Russian rap and how to get students to study Russian

[Mourka1 at AOL.COM]

Dear Seelangers,

Whew, it took me over an hour to read all the "why nots", and then somebody
mentioned, God forbid, "rap".

The truth is, my truth, anyway, and I feel that I am a fairly successful
language teacher (A Russian emigre and certified in Russian, ESL and French)
is that to get kids attention these days (and it is difficult), I must make
my lessons relevent to these kids lives.  Currently I teach 7, 8 and 9th
grade French in an inner city school.

Notice how kids remember every word in their R&B songs and raps?  The words
are rather intricate and often difficult to say.  I do the same.  I use
French rap and Russian rap.  The kids learn them and love them.

A true story:  Thanksgiving dinner with the whole family and the family asks
the child  the old question, "what language he is taking and would he say a
few words", not expecting much.  The 9th grader preceded to recite my entire
rap and the guests nearly fell off their chairs.

I have a professional theatre background which helps me to sing and dance
through class, however, I think that generally, rhythm helps language
learning.  I use rhythm with everything--grammar points particularly.  The
kids remember everything.

I don't believe this idea is limited to elementary and secondary schools.
I've taught at the college level as well and I've taught adults and everybody
enjoys it and memorizes things without knowing.  I never used a book when I
taught Russian in high school.  I found most books extremely dry.  I used
games, raps, songs, culture and lots and lots of communacative interaction
relevant to their lives.

In short, at least at the beginning level, language learning needs to be
enjoyable and fun or else it is deadly.  Particularly for Americans for all
the reasons that you have already mentioned.

Thank you for reading.

Mourka

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