Teaching English Using Jazz?

Preposterous, right?

When my Japanese friend, Ruiko, first introduced me to idea of jazz chants, I silently thought, “Rubbish. Children don’t like jazz. They know nothing about Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and The Dave Brubeck Quartet.”  She then played me the following video:

After listening, I was singing a different tune.

Developed by Carolyn Graham, jazz chants is not meant to be a spoof of the classics, but rather it uses jazz-like rhythms and beats to classroom more exciting. It is simply a way of learning to speak and understand with special attention to the sound system of language (Jazzchants.net, 2011).

After three listens, and almost a month later, the song is eternally embedded in my brain, which is a great thing for language learning.

Now, scat and enjoy the chants.

– Jenson

Note:

For more information on how to teach jazz, please click here for a more…