants to take part in. This might not be applicable to everyone, but as we are a musical family, We might also grab a guitar or some other instrument and start playing along when our favorite song starts playing.

Camillo:

If you do not have a playlist like that, start putting one together right now. It is the easiest way to add music to your child's day and reap all the benefits that music has to offer to you and your child. Without you having to remember song lyrics or come up with new songs to sing to your child each day. Hope you've enjoyed this episode.

Kaisa:

Thanks so much for listening. See you on the next one.

Camillo:

Have a good one. Bye-bye.

Kaisa:

Bye

People on this episode

Contributor

Camillo Lakiss

Host
Contributor

Kaisa Martiskainen

Host