From the Blue Danube to the Three Bears' Living Room: Ideas for synthesizing Key Stage 2 music and language objectives

Helen Kent, Trinity School and Local Support Group Coordiator, Carlisle and North East Cumbria

I have developed a module for teaching German to upper KS2 within the context of the life and music of Johann Strauss II. The children learn not only about his family, so practising everyday language of family members, names and ages, but also about life in 19^th century Vienna, thus bringing in history and geography too.

Pupils learn not only the German names of orchestral instruments, but also about different styles of music and keep a diary of pieces they have listened to, giving simple opinions. They learn to beat time to a waltz, and, as often happens when cross-curricular projects capture the imagination, the German project takes on a momentum of its own. On a recent occasion, a parent came into school to help and taught the children to waltz! Another parent made costumes for the dancers and the whole project was then presented to parents in a lively and enjoyable evening performance.

The middle section of the module focusses on the relationship between languages and music, pointing out that many activities practised in the one subject can complement and reinforce the other. An obvious example of this is singing, but in addition children can be encouraged to develop a sense of pulse by clapping the beat while singing or speaking familiar sentences.

They can increase their awareness of rhythm by listening to, identifying and in some cases answering a clapped rhythm of familiar phrases, and they can improve their understanding of pitch by comparing how the intonation of the voice changes in questions and responses.

We devised modules which also combine music and language objectives. These show the learner how the size of an instrument relates to its pitch, teaches the comparative (plus grand, plus haut) in a meaningful context, and encourages the children to match emotions to different music styles by familiarising them with Le Carnival des Animaux by Saint-Saëns. Anyone familiar with the piece entitled L’Eléphant will know this is a waltz played on a double bass.

The alphabet can be set to a tune so that children are encouraged to recognise the music and learn the alphabet at the same time. A most enjoyable activity involves the children pretending to be elephants and beating ¾ time with their trunks, while singing the alphabet and stomping around the room in time with the music in the style of an elephant. Multitasking (or should it be multitusking?) at its best, and much easier for children than adults. Try it if you don’t believe me!

Finally, since storytelling forms a very important part of our schemes of work, we looked at an adaptation of the Three Bears story in German, Die drei Bärenmusikanten, in which Goldilocks listens while the three bears practise their instruments. With Baby Bear on the violin, Mother Bear on the cello and Father Bear on the double bass the children learn to recognise not only the  look and sounds of the different instruments but also the relationship between pitch and size of instrument. This is still a work in progress but could be extended to include other fairy-tale characters playing other instruments of the orchestra with Goldilocks as conductor!

Watch this space...