Integrating contemporary
Algerian R & B Music in the French classroom
By: Lorraine
“How can you make
a great class even better/” asked my principal during a post observation conference. “Music!” I responded. It seemed logical since many of my honors
students at a suburban school located on Long Island, New York were talented musicians. Little did he know that I was a bit apprehensive about
doing this. Playing music had been prohibited in a previous district. Only textbook CDs were allowed and immensely disliked by the
students.
I
was ecstatic to find an open minded administration who allowed me to have
unblocked status on the internet. I searched
for contemporary Francophone music with clean lyrics that I could use in
various ways with my students. New,
young, emerging French- Algerian female R & B (Rhythm and Blues) vocalists
such as Kenza Farah, Sheryfa Luna and Zaho kept resurfacing to stimulate my
interest. They were a steep contrast to
the Algerian women I had seen portrayed in the movie Fille de Keltoum (2001)
by Mehdi Charef [i]where
a young woman returns to Algeria from Switzerland in search of the mother she
had never known. I wanted my classroom
to be inclusive of the Francophone world, to reflect my state’s curriculum and
to emphasize multicultural lessons in lieu of being the conventional Eurocentric
French teacher. I found these artists
to be perfect for my students to relate to because they are their
contemporaries.
While reading the 19th century novel Notre
Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo in an AP class, two songs helped me bring the
setting of Medieval Paris to life.
CHANSON: “ Au Cœur de la Rue” by Kenza
Farah
In
order to practice for the AP speaking portion of the exam, students were given
two questions to prepare within an approximate minute and a half time
frame. I wanted them to demonstrate the
following understandings: social class
and ethnicity similarities and differences between people of Medieval Paris and
contemporary life in France
Students completed the lyrics with the
missing fifty five geographical locations- most of them Francophone cities or
countries. Since this is an intermediate class the first letter of each place
was given to them to facilitate listening comprehension in class. Then they had to categorize these places into
French cities, Francophone countries in Europe, French speaking countries in Africa and other French speaking Polynesian countries.
CHANSON: « Il
Avait Les Mots » by Sheryfa Luna [iii]
I
used this song to reinforce the imperfect and present perfect tenses in my
intermediate and advanced classes. I
simply removed all of the fifty verbs from the song and had students listen
several times to replace the verbs in the correct forms. The subject matter of the song was also discussed in an AP class
during a unit on Personal Relationships.
Ideally, in a
language laboratory or computer room setting students may work at their own
pace stopping the song, rewinding or fast forwarding etc. Www.youtube.com
also has this same feature for internet use.
CHANSON: «
La Roue Tourne » by Zaho [i]
This song can be used in a low
intermediate class to reinforce regular and irregular verbs in the present
indicative. The lyrics are easy to
follow and comprehend. Additionally, a comparison with the « Roue du
Pilori » scene when discussing the protagonist Quasimodo in Notre Dame
de Paris [ii]was
also made in a more advanced class. In this scene, Quasimodo is placed in the
pillory, a round wooden framework, similar to a wheel on a post with holes for
the head and hands. He is exposed to
public scorn in the main square as punishment for a slight misunderstanding
with a policeman. In Medieval Paris , the location for such mockery was la
Place de Greve.
In conclusion,
these budding artists and their music have made teaching and learning French
very stimulating for my classes. Most students were very receptive to
them. Some students even downloaded
their favorite songs onto their personal Ipods.
Hats off to the R & B singers of Algerian origin! May they continue to enlighten a spark in my
students!
About the author:
Lorraine Sabio has been teaching French, Italian and ENL for over twenty-five years in various public suburban school districts on Long Island, New
York. You can view her educational resources at: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Urbino12
WORKS CITED AND DIRECT LINKS FOR SONG LYRICS
OR VIDEOS
[i] Zaho Tunisiano.< La Roue Tourne>. Dima CD Down Lo,
Capitol Music, une division d’EMI Music France.2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roLkw3PSE
All lyrics to these songs may be
found on the inside cover of the CD or on the internet. The best website for
French song lyrics used to be www.paroles.net
but due to copy write laws, it has been closed.
Other useful websites for French song lyrics are: www.lyrics.com, www.onlylyrics.com and www.lyrictranslate.com.
[ii] Kenza Farah. < Je
Représente>. Avec Le Cœur. CD 2008
<Au Coeur de la
Rue> Avec le Coeur CD 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZjAgsDGwYC
http://www.lyrics.com/avait-les-mots-lyrics-sheryfa-luna.html
What a wonderful blog post. Music is such a wonderful way to enhance learning. I took 4 years of French in High School, I wish I had you for a teacher.
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