TEACHING SPANISH THROUGH MUSIC

For a long time, teachers of foreign languages have been looking
for the most effective ways of teaching foreign languages.
Options for mastering basic knowledge in any foreign language
are presented in the form of teaching methods. The difficulty lies
in choosing the most suitable one of their large number. The
choice of one method or another is determined by theoretical
grounds. The basis of this study is general scientific methods:
observation and questioning, by means of which the interrelation
of the level of linguistic students’ training with the use of music in
general, and in particular songs, in teaching a foreign language
was revealed.
When learning a foreign language, it is important not only to gain
knowledge of the grammatical structure of the language and its
lexical composition, but also to learn about the main sociocultural
phenomena of the country where the language is spoken.
Speaking about the Spanish language, this is quite difficult to
realize due to the diversity of customs and traditions of the
countries of Latin America and Spain. The use of music in the
classroom can help in this, because music, and in particular, the
lyrics are a valuable source of information, thanks to which it is
possible to form the correct linguistic competences at students.
Using music in Spanish classes, the teacher introduces cultural
characteristics and historical phenomena to students.
This article investigates the method of teaching a foreign
language through music, particularly through the songs “Cuba
que linda es Cuba”, “Viva Venezuela mi patria querida” and
“Simón Bolívar”. The first two songs are associated with the
name of the most famous politician in South America, who
struggled for the independence of the Spanish colonies. The third
song describes the main facts which every student learning
Spanish should know about Cuba. Using these songs during the
lesson, the teacher will help students learn the historical
characteristics of the countries (to follow the life path of such
great people as Simon Bolivar and Fidel Castro), as well as feel
the national flavor of Cuba and Venezuela. In our opinion, using
such stories, the teacher influences the students’ interest and
motivation, and use of songs also helps to create warm and
friendly environment for students, which is important in the
process of teaching the language.
Studying cultural and historical features of countries of Latin
America is very important, but with the help of these songs you
can also explain to students the peculiarities of using Preterito
Indefinido in the Spanish language and pay student’s attention to
the endings of verbs in Preterito Indefinido to help them
remember the main features of the formation of this time in
Spanish.
In addition, these songs can also help in expanding the
vocabulary with the words used in them: we explain new words,
such as independencia (independence), pegar un grito (making
sound), libertad (freedom), memoria (memory).
Thus, using the example of just one song, you can teach students
the history of Venezuela, as well as focus on the grammatical
structure of sentences in the text and expand the vocabulary. We
conducted a survey among students of the Institute of Foreign
Languages of Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia to
identify the significance of using songs in Spanish lessons. The
results of the study show that about 98% of students cannot
remember any songs in the languages they study, which most
fully convey the characteristics of the national spirit of the
country. First of all, this is due to the fact that teachers do not use
songs in foreign languages in the learning process. However,
according to the students we interviewed, it is much more
interesting to study the cultural features and historical facts of a
particular country, listening to songs in a foreign language than
reading textbooks.
Taking into account the data obtained during the study, it can be
concluded that the majority of students believe that using songs in
foreign languages during lessons will undoubtedly make the
learning process more effective and interesting, and will also
motivate students to do various language tasks. Accordingly, to
the question of teachers “Is it necessary to use songs in foreign
languages in the learning process,” the answer is “yes.” Summing
up our research, we can state that music, in all its manifestations,
was and still is a valuable information carrier. Being a witness of
history, it carries in itself a lot of information through years and
centuries, preserving it for future generations.
Keywords: methods of teaching a foreign language, Spanish,
method of teaching, music, cultural aspects of learning foreign
languages