{"id":8046,"date":"2024-03-15T11:13:06","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T11:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lailafamiliar.com\/?p=8046"},"modified":"2024-03-19T11:38:54","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T11:38:54","slug":"teaching-arabic-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lailafamiliar.com\/ar\/teaching-arabic-songs\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Arabic Songs"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of my favorite classroom practices is playing songs on Youtube while students arrive to class. It exposes learners to the target language from the moment they enter the classroom, it wakes them up, and it helps them decompress if coming from another (stressful) class or meeting. Videoclips can even break stereotypes.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been doing this for many years now, and I\u2019ve often seen it mentioned in my end-of-semester evaluations, which used to surprise me. Over the years, I\u2019ve came to discover that very few Arabic teachers use songs on a regular basis; especially contemporary artists.<\/p>\n

The presence or absence of songs in the Arabic classroom is directly related to teaching styles, curricular priorities, personal preferences, and the fact that most songs are in dialect. In any case, the use of songs shouldn\u2019t be limited to a warm-up or pre-class time, but rather constitute part of the Arabic curriculum, especially if exposure to contemporary culture is one of your goals.<\/p>\n

You might think this is an easy task, but it has its tricks. If you\u2019re planning to use songs intentionally and purposefully this semester, here are some factors to consider if you want to make successful choices:<\/p>\n

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  1. Take into account students\u2019 proficiency level (specially their vocabulary knowledge; you want students to connect easily with the lyrics)<\/li>\n
  2. Pick an artist with good diction (it helps students with their listening & later with pronunciation)<\/li>\n
  3. Select a song that has an adequate rhythm (if it\u2019s too fast, sing along becomes challenging)<\/li>\n
  4. Make time in class to rehearse line by line (students gain confidence & they improve their pronunciation)<\/li>\n
  5. What about the dialect? Given the huge amount of shared lexicon among all Arabic registers, it doesn\u2019t really matter. Just follow the previous suggestions.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Now.. you can be the one who decides which song to teach, but if you let students pick from a selection, their engagement will increase. (I\u2019ve had students in my class pull out their phones, record our singing, and post it on Snapchat. That\u2019s a peak moment!)<\/p>\n

    The following list includes some favorite songs that work well in the Arabic classroom. Keep in mind that you don\u2019t have to use the full length of the song for students to learn and enjoy.<\/p>\n

    KHALIJI<\/strong>\u00a0SONGS<\/strong><\/p>\n

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