Category: music

Have you seen the latest issue of Teach Primary? If you have you might have noticed that I’ve been writing again.
This month I’ve provided a lesson plan and resources that link languages (in my case Spanish) with the music of Saint Saëns and specifically the Carnival of the Animals.

For those that have been in primary language teaching for a fair few years might recognise that this lesson is inspired by the QCA Scheme of Work which I used as my starting point before adding my own ideas and twists.

If you don’t have a subscription to the magazine, you can download the lesson and resources for free from Teachwire here
I’ve added the lesson plan below.

Last night was #DevonMFL Teachmeet. Despite being given warning, life took over and my contribution didn’t arrive in time for the night. However, rather than waste it, I decided to share it here!

So, here is my hastily – but not hastily enough – prepared short presentation on using games to learn Spanish in and out of the Primary classroom.

Teachmeet Devon 3.10.13 from lisibo on Vimeo.

I refer to various things in my presentation that may need further explanation – I’ve linked to some below but feel free to ask questions in the Comments if you need clarification.

Toenail game

La vaca Lola

More games etc can be found in this post/presentation called Games to learn and I also spoke at #ililc3 on using games and activities in the language classroom in a presentation entitled Let out for good behaviour!

What I didn’t say (I was trying to keep under 7 minutes!) was that Take Ten en español is brilliant for embedding language into the curriculum, and for supporting the non-specialist teacher! Check it out here! 

I’ve blogged about César previously and linked to his Soundcloud – previously Cesar a Chinchila and now renamed Lalalingo.

César emailed me recently to say that he was trying to ‘kickstart’ a new project with his songs that involves animating the songs and making a DVD, and I’m doing my bit to spread the word. If you click on the image below it takes you a video in which he explains the plans for the project. (Afraid I can’t get the iframe to embed here!)

You can also check out the blog for videos songs and worksheets, or Like their Facebook page. They also a Youtube channel singalingua Spanish and on Vimeo they are Lalalingo.

If you want to support financially, that’s great. However, you can support in other ways by sending a message, sharing the idea or using the resources. I’ve embedded one or two of the songs here to give you an idea of what Lalalingo looks like.

httpv://youtu.be/-t03JNus1vI

httpv://youtu.be/lEnuVL7shBY

I’m having a bit of a Storybird ‘splurge’ at the moment. It’s my chosen form of relaxation this week!

So here are two I’ve just written with the QCA Unit Yo soy músico in mind (see here for a previous post on this unit and here for a fun activity we did using Twitter!). Two becasue one is very simple with phrases using tocar plus an instrument e.g. Toco la flauta, whilst the second adds a frequency phrase to the sentence e.g. Toco el piano cada miércoles; Toco la guitarra a menudo etc. I guess i could write a third version adding even more detail…

Me gusta la música on Storybird

A veces toco un instrumento. on Storybird

httpv://youtu.be/z5UcV3BvbHQ

With a nod to Mr Steven Fawkes, language genius and the man who got HSM in Italian stuck in my head for weeks :oS

This clip combines two of my favourite things  – Spanish and iOS devices.

Made completely on iOS devices like iPhones, iPods and iPhones, here is NorthPoint Community Church wishing you a Merry Christmas.  Funky and fun!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcexJQM-8W0

And here’s more Christmas music from the same place if you enjoyed that.

Found this via the LiverpoolFC Twitter feed!

And given my love of Spain, music and, most of all, Nando, I just had to share it with you.

Thanks to the above tweet I’ve found this song that won’t stay out of my head.

A lovely summer feel good song.

Hope you enjoy it too!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyVa5DYl4yE&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgmu3PtJVNY&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca&border=1]

With all sorts of bugs doing the rounds at the moment, here’s another little gem that is
a)fun
b)free
c)useful and topical.

El Barrio Sésamo in Mexico has made this little video to encourage children to wash their hands and advises them to sing part of the song ‘Pin Pon’ to help them judge how long it should take.

So let’s see if the sinks will be ringing to the sound of children singing and washing…;o)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9EZ25NIjJA&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1]

On the day of his funeral, here’s Michael Jackson singing in Spanish. For a 2001 special edition of his “Bad” album, Jackson recorded “Todo mi amor eres tú,” a translated version of his hit “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.” He performed it as a duet with Siedah Garrett.

(Thanks to About.com for sharing this)