Job Discussion Forums

[leeroy]

About three years ago I was standing in a staff room, far far away, furrowing my brow at something entitled a "Jazz Chant". It was nestled in an embarrassingly awful book (one that attempted to appeal to teenagers while seeming, somehow, both too childish and too grown-up at the same time.)

Noticing the little tape diagram in the top right hand corner of the page I cued it up, and had my first horrific taste of what a jazz chant was. A simple electric drum beat (like the kind you'd get from a $20 keyboard) droned all while 15 year old British boys repeatedly stated "I've got a paperound!" (dmm dmm tish!) "So do I!" (dmm dmm tish!) "I don't like cats" (dmm dmm tish!) "Neither do I"...

The collective raised eyebrows and mock horror shared by all those within earshot stated a simple message:

"It will be a cold day in hell before that s*** ever comes into my class."

And so it was, whenever "Jazz Chant" was encountered in any resource or course books, I tried to resist the urge to burn the offending page in question.

About 2 months ago I came across "Small Talk: More Jazz Chants" by someone whose name I've forgotten. The blurb on the back boasted "Professional Jazz Musicians" - this sounded a bit more like it. The music was good, though made surreal by the sound of several Americans chanting "I think it's gonna rain today"-"I hope so! I hope so!"-"Rain today, Rain today, I think it's gonna rain today!"-"I hope not I hope not"... over the top.

What the hell was the point in all this? There must be some kind of mysterious benefit to listening to (and repeating) this stuff.. So I asked my boss, a very knowledgable lady... I was told of the innate rhythms and stresses that characterise "sounding natural" for each language - that these are not the kind of thing that can be "studied" in the same way as grammar but result from something deeper and harder to reach. I'm sure many can relate to me when I say that some students may have a reasonable command of grammar, lexis and phonology but are still just a chore to listen to.

(Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, anyone!)

Jazz music works quite well as a medium with which to communicate and highlight the stress time of English language. While (say) Spanish has a quite distinctive "rat-a-tat-tat" rhythm to it, English has a slightly less predictable beat. Chinese and Korean, as far as I can ascertain, have little noticable rhythm to speak of at all (to my untrained ears they sound like huge unregulated batches of oscillating vowels).

I sold this story to my class (intermediate, 90% East Asian) and suggested giving it a go. As the double bass, symbols and piano kicked into gear, and the Americans started chanting, there were raised eyebrows all around (much like the ones three years ago). Reluctantly at first, the class started chanting along in a call-and-response kind of setup.

The sight of 18 Asians singing along with an American couple to "How do you like it?" - "It's really good, it's good it's good it's really good.." in time to some good (if dated) jazz was one to behold. "This", I thought, "is cool".

A few minutes later I asked my baffled students what they made of it all. "We like but strange. Not everyday. Maybe one time for week." And so it has been...

Whether or not Jazz Chants actually work is up for debate, and so here lies the question. Ever done Jazz Chants? What do you think? Will any real noticable improvement come as a result of the bizarre spectacle described above?

In the meantime I'll carry on with them for now...

[once again]

I did a session with some primary one kids...around 5 years old...who had very good basic English..they can still be heard in the playground on occasion chanting.."I want to sail on my big blue boat, my big blue boat, my big blue boat. I want to sail on my big blue boat..out on the deep blue sea." They loved it...and in my book anything that the students love has to be of some benefit to their English. (This is highly qualified..sleeping on the desk and looking out of the window are not included). I am convinced it helps develop rhythmic patterns and memory, and this is certainly beneficial. I haven't tried it on adults but I guess the benefits should be the same in theory. Along the same lines, I have found poetry and songs in general to be great learning/teaching methods.

[enigma]

Never used it, but it seems like a good idea. Natural use of stress is hard to teach, especially in Asia - those who have taught in China, at least, know that students have a tendency to repeat every word back in the exact same "tones" that you originally used when presenting the word for the first time, and not varying it according to the sentence in which it is used.

I, too, would be interested in using this method, if it works. Feedback, anyone??

[Mark-O]

I think this teaching methodology is hugely underrated and overlooked from my limited experience so far. My mentor has resorted to using it with P5/P6 kids on occasion, though the earlier years teachers at my school (where it might arguably be more effective) have neglected it.

Even from my own humble education, some things have stuck with me as a result of similar 'chants'. We learnt the familiar:

"30 days have September, April, June and November. All the rest have 31 except for February alone. Which has 28 days clear, and 29 each leap year"

in exactly this fashion. Evidently, I still remember it 20 years on! And use it regularly, I hasten to add!

As I intend to teach the primary years, this will be something that I am very keen to learn about , and like Enigma, I would also welcome some feedback on peoples' experiences with this pedagogy.

[biffinbridge]

Jazz chants do work but make you feel like a real tosspot.I don't think you could do them in the Middle East though.Some Muttawa would be offended by the musical content and corrupting influence of jazz.Anyone who has worked at certain petrol company in a small U.S. satellite state in the M.E. knows he would get eaten alive if he ever used a chant.As a teacher you'd have to do little ditties like-"Do you drink whiskey"?"Yes we do.Yes we do."OR "Do you want a break"? OR "Do you like ladyboys"?If you did this everyday for 5 hours for a thousand years they'd still ask,"Mr.Baul,you drinking whiskey?Whiskey same same wine teacher?"Thought I'd raise the issue of jazz chants and culture(yawn ,yawn).

[Boy Wonder]

Forget jazz chants in the Middle east......try Jazz mags .far more suitable for that part of the world..you'll get a lot more attention,language input and conversation out of your students!
And they'll never complain about you again!!

[JohnB]

I have been using Jazz Chants by Carolyn Graham for about 8 years in the US and Japan with various levels of students. The best book is Small Talk, but I also use Grammarchants. I use them to introduce new structures at the beginning of the class. It only takes 10 minutes to do one. I don't like all of them and never do the songs. You have to pick and choose among them to get one to fit the lesson. Now I am teaching false beginners and low intermediate students at a Japanese university and use them in all of my speaking classes. For lower level students they introduce and reinforce discreet grammar points or functions. For higher level students you focus on fluency, intonation, and speed. Emphasize that it is natural speed for native speakers. I only do one per class and I find them a good warm up activity.