A brief summary of The “VERY” Special Workshop with Carolyn Graham
I have been working with Carolyn Graham for three years now. In our one day workshop, in the morning session, participants experience the rhythm of the English language and learn the ways to use chants effectively in EFL classes ? the foundation of Carolyn's belief and philosophy. In the afternoon, the participants create their own chants, present their original chants to others, and then Carolyn gives comments and suggestions on each of their creations. We used the picture books from the Story Street series - Foundation Step level - in our session.
Carolyn's chants are based on her consideration of helping EFL students to be able to use English which educated native English speakers use. Therefore, when making a chant it is important to choose daily language which we can use both in daily situations and in any formal occasion. After choosing the language we must "play" with the language along with the rhythm of the English language - the rhythm of Jazz.
In making a chant, you first choose a category of nouns. Next, you make a list of vocabulary in that category. You might want to use a picture dictionary which has words that are carefully chosen ? based on research - of what our learners need to learn. What is also good about using a picture dictionary is that the words are already sorted into categories!
The next step is to group the words on your list by the number of their syllables. For example, "soccer" has two and "basketball" has three. After doing that, you choose one word from each group of one, two, and three syllables. The overall pattern for a chant is "2-3-1, 2-3-1, 2-3 2-3, 2-3-1." Just by doing this, the vocabulary chant is already very rhythmic and Jazzy.
You may also add some adjectives like colors and sizes to make phrase chants.
Now choose a verb that fits well with the words' category, "play" with sports and "like" with food, for example. Here we can practice pronouns and the third person singular present form - a simple but difficult to master English grammar form for EFL students.
To add a playful learning spirit in a communicative way, we can make the sentences into an argument by using negative statements and questions. By using an argumentative chant, we can have students enjoy arguing about themselves again and again, which becomes repetitive drilling. This is the way to create a tool to help EFL students learn necessary English grammar to become speakers of English which is used by educated English native speakers.
The above is just one example of a way to create your own chants. There are other ways such as sound chants and story chants. Especially when you use a story in class with your students, I strongly encourage you to focus on the story line and the scenes.
Let me introduce some of my creations based on what I have learned from Carolyn. These are inspired by the story "A Walk with Sam" which appears in the Foundation Step, Story Street.
Here is a vocabulary chant.
BROWN DOG, ORANGE CAT, BIRDS (page 6-7)
Brown dog, orange cat, birds ×
Brown dog, orange cat, birds ×
Brown dog, orange cat
Brown dog, orange cat
Brown dog, orange cat, birds ×
(Clap where you see an "×.")
I simply followed the first way outlined above of creating a chant. The focus is to introduce the characters in the story.
This next chant is one to use every time you turn the page of the story.
WALK WITH SAM
Walk, walk, walk with Sam
Walk, walk, walk with Sam
Walk, walk, walk with Sam
Let’s take a walk with Sam
One line should be read in four beats. You don't stress on functional words but on content words.
The first chant was to focus and draw the learners' attention to the picture on the first page. Now, we change to a conversational format.
WHAT DO YOU SEE? (page 1)
What do you see? × ×
I see a girl. × ×
What do you see? × ×
I see a bird. × ×
How many birds? × ×
I see four. × ×
I see four birds looking at the girl.
Do you see the birds? × ×
Yes, I do. × ×
How many birds? × ×
I see four. × ×
Four what? × ×
Four birds. × ×
How many birds do you see?
FOUR!
I see four birds looking at the girl.
Have students work in pairs or divide the class in two groups, and then have them say the "conversation" above. You will notice that the conversation is a bit argumentative as the questions about birds are persistent. This is intentional in order to have the students speak with some emotional feelings.
Carolyn always tells us "Creating chants is easy enough for everybody to create their own." Now I know for sure Carolyn is right about the latter half of what she says. You can create your own chants. You just have to analyze what your material is and you need to have the playful spirit to play with the language. But for me, as I learned English as a foreign language, it is not "easy" to do. So, I would like to keep learning more from Carolyn about the rhythm of the English language.
We will have one day workshops with Carolyn again in 2009 around November and/or December. Please check the JJ Fellowship's website if you are interested in this yearly activity.
Mayuka Habbick:
JJ Fellowship founder, teacher and teacher-trainer, organizer of workshops and seminars for parents and teachers, and organizer of events for children. Director of E for ju: and certified trainer of LEGO Education Centers.
