Introducing WAM
Check out our latest video for a preview of the amazing curriculum we’ve developed called WAM || Words Art Music.
ESL Showcase and Song
Written by Wendolyn Craun Summer will be here soon, so now is the time to think about what content to use for this summer’s ESL camps. If you are teaching kids, you are going to need to decide how your students will show their parents their English language skills. Rhythmic Patterns WAM English songs are […]
Experiencing WAM Songs Across Age Groups
Written By Katherine Giszack The question was posed to me: are WAM songs relevant for students of various ages? I am happy to answer an emphatic, yes, indeed they are. How can I be so sure? The reason is simple: they have been tested and proven effective through first-hand experience. While the songs were in […]
ESL Pronunciation and Song Improvement
ESL Pronunciation and Song Improvement Written by Wendolyn Craun Correct pronunciation is the bedrock of language. If you can’t say a word correctly, you have not truly mastered the language. How many of us have smiled when we hear a non-native English speaker speaking English because the pronunciation we hear feels so odd to our […]
Growing Multilingualism
I grew up speaking one language…English. Even though as a child I had many friends of different nationalities, I had no felt need to learn another language. I could function just fine with English. I could communicate with my friends and live my life without the need of knowing a second language. But now with […]
Music and Hearing Language
Written By Wendolyn Craun It is said by many that music is a universal language. From an ethnomusicologist perspective; however, this may not be true for musical pieces from different cultures have unique soundscapes and meaning not limited to one form or genre. But it is true that music is a form of communication enjoyed […]
Reflections on Sheep
Written By Wendolyn Craun This summer I had the opportunity to observe a lot of sheep. When I think of sheep, I think of Psalm 23. I think of me as “a sheep” and my heavenly Father as “the Shepherd”. My most recent observation about sheep is that they hardly ever stand alone. They always […]
Artistic ESL Instruction
Artistic ESL: The Benefits of Incorporating Music with ESL Instruction As with all teaching methodologies, ESL instruction works best when learning is connected with making the material meaningful in a memorable way. While there is a place for textbooks and direct instruction, language learning in particular is very sensory based. At the same time, the […]
Language Learning and Song
Our world is full of beauty. Beauty can be seen and beauty can be heard. Think of the sounds of Chinese, Russian, French, Dutch, Hindi, German, Zulu, Swiss, and Hebrew. To the untrained ear, these sounds can seem like watercolors on a watery canvas, a mayhem of colors without lines. But to the trained ear, […]
Writing in the Pandemic
There’s Still Sunshine… I was hired in 2020. It was a few months into the pandemic, and I was focusing my attention on songwriting. The process of songwriting is often therapeutic for me. It was a challenging season, not just because of the Coronavirus but there were other pieces of that season that just made […]