howard

=Creating Music Videos in the ELL Classroom=

Making a music video is not only fun but also educational!

Brainstorming worksheet, syllable count chart, song chart, storyboard, video recorder, computer, song recording program, editing program
 * Materials:**


 * Steps**
 * 1) Select a topic and ask students to come up with words on that topic. Copy all the words students give onto the brainstorming worksheet. (High School teachers can select authors, countries, or anything from one of their subject areas. If you can make a poem out of the topic, you can create a song out of the topic!) Brainstorming Bubble
 * 2) Practice counting out syllables with students. Then ask students to copy all the words on the brainstorming worksheet onto the syllable chart. (This is great for pronunciation! You are discussing social language with your students, which is WIDA Standard 1, plus any vocabulary and speaking domains can be incorporated into the lesson from the topic standard you choose.) Syllable Chart
 * 3) Have students select a song they like, or give them songs to choose from. (Short songs like //Frere Jacque// are great to begin with and longer songs like //Hokey Pokey// and //I Love the Mountains// are great once you get comfortable.) Have students count out the syllables in each line of the song. (Or you can have already done this for them, if they are beginner or younger students.) High school students can use their favorite songs from the radio. Just make sure you have the music for these songs! - A fellow teacher at NJEA came and told me about a website for students who are into pop music. www.flocabulary.com.
 * 4) Have students create lines to a song using the syllable count of the song and the words from their syllable chart. Show examples. Have students come up with practical topics that they can videotape during the school day. You can do a vocabulary song using historical events, math problems, or science topics; you can just have them put words together to show sentence structure, or you can create songs that rhyme. Whatever works for you! Remember, you are looking for the students to recognize the beat of the music. English is spoken like music. It's beat is the same. This is a great pronunciation activity! Example (There are some mistakes in this example. See if students can find the syllable mistakes and fix them.) Blank Song Chart
 * 5) Students think of ways to visualize their song. Have students story map their song by drawing pictures of each line and what they can videotape to represent that line. Students should discuss and listen to their song to come up with visual ideas. They should express what it is they are trying to say.
 * 6) Students go out and videotape their visuals. They should be creative. (Let them use their cell phones to do this if you don't have videocameras. Or if your groups are small, ask students to explain the video shots to you. Repetition is a great learning tool. If there's a mistake, you can reshoot- just like in the the writing process, you can rewrite.) Storymap
 * 7) Students record the song into Garage Band (or a song recording program) and practice the song until it is perfect. They download the perfect song into iTunes and then click and drag the iTunes song into iMovie (or an editing program).
 * 8) Older students can sequence the video into the proper order using iMovie (or an editing program). Younger students may need this done for them. Students should make sure their clips go along with the words to the song. (Don't worry so much about linking their mouths to the words. Worry about the visual imagines they want to represent and that those images are linked up to the lines.) If necessary students should edit and add to clips. Some students may find they have to record more video.
 * 9) Students debut their music video for the class at a video award ceremony. 1st Grade 4th Grade 3rd Grade

Looking for other ways to incorporate music into your classroom? Check out the musical intelligences website.
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**Examples of completed songs are on my website:** 1. Go to [|www.wyckoffps.org] 2. Select: Coolidge School 3. Click on: Visit Our Classroom 4. Find: Katherine Howard 5. Click on: Jan-June 2010 Videos or Awesome Work 2011-2012

**Other Great Activities With Video:**
 * · Write your own play, create puppets and videotape it!
 * · Write your own play, get all the props together, figure out who is what character, and videotape it!
 * · Create virtual books by using powerpoint or keynotes to record student stories. Then use the recording feature to have them read the story and time the slides!

Feel free to contact me with questions: **khoward@wyckoffschools.org**