Folk Music Therapy Case Studies VII
KUIS
2014
From “The Importance of Music and Song” Class, Slightly Edited and Introduction by Tim Murphey
This book belongs to___________________________
Folk Music Case Studies VII KUIS July 2014
Table of Contents 1. HANO SATORU 2. OKI YUKI 3. WATANABE KOTOMI 4. OHNO HARUNA 5. SHIMADA MASAKI 6. SHIMOGAWA CHIKAHO 7. SHIOZAKI MAIKO 8. KOBAYASHI FUMIYA 9. TAKEKAWA SHOGO 10. FUKUYAMA NOBUTO 11. HAGINO YUKI 12. HAYASAKA MEI 13. HIRATA AOI 14. IKEDA MAYA 15. IKKI AKINO 16. KURODA AKEMI 17. MAEDA RIE 18. MORI MISAKI 19. MORISAKU SATOMI 20. SAITO MIKI 21. SHIRATORI YUKA 22. SUZUKI SHIORI 23. TOMIZAWA DAICHI 24. TSUTSUI NAO 25. YABE MISATO 26. KOBAYASHI ITSUO 27. Pedagogical Suggestions 28. Today & Rounds 29. Stopping by the Woods (Frost) 30. Back Cover Cups Pics
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Page 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
Song Lyrics are in boxes on the following pages in (x): How do you write (4) Five Ways to Happiness (5), What do you like? (7), Smiling (9), How are you? (9), How do you succeed (10), What’s the weather like? (12), Who do you love? (13), How do you have a good life? (14), How do you eat well (17), What’s a happy person? (18), How do you change the world? (20), What do you like? (23), Are you young? (26), Today (30), Rounds (30), Robert Frost Poem (31) .
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One: HANO SATORU
Everybody Can Be Super Happy!! I taught the song “Super Happy Optimistic Joyful and Prodigious” to my mother. In the beginning, I thought it would be difficult to teach an English song to a person who does not speak English, so one reason I chose this song is because it is a simple but fascinating song. Another reason is that we need words that make us feel fine. We learned that music is medicine in TIOMAS. I think words also are medicine. I would like to teach “Super Happy Optimistic Joyful and Prodigious” to all of my family members and friends. At first, I taught the word “Super Happy…” and told about Tim’s class to my mother. She cannot speak English well. However she is not bad at reading English. Showing her the lyrics, I sang it. She tried to sing it too. In the beginning, she could not sing it perfect, but she was impressed and told me that she would say “Super Happy!” when somebody asked her “How are you?” She told me answering “Super Happy Optimistic Joyful and Prodigious” probably makes her feel good even when she is not fine. Words are medicine anyone has, so everyone can be Super Happy. We talked about the story that feelings, thinking and attitudes are more important than circumstances as the song “Happy Person” tells us. I spent about 30 minutes with her teaching it. A couple of days after that, I asked her “How are you?” She answered “Super Happy!” Though she remembered the melody, she could not sing “Optimistic Joyful and Prodigious” I wish I asked that sooner after teaching it. Saying these words fast is difficult for my mother just as I thought. However, she finally answered “Super Happy Optimistic Joyful and Prodigious” perfectly after several-‐days practicing. I was so glad. I asked her “How are you?” three times in a day. She tried hard. Asking her “How are you?” even when she just came home from work looking tired, she answered “Super Happy Optimistic Joyful and Prodigious!” Practice and making effort make us perfect and Super Happy. I also taught little bit about it to my older brother because he has troubles finding a good job and quitting smoking these days, so he sometimes looked depressed. Teaching it to him was so challenging but I decided to try. Showing the lyrics, I taught the song and the meaning of it, he was listening to me. Though he is little bit shy and he didn’t look interested and sing it he did not sing aloud, just as I had thought. I believe that he felt something and can be Super Happy any time he wants to be. Next time, I will tell it to my friends. I want to share “Super Happy Optimistic Joyful and Prodigious” more and more!! Everyone can be Super Happy!!
Folk Music Case Studies VII KUIS July 2014
Two: OKI YUKI
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First Experience to Teach a Song I chose my junior Ayaka as learner because she belongs to the Chinese department of KUIS, and she likes singing. She often goes to Karaoke with her friends. But she is studying Chinese, so she sings only Chinese or Japanese songs. That’s why I chose her. I mean I wanted to give her a chance to like English songs. I taught her the song “How do you write?” Why I chose this song is this song is really easy and short to learn. This is first time to learn an English song for her. If the song is too difficult, she might not get interested in singing English songs. So this is a first step for her. Therefore I thought the song should be easy and rhythmical. I first taught Ayaka on July 10. I gave her a lesson for 15 min before the class began. Firstly, I sang the song while showing her the lyrics. She was like, “Oh I like this song, write write write……” She could get the rhythm and the melody after listening to it only once. Then, that night, I sent the lyrics to her on LINE. Next day we met up again at the same time as the day before. She could sing the first two lines. But she stopped singing at the most difficult part, “I make it up as I go along.” She tried to sing this part again and again. But she couldn’t make it. So I proposed she separates this line into 3 pieces like “I make it/ up as I/ go along.” This helped her, especially the “APAZAI” part. When I went back home and called her, she could sing fluently through the phone. And 3 days later, she sent the voice message to me on LINE. It was really getting better than before. She said the song was always stuck in her head when she was working, studying and taking a shower! This is an effect of music. After that she tried to sing “Let it go” in English. She really likes the movie “Frozen”. She already knew the lyrics in the Japanese version. So she was able to learn it faster. If she knows the rhythm and the melody, it’s easy for her to learn. I have taught dance to several groups of kids. Teaching a song is similar!
How do you write? [tune …Row Row Row your boat]
Write write write it down, set your feelings free I make it upasi go along, my pen is writing me.
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Three: WATANABE KOTOMI
Music is a Magical Way to Happiness I taught Five Ways to Happiness to my best friend Nozomi. We have been friends for 14 years. There are two reasons why I chose that song and her for this teaching activity. One is she is not good at English. I wanted to see how her attitude toward English might change throughout my teaching. The other reason is this song includes gestures that might help my friend remember the song and enjoy this activity. First, we met on June 11 at 15 pm in the park. I explained to her what I have been doing in Eiso class, and with affirmations in particular. I sang 5 ways to happiness in front of her. I could see that she looked at me with interest but also a little bit of embarrassment. I suggested her to sing along together, and she sang the song uncertainly for a couple of times. After that, we reviewed gestures at a slow speed. It could help her to make sense of what the song means. She didn't know all the words in the song but she could put words and gestures together to understand the song. Also, moving her body was effective to release her embarrassment and gave her confidence. She recorded the song that we sang together on her phone to practice by herself. A day after teaching, I called her on my phone to see how she was doing with the song. She said “I can't sing the song completely by myself so I want to sing together”. We sang the song four times and after that, she sang it without my help. She seemed to have difficulty to come up with some difficult words such as dare and look up, so we sang "look up at the sky, dare to show your love" parts three times. Two days later, we ate lunch together and she performed for me her singing of the song by herself. I was surprised that she could sing the song fluently, and I could see joy and confidence in her. She said “I am getting to like English through remembering the song and using gestures. They worked so well to understand and enjoy the song. This experience was interesting and delightful!” To conclude, I found that music gives people positive energy. Every note and word in songs are like magic dust that enables people to have confidence and find new selves. I'm so glad at her progress that I want to sing the Five Ways to Happiness right now! What are the 5 ways to happiness? (Tune 12 Day of Xmas.) When you want to be happy, there’s # (1-5) things you can do 幸せになりたい時は・・・ 1.Smile from ear to ear 思いっきり笑おう 2. Breathe in deep 深呼吸して 3. Look up at the sky 空を見て 4. Sing a melody 歌を歌って 5. Dare to show your love 愛をしめそう
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Four: OHNO HARUNA
Super Happy Singing Together
I chose to teach an affirmation song to my younger sister. She is 19 years old and she will be 20 next month. She is a sophomore in Dokkyo University, and her major is English. She is also studying Chinese as her second language. The reason why I chose my younger sister for my case study is because she can understand English, therefore it was easy for me to explain about this project and teach a song in English. I taught her the song “How are you?” I chose this song, because this song is the shortest song in the song list. My younger sister is also university student, and she has her own homework and projects to do. I did not want her to memorize a long song. Recently, my younger sister and I saw the movie called “Mary Poppins”. The “How are you?” song’s melody is from this movie. I thought it would be familiar to her, and easy to memorize the melody and lyrics. That is why I chose this song. From now on, I will call my younger sister Natsuki. I first taught Natsuki on (June 13 at 2pm) for about 15 minutes. We were sitting in the living room, and I asked her to help my case study. First, I explained about my case study project, and I talked about how we are learning in this class. She seemed interested in my class, and then I started to teach the song. First, I sang the song two times and she wrote down what I sang on a paper, like we usually do in class. After that, we sang together a few times to memorize the melody and lyrics. She asked me the meaning of “prodigious” and we looked in the dictionary together to check the meaning of the word. I thought it is better for her to just answer the question. I thought searching answers by ourselves makes us remember the meaning of word better. We decided to practice the song two times in the next week and I decided to ask “How are you?” when we ate breakfast together in the morning. As we decided practice times, we practiced two times (June 16 at 4pm and June 20, 8pm) during the week after first teaching her. At first, She seemed to have difficulty to sing “prodigious” and she sometimes forgot the order of words “optimistic joyful and prodigious”. I asked her how she felt about learning this song. At first, it seemed to be difficult for her to memorize the lyrics, because she had never done this kind of activity. However, it was easier than she had expected, because the lyrics and melody was really catchy. She said it helped her a lot to memorize the song. In conclusion, through this experience, I thought using a catchy melody and gestures are the best and fun way to memorize things. I want to use this way to memorize other things, for example vocabulary for a test. My advice to others who wish to teach an affirmation song is to do the activity together. It is fun to sing and play with more people, and I think it helps them to memorize things more easily.
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Five: SHIMADA MASAKI
Music is Singing Me! I chose my friends who I have known for 3 years. They are Kanda students. Their names are Kazu and Yuki. I taught them the song “Write write write it down” because this song has a famous melody and easy words. More over, this song is my favorite song. Therefore I thought that it is easy for them to remember the song and I might well be able to enjoy this project. I first taught Yuki and Kazu on Monday June 9 at 13 pm for 20 minutes. We were sitting at KUIS cafe. They were interested in this project and accepted my request readily. They repeated after me and we sang together 8 times. Actually, Yuki took lessons from Tim last year and learned this song so she could sing it easily. However she forgot some words of this song. We read lyrics of it slowly and she could recall it. On the other hand, Kazu struggled to sing it. It was very difficult for him to get into the rhythm of UPSAI. So we repeated this part, time after time. He also had a trouble with the lyrics. I showed the lyrics to them and read them slowly. Finally, they could sing them alone. I told them I would skype them two times in the next 48 hours and ask them the question for the song. I gave a paper of the lyrics to them. I Skyped both of them at 8pm on the same day and at 3pm on the following day. I met them 2 days later as well. They were making progress and they seemed to really enjoy it. I saw them 1 week later and asked the question and they could sing “Write write write it down”. I asked them how they felt learning the song with me. Yuki said, “It was a good opportunity to brush up on the song and I will use the way to learn with singing”. Kazu said, “I really enjoyed this project. I often hum this song unconsciously and it remains strong in my head”. For me, this project was very interesting because I could know that the appropriate approach to teaching is different with each person. It was difficult to teach two people who have different levels of knowledge about the song at the same time. However, they helped each other so it was sometimes very helpful for me and we could really enjoy it. If this project were just teaching lyrics without melody, it would not be interesting, like this project. So music brings us happiness and curiosity. It was a good opportunity to know the difficulty of teaching and the effect of music for people’s minds. What do you like? (Tune: Oh Susannah) I like your shirt I like your pants I like your shoes and socks I like the way you do your hair You look just like a bear
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Six: SHIMOGAWA CHIKAHO
Songs Bring Happiness for My Family! I choose three people in my family; my father, mother and older brother. My father is a policeman and has never used English. My mother graduated from a Department of English literature. My brother graduated from KUIS. I chose the “5 ways to happiness” for my mother. This song’s melody is popular and frequently heard at Christmas. Actually, I tried to teach other songs; “Why do you smile” and “Who do you love” which are simple but she had never heard these melodies. So I think the well known 5way’s melody helped her remember. Moreover, I wanted her to enjoy this song and learn how to be happy. First, I checked that she remembered this song’s melody perfectly. After that, I taught the lyrics and gestures. This song was a little long, but the gestures helped her a lot. After 30 minutes, she could remember almost all. At that time her face looked so happy. After 4 days, I asked her “What are the 5 ways to happiness”, and she tried to remember it, but she remembered only the melody. So, I sang the song and did gestures with her. She always started singing the final phrase, so I recommended singing all of the song because repeating is good for memorizing. Finally, she remembered perfectly. She said she had never sung a song in English, so she enjoyed it. I chose “ Today” for my father because he knows this song. He told me this song was used in a movie. He knew only the melody, so I tried to teach the lyrics. Actually, I could not remember the lyrics, so we sang together. First, I checked some vocabulary that I could not understand, and I translated and explained this situation. Next, I checked the vocabulary that he did not know and I connected it to Japanese for it. He remembered it soon, and sang it. I was really surprised he needed only 20 min. Recently, he really enjoys singing it. My brother not only graduate from the English Department in KUIS, but he also took Tim’s song class, too! First, I asked all the questions on the back of my action log, but he could not answer a few. After that, we sang “Are you young” and he changed the rhythm in the middle and got confused. So we repeated this song and I taught it to him again for 20 min, and gave him the lyrics. After few days, I asked the questions for four songs we had practiced and he could answer perfectly. And moreover, he could juggle while singing “How do you have a good life”. I was really surprised because I can’t do it yet. He said, he went to Tim’s office and practice sometimes. This song was a nice memory when he was student. It made him remember what he thinks and feels. Now, he is 24 years old. He is still young. He sympathized with these lyrics and remembers them fondly. My whole family really enjoyed singing songs, and I enjoyed it too. I hope they can use the songs to live more positive lives.
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Seven: SHIOZAKI MAIKO
Family Brings Me Happiness! First, I chose my older sister. I taught her the song “How are you?” I choose this song because she is not good at speaking English. I think this song is the easiest song and it is full of useful words. I first taught her on June 10 at 9 pm for about 10 minutes. We were in our room and she refused to learn at first but I taught her the melody and she tried to learn. We sang together about 5 times. She often forgot the word “joyful”. Finally she sang it alone. Almost every evening, I asked her “How are you?” She had confidence and enjoyed answering. For me, it was difficult because my sister does not speak English. And she is always busy with her work. I hope she will be super happy to sing it. Second, I chose my mother. I taught her the song “Why do you smile?” I choose this song because it is a proverb. I first taught her on June 10 at 9 pm for about 10 minutes. We were in the living room. I told her the meanings of the lyrics, she seemed to be interested. We sang together about 10 times. I asked her “Why do you smile?” at least once a day. She can sing it now in Japanese and in English. For me, it was interesting because she likes to sing. It is useful and good for us to remember the proverb in English. Third, I chose my boyfriend who I have known for 3 years. I taught him the song “How do you write?” because he likes to study and take notes. What is more, he is good at English. I first taught him on June 12 for about 30 minutes. We were sitting in building 7’s cafeteria and he seemed to want to learn. We sang together about 5 times but he could not pronounce “ APASAI” so we practiced many times. Next time, we met on June 14 and I asked him “How do you write?” at least once an hour. Sometimes he misunderstood the pronunciation “APASAI”. For not only me but also him, it was interesting because he became skilled at it. Sometimes he asked me the question happily on the contrary. He enjoyed singing it. I felt that teaching to someone is difficult, in particular, the person who is not good at English. And yet, I learned how to teach and help others memorize a song. I think not only I, but also my sister, my mother, and my boyfriend enjoyed it. Why do you Smile? Warau kado niwa fuku kitaru Smiling brings you happiness, let it show the way
How are you?
Super happy so delightful joyful and amazing (Mary Poppins tune of … Super happy optimistic joyful and prodigious, or supercalifragilisticexpialidocious) Truly awesome so tenacious lovingly vivacious [Teach 5 strategies: Chunk/Backf/rhythm/song/Hru?] Sugoi kanpeki subarashii sekkyokuteki genki ごい かんぺき すばらしい せっきょくてき げんき
Folk Music Case Studies VII KUIS July 2014
Eight: KOBAYASHI FUMIYA
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My Teaching Life Begins with a Smile!! For this Student Teaching Project, I choose the person who I have known for 7 year. He is not a KUIS student, so I wondered if a person who can’t speak English can learn to sing an English song. I choose the song “Why do you smile?” I think this is an easy song, so it’s good to start from this song. Firstly, I briefly told him what I would teach (DATE June 10 at 1 pm). Then, I sang “smiling bring you happiness, let it show the way”. Actually, he couldn’t remember it from hearing only once, maybe he was not interested in singing an English song, so I gave him the lyrics. At the night, I called him, then I sang the song, after that, my friend sang it. After that day, I met him, and asked the question “Why do you smile?”. He could sing the melody, but couldn’t sing lyrics. At that night, I called him and asked the question, he could sing with lyrics. Then, He wanted to know another song, so I taught “how are you” (DATE June 17 at 1 pm). I gave him the lyrics first, then I sang, “super happy optimistic joyful and prodigious”. He loved it more than the first one, because he already knew the melody as a Disney song. That night, I called and asked him “Why do you smile?” and “How are you?”. He could answer them immediately. I was surprised by that because he couldn’t sing the first time I called, however he could sing the new song easily. I guess, he got knowledge of how to learn English or he just likes this song. I found this teaching interesting and difficult. I was interested in how he changed. I could see the changing of his singing and attitude. At first he was not interested in singing an English song, but after he could sing “why do you smile”, he wanted to learn another song. This changing was really an interesting point. If he keeps studying English songs, he could sing all the songs I know. On the other hand, I felt it was difficult to teach because he has little knowledge of English, and it is only for entrance exams. So I had to teach the English for each song. Secondly, he is not a KUIS student, so we don’t have enough time to meet in person. We only spent a little time calling before sleeping. However, finally he could sing 2 songs. I learned from this point that it is not actually necessary to meet, calling is good way to study and make time together. How do you succeed? (Tune: Santa Claus is Coming 2 town) A) Do it again x 8(doitagain) Make many mistakes and do it again. B) Yariba dekiru Naseba Naru x2 Nana korobi ya oki!
Folk Music Case Studies VII KUIS July 2014
Nine: TAKEKAWA SHOGO
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A Good Life on the Phone! The reason why I chose Natsumi is she is learning English in another university. I have known her for 9 years. I guessed she might be interested in this activity. I taught ‘How do you have a good life?’ The reason why I chose ‘How do you have a good life’ is this is my favorite song and it is simple. I first taught on June 21st in my car. First, I taught her about what this activity is and what purpose is. She seemed to be interested and curious about what I do in class and how classes at Kanda are conducted. I sang the song only one time. She laughed because the song is very short. I guess she had thought she would have to memorize a long English song by some artist because I had just told her she had to memorize a song. She said to me ‘Nanisore? while she laughed. And she forgot the song completely. Then I sang it again. She asked me to explain the words I was singing. So I picked up my Action Log and showed them to her. Then she could understand very easily. Then she asked me to sing part of the melody and I sang the song again. Then she started to sing with me. That was the 1st day. It took around 10 minutes. The next day I called her and asked ‘how do you have a good life?’ she could answer with the lyrics but couldn’t remember the melody. I guess because she is learning English, she had translated a song English to Japanese the first day. I guess she memorized the Japanese version and translated from Japanese to English when I asked. That’s why she had only memorized the lyrics. Then I sang to her the melody again. And she remembered it. In third day I called her and asked. She couldn’t remember the melody again. So I started to sing ‘Make new…’ she suddenly got the melody and could sing completely. And I said ‘Yokudekimashita’ This experience is embarrassing a little for me because I have to sing to someone and sing repeatedly because I‘m asked a melody many times. If I were going to do it again I would teach to a person who doesn’t learn English. If so I guess the person will focus on remembering the melody. If I teach the same person I would chose a longer song. Because ‘How do you have a good life’ was too short for good learners like her. And in the future, I would use some recording device to help students memorize the melody soon.
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Ten: FUKUYAMA NOBUTO
Being Super Happy by Singing Face to Face I chose my friend Ryohei Noda who I have known for 5 years. We went to the same school when we were high school students. I think we have a very good relationship because we sometimes talk about serious topics. He gives me good advise and makes me positive. Moreover, we both major in English now, so I thought he could easily understand the meaning of the song that I would teach. I taught him the song “The 5 ways to Happiness.” I choose it because it has gestures in each line. Therefore, it is a memorable song for us. I first taught Ryohei on June 14th. This song doesn’t have difficult words or sentences, so he understood about the meaning only once. However, the melody is a little bit difficult for him, so I taught him many times. He liked the line “dare to show your love” because we throw a kiss to someone as gesture. He liked that gesture and it became his favorite gesture. We could meet at the university because we have lunch together whenever we both go to school. Because of it, we don’t need to call and can sing face to face. I don’t remember how many times we sang this song, but he remembers this song even now and sometimes whispers it though he doesn’t do gestures. He truly came to like this song and he said he wanted to be taught other songs. Therefore, I taught him the song that is easy to remember and use in casual conversation, that is “How are you?” This has, of course, the melody, but we use it in conversation. I think it is a good way to greet someone because they who are said so would laugh and ask us what it is. We can make friends by only this greeting. It is also a favorite phrase for Ryohei now. When we meet, we use it as a greeting. For me, this experience was interesting because I realized that music is the good method to have fun and be happy and it also makes us feel more connected. It means I can make friends by using these songs. Especially, “Super happy …” is my favorite song. I always use it as a greeting. It makes others laugh and they tend to learn to use it by our next meeting. The words with music are so memorable and we can gain new words from songs. It is a great way to learn English. And our English skill gets better and better when we sing face to face. What’s the weather like? [Witchdoctor tune, teach with gestures] It’s raining cats and dogs and its (ANITS) cold outside My sunshine is deep inside
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Eleven: HAGINO YUKI
Taking Advantage of My Failure Or Vavaciously! Do it Again! At first, I thought it would be easy to teach a song to children, if it is an easy one, but it was more difficult than I thought. Children are not mature enough to understand most songs, even with easy words. So this time I chose my girl friend who is also learning English in another university like me. I also thought she might know the melody from Disney and she could understand the meaning of the words as well. The song is "super happy optimistic joyful and prodigious", but the melody is famous, so this time, it was much easier to teach the song to her. First, I talked to her about what I did in the elementary school. I failed to teach a song to them because the song had some difficult words to understand and I didn't try to sing much. The difficult words are "optimistic" and "prodigious". Then she said to me "Indeed, they are difficult even for me. I can't understand those words." Then I explained the meaning of the words and she figured them out. After that, she asked what song did I teach to the children, so I asked her if she knew the song "super califragilistic expialidocious" from Disney. As I thought, she knew it. Second, I sang the song with her, the Disney one. After that, I explained that my class sings the song with other lyrics "super happy optimistic joyful and prodigious". Then I sang it again, but she asked me some times "say that again" so I suggested to her to write it down. After she wrote it, we sang the song together. Then she said it was much easier to memorize it than the real song. We sang it many times while we were meeting. Finally, this time, the target was my girl friend, so I didn't have to hesitate to sing the song even though it was embarrassing a bit. Also, the melody of this song is from Disney and she knows it, so it was much more fun to sing it with her. I realized that having fun is really important when I sing the song and teach something. When I try to teach it to the children, I didn't have fun because I thought it could be difficult to teach the song to them. I learned having a vivacious feeling when I teach helps. So I will try to be more vivacious when I teach the song to children in the future. Who do you love? I’ll love you forever; I’ll like you for always As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be
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Twelve: HAYASAKA MEI
Music Can Change Our Life Or Don’t Just Listen and Watch! Sing It! And Do It! I taught the song to my grandmother. She is not interested in English and, of course, English songs. Also, she does not have many hobbies, so she has enough free time. I decided to teach her, because I would like to tell her the fun of learning English with music. Moreover, I hope she can get energy back through the activity. I chose the song “What’s the weather like?” This song does not use difficult words. Moreover, there are many gestures in this song. I learned from the class that gestures are really helpful for remembering songs. That is why I chose this song. I started to teach my grandmother the song on June 9. She lives in Miyagi, so I used the picture phone to teach the song. First, she was not able to sing the song in English. I told her that it is easy to remember if you have a little break between the phrases. She tried to sing each phrases with gesture. Then she was able to sing the song smoothly. I felt that chunks are really important and helpful to memorize something. While practicing, I noticed the power of the gestures. Sometimes, my grandmother forgot words in the song, but she still remembered the gestures. I was really surprised, because she tried to guess the words and phrases from gestures. I learned that using body language like gestures is really helpful for remembering, and it has the power to improve our memory skills. My grandmother was able to sing the song perfectly in two weeks. The song has the power to change our feelings. Singing the song is more effective than just listening to the song. She has begun to sing the song a lot in her life. I think that my grandmother became more cheerful than before this activity. I will keep singing the song with my grandmother. I hope she will get great encouragements from the power of music.
How do you have a good life? (sung in rounds) Make new friends and keep the old ! One is silver, and the other’s gold !
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Thirteen: HIRATA AOI
Music Is A Teacher The person I chose is my younger sister named Yukino. She is fifteen years old and studies in high school. I know that she does not listen to music in English and also never sings. But that is why I dared to choose my sister to do this project since I wanted her to know how to learn English with fun. Firstly, for this case study, I used the song “How are you?” This melody is famous for a Disney movie “Mary Poppins”, and my sister of course knows it. I started to teach words and meanings before telling her about the melody because I guessed she would forget them after a while. In addition, I would like her to learn English not only a melody. After teaching them, we sang with the melody together. To memorize it, I asked her to sing it 4 times at once. Owing to these steps, she seemed to get the meaning of the song and feel easy to sing it. Then, I tried to teach one more song to her, it is a song “What's the weather like?” Totally this song is NOT familiar to my sister. She has never heard it and not the idiom “cats and dogs”. On the other hand, each word is really simple, and Japanese people sometimes use these words as Japanese English. Moreover, this song has gestures to express lyrics so I thought it was going to be a good material for my sister to learn English. Actually, she could complete to sing it soon. As the first step, I taught her the gestures like Tim did for us in the class. Only moving her body, she understood what the song told about. Next, I told her the lyrics and explained the idiom why these words expressed a lot of raining. During my talking, she seemed to be impressed a lot, and she told me that it was great to memorize it. Also, sometimes I asked her “How are you?” and she sang back correctly. We did practice for around 40 minutes for this whole project. After a few days, I suddenly asked the two questions to her. She answered both of them, even if it was a bit slow. She said the song’s melody, gestures and my explanation of the words helped her remember a lot. Also, she is proud that she got some new vocabulary that her classmates do not know. In conclusion, I think music is an essential material for studying a foreign language, and it definitely brings fun and happy times because my sister and I were always smiling when we sang. What I learned from this case study is there are two important keys to teach songs. First, we need to make songs more interestingly such as choosing well-known melody or telling exact meanings of words in the lyrics. Secondly, do gestures with lyrics. I remember that I also learned songs using gestures when I was in 1st grade in elementary school, and I can still sing them with my body even now. Through this case study, I shared what I learned in this class: Songs stimulate us greatly and can help us to learn.
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Fourteen: IKEDA MAYA
A Singing English Teacher The person I chose to teach is one of my friends who I have known for 2 years, Syo. I taught him “write write write it down”. I have many reasons why I chose it as a case study. First, I love the lyrics of this song and it is always repeating in my head. Syo also likes it and it repeats in his head many times now. Secondly, he is two-years older than me; I want to teach a song to him that is a little difficult. The middle of this song, “I make it up as I go along...” is a little bit difficult to say smoothly. Finally, he works at a high school as a Japanese teacher and also works as a writer. He really likes to write novels. This song is suitable for him. For these reasons, I chose this song and tried to teach him. I first taught on June 1st at 11pm for about 15 minutes. We were talking on the phone and he seemed to be very interested in learning the song in English. First, he repeated after me with joy and we sang together for five times. Then, I said “Try singing that song alone!” But he always stopped at “…up as I …” He said, “It is very difficult to pronounce, I would like to have you teach me the tricks to say it more fluently.” I explained a lot and taught the trick “UPASI”. He then practiced alone. I told him I would call later to sing with him. He asked me to send him the lyrics of the song and the question. In addition I also taught him, “Tie it to an everyday routine is the best way to remember.” He seemed to understand and then I was sure that he wrote the lyrics down and sang again because I know he is diligent. I called him four times in the following days, June 10-15, at 11pm. Each call, he seemed to improve his pronunciation and really enjoyed learning. I was very happy because he was learning without being bored. On June 12, we met at the restaurant and I immediately asked the question, “How do you write?” After explaining, he understood and he said “I was surprised you asked immediately!! I will prepare to answer that question whenever you ask.” 11pm that day I asked the question again and he answered but had trouble with UPASI, however; compared with the first day I taught, he gradually improved. On June 15 at 11pm, I asked him “How do you feel learning the song with me and how do you feel now that you were singing it for two weeks in succession.” He said, “Since I was a JHS student, I did not learn an English song. I felt as if I was JHS student for two weeks and I still feel this song is suitable for me because I work as a writer. Thank you for choosing that song and me as a study.” I was very surprised that it was going beyond my imagination. For me, this experience was good for me because I want to be an English teacher. Thanks to my friend, Syo, I could teach with confidence and always felt enjoyable as an English teacher. My advice to others is to teach friendly and have a fun conversation.
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Fifteen: IKKI AKINO
An Interesting & Difficult Teaching Experience I contacted to my friend Yu-ki who I have known for 2 years. We met on June 18th. When I tried to teach English songs to my family, they refused my suggestion. So I decided to teach someone who lives in Chiba. My family lives in Shizuoka. It was very difficult to see and teach them now. At first, I explained about this task and affirmation song to Yu-ki in English. And also I explained the Japanese meaning of this song to her. She accepted my offer pleasantly. We were in the same Commercial English class last year. She is an IC major at KUIS and a very good English learner of course. I sang for her “Smiling brings you happiness let it show the way” several times. She made a few mistakes but finally she could sing “Smiling brings you happiness let it show the way”. Two days later, I met her again in Lapaz. I asked, “Why do you smile?” again. First, she looked as if she forgot the answer. So I gave her some hints like “Smiling...”, at last she remembered and said “I forgot the first words but I remember the melody.” Then we met a few days later at the Asian dining room. I asked, “Why do you smile?” again. She answered “Smiling brings you happiness let it show the way” at once. I said, “That's wonderful!” to her. She replied to me, “That song’s melody was memorable for me. So I could remember it easily. And this phrase is good for us.” I said “Yes, when we have a problem or get angry for something, this phrase may calm down our mind.” She said “Yeah, exactly. I will remember when I get angry with something in the future.” My friend Yu-ki learned this song instead of my family members. She has a big interest in learning English and she likes to learn many things. So I think she could do this activity. I hope she remembers this song when she has some problem in the future. I think it is important for her and other learners to stay positive.
How do you eat well? [a little bit of = alidabida] Take a little bit of this / Take a little bit of that (x2) Diversify and balance your life!
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Sixteen: KURODA AKEMI
Fun Easy and Lovely! I decided to teach songs to my local friend, Eri. She and I went to the same junior high school, and now we have the same part-time job, although she studies English by herself. So she can understand easy English. I taught her “How are you?” and “Why do you smile?” the reason why I chose these songs is, these songs are short and easy to sing. Actually she cannot sing well so the ease of singing is important for her. On June 16th, she and I met during part-time job. Firstly, I taught the “How are you” song. At first, I wrote the lyrics on the paper and then I sang the song, then I told her “repeat after me”. She was confused and she said to me “I cannot do it!” However she knew the melody of this song so when she sang it five times, she already remembered it. I called her up several days later and asked her “How are you?” to see if she could remember. She could answer. However, she said to me “What!? Ummm, what can I answer?” Later “Okay! I remember …happy…super happy…” she said. I help her and said “Optimistic?” and then “Joyful and prodigious”! She could answer. We had a good laugh! I taught, “Why do you smile” song 3 days after. At first, I sang only Japanese part (waraukadoniha fukukitaru), and then I used the same process as last time. We sang together several times, and then she sang alone in both Japanese and English. I also asked her “Why do you smile?” She said “This question is difficult a little bit for me to answer. Waraukadonoha fukukitaru, right?” she answered only Japanese part. “And then can you answer English part!” I asked. Though she knew the melody, she couldn’t answer. So I taught her this song again, and also I taught her how to sing the Japanese. In addition, I told her “Next time, when I ask this question, remember the Japanese translation and you can use it as a reference to answer. She promised to remember. When I started to teach her these songs, she laughed and said to me “I cannot do it!” However during singing, she always seemed to be happy. I know I worried about her singing ability but she could sing well even though it is an English song. Finally, she told me “You did it in your class, right? That is interesting and great because I had a lot of fun!” She had a fantastic experience thanks to my song teaching assignment! It was fun, easy, and lovely! What’s a happy person? A happy person/ is not a person /in a certain set of circumstances, /but rather /a person /with a certain set of attitudes.
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Seventeen: MAEDA RIE
My Young, Strong and Beautiful Sister! I taught three questions to my twin sister. I taught “How are you?” , “Why do you smile?” and “ Are you young?” I chose first and second questions because these are short, so I think it is easy to remember. Also, I chose the third one because she usually has negative thinking, so I want her to be positive and happy with these lyrics. She lives by herself, so we talked by using skype. We have studied English in cram school till we graduated from junior high school, so she doesn’t hate English, but she doesn’t speak English so much. First, I called her on June 21. At first, I taught her “How are you?” I sang it for her, and we sang it together one time. She could sing it soon without looking at the notes, because she knew the melody. Next, I taught, “Why do you smile?” in the same order as the first song. However, it took more time than the first song, she said because it is a little hard to remember the melody quickly, but she could sing it after singing it with me a few times. Finally, I taught her “Are you young?” She couldn’t sing it, just as I expected, because this song is so long. Also, she said she was ashamed to sing the first line, “I’m young and strong and beautiful”, so I sang it with her. Next, I called her the next day, and I asked “How are you?”. She answered “Super happy optimistic joyful and prodigious.” without looking notes. I was very happy that she remembered it. Next, I asked “Why do you smile?”. She couldn’t remember at first, but she could remember soon and sang it. Finally, I asked “Are you young?” Of course, she couldn’t sing it, but when I started to sing it, we sang it together. I was happy. In conclusion, I taught three questions and she could answer 2 questions without looking at notes because it was short and easy to remember. Especially known melodies are easier. She was embarrassed singing these songs at first, but she sang positively and happily in the end. I am very happy to be able to remember the time when we studied together. I want to teach other songs to her and other people.
Twins: Rescuing Hug! Briell & Kyrie Jackson
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Eighteen: MORI MISAKI
Singing Together is Joyful! I chose my mother who is 50 years old to learn an affirmation song. Recently she seemed to be tired because of work. I want her to be happier and healthier with an affirmation song. This is the reason why I chose my mother. I decided to teach the “super happy optimistic joyful and prodigious” song to her because she can’t speak English and she doesn’t listen to music so often, so I guessed I needed to choose a short and simple song for her. First, I explained about affirmation songs and asked her to cooperate with me. She said “English song!…I wonder if I can do it, but it sounds interesting.” I first taught her for about 10 minutes. We were sitting in the living room, and I sang this song alone. She said it was too fast, so I sang it more slowly. And then I gave a copy of the lyrics to her and she repeated after me and we sang together a few times. She seemed to enjoy it. The next day, I asked her the question for the song. She exactly remembered the melody, but she didn’t remember some words of lyrics. It was little difficult for her to remember the words “optimistic” and “prodigious”, and she didn’t understand the meaning of these words, so I explained about them. And then we sang it together again a few times and I asked her to practice by herself whenever she wanted. She seemed to be happy and she said she liked this song. She was humming it while she was cooking dinner in the kitchen. The next day, I asked her “How are you?” and I was so glad because she could sing it alone! She smiled and seemed to be very happy. She said she practiced it herself when I didn’t watch her. And then I asked her to sing it faster and we sang it together faster and faster. We finally laughed together because it was too fast. This experience was interesting for me because I could share a good time with my mother. Recently I couldn’t talk with her so much because I was busy studying or doing part-time job, and also she is busy of working. However, I enjoyed doing it with my mother through this case study. Moreover, I feel our relationship became better than before. If you wish to teach affirmation songs, my advice is to enjoy it yourself! How do you Change the World? Be the change (x3) you wish to see in the world I don’t serve… my dear world… by pretending to be small I’ll stand tall, I will stand tall When you change yourself, you change the world
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Nineteen: MORISAKU SATOMI
Songs Shape our Souls! In the first half of June in 2014, I taught one of my friends in the English department of KUIS the ‘How are you?’ song. She has already known it because some students of KUIS around her usually answer they are “super happy optimistic joyful and prodigious” when they are asked how are you in the other EISO3 class. This is a reason why I chose ‘how are you?’ song to teach and write this report. Satomi: How are you? My Friend: What? I am sleepy. Satomi: You can say “super happy optimistic joyful and prodigious.” After I said the song lines without melody, I wrote it for her and sang with her to remember it easily. First, she told me that she did not feel any changes inside of her. She was very tired and sleepy when I taught the song to her. Thus, the first lesson finished without any results. About two weeks later, after the TOEIC test, I asked her again. Satomi: How are you? My Friend: I’m super happy optimistic joyful and prodigious. Satomi: That sounds great! She seemed to remember this song and answered it sometimes. Then, I asked her two questions: 1. How did you change after singing the “How are you song?” 2. How often do you sing it? She told me that she felt it was a little strange to sing this song, but she started to feel familiar with it after she knew the meaning of it. Moreover, she also thought she was given a kind of power by the song. It seems that she sings it often softly without realizing it. In addition, I taught her the 5 ways to happiness after TOEIC test because she was very tired. At first, she was surprised and could not understand it. However, after understanding the meaning, she was laughing with the 5 ways with gestures. After this teaching, I always ask her ‘how are you?’ when I meet her in KUIS or at our workplace (we are part-time teachers in the same cram school). Our headmaster who is not good at understanding English got perplexed with a sigh when he heard this song in a conversation between us. It was a little interesting for us. If he does not run away from our English lesson, I would like to teach him some awesome songs from our EISO 3 class.
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Twenty: SAITO MIKI
Like Song, Like English I chose my mother because she is knows little English and has few chances to speak English in her daily life. By teaching her an English song, I wanted her to memorize the English song and like English. I taught her the “Are you young?” song. The reason why I chose the song is that I want her to stay young and strong and beautiful by singing and I also like the melody. First, I called my mother on June 11 at 5 pm. I taught her the song for fifteen minutes on the phone. I e-mailed a picture of lyrics to her because it was difficult for me to tell her the song just by talking. I said to her, “Please repeat what I say.” She could repeat well. I taught the meanings of some words that she doesn’t know such as “fascinating.” She understood the meaning of the lyrics. We sang together three times. After that she could sing alone. She sounded so happy and I was also glad to listen to her sing. I told her that I would call her tomorrow to make sure that she remembers the song. She said, “I have to practice singing”. I called her on June12 at 6 p.m. I asked her the question “ Are you young?” She started singing in a clear voice. I supposed that she did a lot of practice. I was impressed with her singing and I was delighted that I taught her the song. After that we sang together. I told her that I would come home on June 15. I came home and asked if she could sing the song. She started singing with looking at the lyrics. I said to her, “I want you to sing without looking at the lyrics”. She challenged herself. When she forgot the words, I used some gestures so that she would remember. She managed to sing to the end. I wanted her to sing smoothly and I practiced with her many times. Finally, she could sing without looking at the lyrics and my gestures. I asked my mother, “Do you like English?” Then she answered, “Yes.” I was very glad to hear that. I called her two times in order to teach the song on June 12 and 13. I taught her face-to-face on June15. I asked her to sing because I had a chance to call my mother. She sang willingly for me. I asked her if she liked the song, how she practiced, and how she felt while learning the song. She answered that she liked the song very much and she practiced singing when she was free and she has come to like English better than before thanks to the song. Teaching someone a song was difficult for me, but this experience was so delightful because I have few opportunities to teach English song to people and I like singing together. I want to teach my family some more songs next time and sing with them.
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Twenty one: SHIRATORI YUKA
How a Song Changed My Sister! I chose my younger sister, Mizuki to teach a song to. She entered high school this year and she is 15 years old now. I decided to teach the song “How do you write?” because my sister always says that writing is hard for her and has a hard time to write things in both Japanese and English. I think she wants to write better things, and thinks about it too much. Also, I like the phrases “Set your feelings free” and “My pen is writing me”, and I thought these phrases are suitable for my sister. First, I only taught the lyrics of this song. She is not good at English, so she did not show any interest. However, I tried to teach the meaning of the lyrics, it might be interesting for her; she gradually asked me about the meaning and understood it. More interesting part for her was the last line “My pen is writing me”. I like this phrase so I felt happy to share the same feelings. Then I taught that there is a melody for these words and it becomes a song. I sang it once for her, but it seemed difficult for her to catch the phrases, especially “up as I”. Although I felt it was bit difficult, I thought that it is what is naturally to be expected. I sang it again, but more slowly. I explained this part, and she tried to sing many times. It became better and better. Two days later, I asked her to sing the song. She was able to sing about half, but she could not continue to sing, so I taught the last half part again. We also checked the meaning of this whole song. She did not understand the meaning of “set your feeling free”, I taught it again and she noticed what it is saying about her! We sang it several times together, and then she recalled it, and enjoyed singing it. She sometimes hums this song while she is studying. Finally, she sang it completely. I asked, “How do you write?” She looked dazed because I forgot to tell about the question. Then, I told her that this song is the answer to the question “How do you write?” finally, she acquired it. Through this activity, I felt the difficulty of teaching things to people. Also, I noticed that it is fun to teach and sing together. Singing is so enjoyable for many people, even if they are not good at English or do not like studying English. I want to be a teacher in the future, so I want to teach happy songs to many children. What do you like? [To the tune of “Oh Suzannah” Point to things!] I like your shirt, I like your pants, I like your shoes and socks. I like the way you do your hair, you look just like a bear.
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Twenty two: SUZUKI SHIORI
A Song Teaching to Be Happy I taught my KUIS friend the “Five Ways to Be Happy.” There were three reasons why I chose this song. First, this song has gestures. They help people learn a lot and learners can remember easily. Second, the melody of this song is catchy and it can be repeated again and again. The five ways are added one by one in the song, so people can learn the lyrics without any difficulty. The last reason is both the learner and I can be happy through singing this song. People cannot sing it without having happy minds. Also, we can be happier than before we sang the song. My friend is a student in the English department, so I taught it in English. First I taught on June 1st for 20 minutes. We went to a café and I sang the song on the way there. Then, I taught the five ways with the gestures in the café. Thanks to the gestures, she smoothly memorized all the lyrics. She likes music very much, so she could sing after only five times singing. She was sometimes in trouble because the lyrics slipped her mind, so I helped by giving the next word to her. I also gave her a piece of paper with the lyrics. On the night of June 6th, I called her and asked her to sing the song. She sang it with checking the lyrics paper first, and she told me she did it without help for the second time. Also, I called again five days later on June 11th. She practiced by herself, so she sung it more fluently. In addition, I met her on June 18th, and we confirmed the words with gestures and sang it together at her house. It was such a happy time and we enjoyed singing the song together. When she sang the song, she always smiled and it looked like the song made her happier. This experience was very valuable for me. I kept “KISS” (keep it short and simple) in mind to teach her. I always tried to use short and simple sentences. Through this experience, I taught a song to my friend, but at the same time, I learned how to teach a song. It was very effective to improve our English skills because we talked and sang in English. I learned many songs in this class, so I would like to teach the other songs to my friends. It might help them and me to be better English learners. Where do you belong? Werdaya Werdaya Werdaya Werdaya Werdaya come from friend? Howdaya Howdaya Howdaya Howdaya Howdaya like it here? Wadaya Wadaya Wadaya Wadaya Wadaya wanna drink? Whodaya Whodaya Whodaya Whodaya Whodaya love so dear? I come from over there and I really like it here, I want another drink and I love youall so dear. Werdaya howdaya whadaya whodaya we all belong in the zoo.
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Twenty three: TOMIZAWA DAICHI
Teaching Brings Me Happiness I chose to teach my close friend Yuna, who I’ve known for 3 years. The reason why I chose her is because I want the relationship between us to last a long time by singing Tim’s songs. I taught her the songs, “How do you have a good life?” and “The five ways to happiness.” I chose these songs because I want her to know how precious friends are by singing the first song, and how to stay happy even if there is something that makes her disappointed by singing the second song. I first taught Yuna on June 11 at 10 pm for 15 minutes. We were sitting at a café and she was kind of surprised because I suddenly asked her if I could teach her some songs. At first, she repeated what I sang but did not really concentrate on the meaning of the songs. However, it would be difficult to remember two songs and the meanings at the same time, so I told her to think about the meanings of the songs as homework. The second day was June 15 at 12 pm and I taught her for 30 minutes. We focused on the first song, “How do you have a good life?” I asked her the meanings of the song and she said it is important to keep friends even if they are from the kindergarten. However, she could not understand why they are silver and gold. It was funny that she said the song tells us to keep friends even if they become really old because ‘silver’ sometimes means elderly people in Japanese English. It is actually true, but I told her silver and gold are limited resources and friends are also the same. She really agreed and liked what I said. The third day was June 20 at 8 pm and we focused to practice on the second song, “The five ways to happiness” for 20 minutes. It was pretty tricky one for her because of the melody. Every time we added a way to be happy into the song, the melody changed, so she seemed difficult to follow it. However, I taught the song with the gestures, she started to get it, and of the end of the day, she could sing it really well. I tried to contact her with calling and Skype to ask her how she was doing. She tried to stick the songs to her daily life so she sang the songs on the way to school/home. I was really glad she liked to do that because I was afraid that she would not like to learn the strange songs. In conclusion, this experience was very interesting for me because I could know how I could teach the songs and what makes it easy for her to remember the songs. The most important thing that we learned was to have fun and relax. It would be really difficult to remember it if you do not like it. Therefore, I could learn from this activity that singing is one of the effective ways to learn things.
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Twenty four: TSUTSUI NAO
Young and Strong and Beautiful Sisters Reduce Stress! I chose my sister who is two years older than I. She lives in Tokyo alone and she started to work in May. She is not very good at English. I taught her the song “Are you young?” I chose this song because it has a pleasant melody and the lyrics are impressive. I think she has some stress because she started a new job and she is in unfamiliar surroundings. So I wanted her to relax. I first taught her on June 15 at 9:00 p.m. for about 15 minutes. I called her and she seemed to not be very interested before I taught. Firstly, I sang the whole song once to show the image of the song. And then, I taught the lyrics and she wrote them down. After that we sang together about five times. I told her to sing alone, but she was still unclear. It seemed hard to pronounce because she doesn’t speak English well. But I thought she was more interested in the song than when we began. So we sang together again and again. Finally, she could sing alone. I told her we should shout, “I’m in love!” after singing. She hesitated to say that, but said it with laughing. We said together “one, two, three, I’m in love!” I told her I would call her again, because I wanted her to practice by herself. I called her three days later and asked question “Are you young?” She could sing most, but she was not sure about some parts of the song. Therefore we sang together again. Two days later, I called her and asked. She could sing perfect! I was glad to hear that. She was not interested in the song at first, but she seemed to really enjoy singing the song later. And I asked her how she felt learning the song and singing it. She said “I practiced many times in my free time, and I couldn’t put it out of my mind. I like the melody of the song because it makes me relax and encourages me.” This experience was very interesting for me because my sister and I had a very nice time through the song teaching. We are busy and we usually can’t talk much, so it was valuable for us to spend time together and share something. Also I actually felt an effect of affirmation song. She looks very happy when we sing together. So I will try to teach them if I think someone needs it.
Are you Young? I’m Young and Strong and Beautiful, I’m living an adventure The world’s so fascinating; it makes me want to cry. I want to cry to the world; I want to fly all around I want to tell everybody I’m in love, I’m in love I’m in love X4 I wanna tell everybody I’m in love. (original TM)
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Twenty five: YABE MISATO
Singing Songs Satisfies! In this study, I decided to teach two songs to my boyfriend who is also a junior student at KUIS. He studies hard to be an English teacher, so that I thought he might be interested in these songs. Actually, we both are really busy recently, so I tried to teach songs while we have lunch together, Monday and Thursday. I chose “How are you?” and “5 ways to happiness” for him. That is because “How are you?” is easy enough to remember and these positive words might encourage us, and “5 ways to happiness” also shows the ways to be happy so they would really helpful for us to be smiley. On June 2nd, I started teaching. I taught, “How are you?” but it seemed a little bit difficult for him to sing at first. He said that he had had trouble singing “optimistic” in the natural speed, so we repeated it again and again. Additionally, I taught “5 ways to happiness”, however, I thought it was really difficult for him to sing because of the length, therefore, I taught just 5 ways and gestures without melody. On June 5th, the second time to teach the songs to him was really surprising, that he remembered most of the songs. He sang, “How are you?” perfectly, and the only part he forgot in the “5 ways to happiness” was “breathe in deep”, so then, I taught “5 ways to happiness” with the whole song with melody. Again, it seemed really hard to remember the song but he and I repeated the song again and again, and he finally got the melody and words. On June 12th, I asked, “How are you?” and “What is the 5 ways to happiness?” and he answered to “How are you?” without any problem, and to “5 ways to happiness” and he forgot the some gestures about it but after a little practicing, we did it well. Finally, he said that he is so happy to sing these kinds of songs and he said that using melodies and gestures helps him remember words well. Moreover, as he is not good at English pronunciation, singing such songs helps him to practice English pronunciation with chunks and linking. He also mentioned that he wants to teach these songs to his friends. In conclusion, I learned that singing positive songs makes us feel happy. Thanks to these songs, we were able to have a better conversation than before, even if we don’t have much to talk about to each other. Through this study I have learned that singing songs connects people in a kind of conversation.
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Twenty six: KOBAYASHI ITSUO
Teaching English to my daughter I have a family of three people, my wife, my daughter and I. I chose my wife at first to be my affirmation song partner. I talked to her the other day, but she flatly declined my request because she was busy and not interested in English. My next and last option was my daughter. My daughter is twenty-nine years old and speaks far better English than me. She works from Monday to Friday and usually leaves our house around seven o’clock in the morning and comes back to our house around nine to ten o’clock at night. She is very busy during weekdays. She is often out from morning till late at night during weekends, too. It is because she goes out with her friends and she has been doing a voluntary work since her university days. Therefore, the only opportunities are Saturday and Sunday nights. I talked to her about this project on the night of June 14th. She wondered what we were going to do. I explained the purpose of this project to her and asked her to cooperate with me. She was reluctant to do this by saying she is so busy. As a result, we made a deal. Every time we have this cooperative play, I present her nice sweets. This is socalled “to throw a sprat to catch a whale” and the tactic of keeping a person sweet. I decided to teach her “How do you eat well ?” because the song is a Christmas song, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, which she knows. The English phrases are not so long and I can teach her with gestures. At first I sang the melody to her. Soon after that, I told her all the phrases starting from “Take a little bit of this. Take a little bit of that”. She didn’t know the word “Diversify”, but she understood it soon. We continued the practice for about ten minutes and she mastered the song and the English phrases. On the next day, June 15th, I caught her at night and practiced the singing. She remembered the melody and the English phrases. This time, I taught her with gestures using both hands. The next Saturday, June 21st, I asked her if she remembered the Christmas song that helps her to remember the English phrases. It took some time for her, but she somehow recalled the song. My next question was if she remembered the English phrases or not. I showed her gestures using both hands. This also took some time for her to recall the English phrases, but they came back to her. The last line “Diversify and balance your life” seemed a little bit difficult. On the night of June 22nd, I repeated the same thing with her. She had no problem recalling the song and the English phrases. Through this practice, I have noticed two points. One is to choose good songs that we already know. The other is to use our body so that we can memorize the English phrases easily, as was practiced in class. This is so-called “embodied cognition.” As a result, my daughter enjoyed this cooperative work.
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Pedagogical Steps for Teachers In Classes Using Speed Dictations One way (there are many options…) 1. If the song has gestures, you could teach them the gestures first, especially with young children. 2. Then give the lyrics (or part of it) as a SPEED DICTATION. In a speed dictation you say it too fast or softly for everyone to get everything thing and you allow them to collaborate and help each other each time after you say it. Explain to them that you want them to help each other and that you intend for it to be too hard for everybody to get the first time. So this is a chance to help each other. After they help each other after the first reading, you may still say it a few more times, or even sing it, instead of saying it. (Optional, ask them to write it on the board.) 3. Then teach them to sing it. The melody usually helps with their memory. 4. Then teach them the question that goes with it and tell them that throughout the class, every 5 minutes or so, you are going to ask them to ask each other “How are you?” (or whatever the question might be) and they have to answer “Superhappy….” This provokes “intent participation” (Rogoff et al. 2004), they know they are going to use it often and soon and so they focus more on it. Make sure you DO IT (ask the question) soon and frequently afterwards, otherwise they won’t get it in their brain. 5. Classroom Management Routine. Buying time usefully. Anytime the teacher needs a few seconds to organize the next activity, ask your students to ask each other a SD question. When I need a moment to get organized for something else, I ask them, “Please ask your partner ‘Why do you smile?’” It is also a wake up, energizer and a good way to start off the class and a reminder about important things. 6. You can also give mini-lectures or tell stories about the content of each speed dictation. You can make songs and borrow melodies for your favorite sayings. QWIK OPTIONS for teachers to decide when teaching a Speed Dictation 1. Song or Say and Gesture (then do the others) 2. Slow or Fast 3. Part or All 4. Students single then collaboratively or in pairs or 4’s with verses 5. Sources: songs, song hooks, famous quotes, proverbs, affirmations, typical sayings, your mind, you can create them.
Folk Music Case Studies VII KUIS July 2014
TODAY
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(an old Scottish Song available in many YouTube versions)
(Refrain) Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine I’ll taste your strawberries; I’ll drink your sweet wine And a million tomorrows will all pass away Before I forget all the joys that are mine today I can’t be contented with yesterday’s glories I can’t live on promises winter to spring Today is my moment and now is my story I’ll laugh and I’ll cry and I’ll sing (+Refrain) Oh I’ll be a dandy; and I’ll be a rover You’ll know who I am by the song that I sing I’ll feast at your table; I’ll sleep in your clover Who care’s what tomorrow will bring (+Refrain)
SONG ROUNDS TUNE: Row x3 Your Boat nice four part group sing! With gestures! Bonus Track from Tim 7/7/12
A. Write x3 it down, set your feelings free,//* I make it upasi (up as I) go along, my pen is writing me. B. Smile, breathe, look at the sky, sing a melody,// dare to show your love to me, dare to show your love. C. Young strong and beautiful, living an adventure,// the world’s a fascinating place I love to love to love.
D. My dear friends and classmates, I will miss you so// You’ve helped me learn a [hell of a lot], To laugh and [go with the] flow. Reasons Songs are Good for Language Learning! FFFRRREEEMMMSSS- fun, frequent, familiar, repetitious, rhythmic, relaxing, emotional, easy, exciting, meaningful,..
Folk Music Case Studies VII KUIS July 2014
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
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BY ROBERT FROST
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound’s the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. Merry Summer Christmas! (Hope this makes you cooler!)
Postscript This volume was put together by the amazing Spring Sogo III class entitled, The Importance of Music and Song (see participants photo on the front cover). This volume includes 26 individual musical therapy case studies, followed by some pedagogical tips and a few more song/poems. The songs are tied to important questions as cues to their singing. Please enjoy and try them yourselves. This is Volume VII. The previous volumes can be accessed online at https://sites.google.com/site/folkmusictherapy/home And this volume will join them soon. Any feedback, please send to mits@kanda.kuis.ac.jp I will miss my great students! Tim Murphey Back Cover: Cup Song Fun with Anna Kendrick from “Pitch Perfect”
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