Language Educators Exchange
The Language Educators' Exchange is a podcast for language enthusiasts and learners of all levels, hosted by Drs. Sarah Albrecht and Aniqa Shah. Every month, we dive into the fascinating world of language teaching and learning, offering expert insights and practical tips from language educators and researchers. Our episodes are packed with the latest techniques in language teaching and ideas for turning research into practice. We invite you to tune in on the 15th of every month to join us for engaging discussions that will enhance your teaching journey and inspire your passion for language education! For the upcoming year, we would love to hear from in-service teachers regarding research-based strategies they use in their language classrooms. Please reach out to us on our Language Educators' Exchange Podcast page on FaceBook if you are interested!
Language Educators Exchange
Strategies 10: Using Songs/MTVs as Multimodal Anchor Texts
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In this episode, Krishna Cart discusses how teachers can use songs and other multimodal texts to build comprehension, engagement, and critical thinking for language learners.
Resources:
1. Strategy in Steps
Step 1: Select a Song or Music Video Choose a song or MTV that fits within a poetry unit or comprehension-focused literacy lesson. Treat it the way you would treat a printed text, keeping the focus on meaning-making.
Step 2: Before Listening/Viewing — Build Background Knowledge Activate schema and prepare students for the text. This might include introducing key vocabulary, activating prior knowledge, or prompting thinking around the song's themes. Example questions for "I Just Can't Wait to Be King": What makes a good leader? Do leaders get to do what they want?
Step 3: During Listening/Viewing — Pause and Notice Use an interactive read-aloud approach — pause the song/video and direct students' attention not only to lyrics, but also to visuals, rhythm, movement, facial expressions, and cinematography. Use quick turn-and-talk prompts. Example questions: What do you notice about the character? How do other characters respond? Does this character seem responsible?
Step 4: Deepen into Multimodal Analysis Guide students to analyze specific cinematic and musical elements and discuss what they mean. Examples include:
- Analyzing color saturation and what it symbolizes (youth, excitement, naivety)
- Examining camera angles and how they construct a character's power or emotion
- Noticing how music tempo and tone shape the mood of a scene
Step 5: After Listening/Viewing — Connect to Standards and Lesson Goals Anchor the analysis to whatever the grade-level lesson requires — character motivation, theme, leadership, etc. The focus shifts based on grade level and learning objectives.
2. Padlet designed by Krishna with several ideas
