If any of you saw Carolyn Graham’s recent tour of Asia you’ll know she really rocks. She was the first person to popularise “Jazz Chants” where you take a record and chant your class’ target English over the top. If you get the music to fit the words (and not the other way round) it works great for learning English rhythm, works with all age groups and any English you could think of.

The only problem with chants is that, almost by definition, they don’t have a melody. That’s where you’re losing out on something. For example if you think of the latest hip hop song on the radio, is it the rap in the verse you remember or the melody-like hook in the chorus?

With the latest Kylie or Madonna song, it’s not the rhythm, it’s the melody that sticks in your head and hence the lyrics get stuck in there as well. That’s why ESL songs are so much better than chants, because the kids retain the English for a lot longer, usually to the next lesson and beyond. That’s the best thing I like about them!

So why use chants at all? It’s simply because they are easier to write! It’s easy to make a chant out of any grammar point, you can do it yourself in 5 minutes, but it’s a lot more difficult to come up with a memorable melody. Hence why there aren’t as many out there. I’m just as guilty as anyone as most of my Japanese songs are actually chants, just because they are easier to do! I’d love to make them into songs, but it takes so much more time and resources. Luckily the success of Genki English means for the English materials I can actually take the time to make them into songs, which then benefits the students.

Original?

The other point is that for the melodies to stick they have to be original melodies. I’ve lost count of the amount of ESL songs that say ‘sing to the tune of “Frere Jacques” or “London Bridge”‘. These songs are easier to teach as the kids know the melody, but the problem is that as soon as you have two or more songs with the same melody you lose the link between the tune and the words, your mind gets confused and you don’t remember them. They might make the lesson a touch more fun, but they’re missing the most important point and you’re still stuck with kids forgetting all their English in the next lesson.

That’s why with the Genki English songs I always try and make sure each one has it’s own unique melody to get stuck in your head along with the words. It does mean there are less songs than they could be ( I think we’d be up to CD vol. 53 if I only did chants!), but it’s also the reason they work so well.

It’s something to keep in mind when choosing the tools for your next lesson. But what do you think? Do you prefer chants to songs? Or mixture of both? Or something totally different?