More on Spanish Music

Over the past 2 weeks in my Spanish class, we have been creating music videos, somewhat like karaokes, to Spanish music. The lyrics are translated over into English, with the song in the background as Spanish. During the time we have been working on this project, I have noticed a dramatic change in my class. Ok, it may not seem like a lot to some people, I concede, but from what I have observed, it seems very important. For one of the first times in my class, people are using Spanish more frequently. They have begun listening to Spanish music, and some of them are beginning to sing in Spanish as well. To me, this is exciting. It gives me hope that my trip in Spain will trully allow me to become bilingual. As the students in my class are surrounded by the stimulus that is hearing only Spanish, they begin to better comprehend pronunciation, as well as learn words at a more frequent pace. Thus, being immersed in a foreign culture should have similar and more rapid effects. I have begun to ponder the possibility that if all of our foreign language programs provided more listening and immersive activities, language would develop more quickly. Through my Psychology class I learned that we are more adept to learning language at a younger age, during a certain critical period. This does not mean that it is impossible to learn after this period in time, but it is more difficult. This being the case, I believe it would be more effective to provide students with opportunities to participate in the culture and immerse themselves in the language than it is to spend 4 years in a classroom. For example, if a teacher guides a class while only speaking the foriegn language after the 1st year or 2 of the language, then students would progress towards bilingualism more quickly. It is my hope that in the next couple of years this will become more obvious in schools throughout the United States so that enthusiastic students can meet their full potentials.