Week 1: Welcome

 Hello and welcome!

Thank you for exploring my progress in my Genius Hour Project for EDBE 8Y08. 

    My name is Hannah Van Vliet and I am currently studying to become a teacher at Brock University. I hope to teach students in grades four to eight. Although I love teaching a variety of subjects, I am particularly interested in math, music, and French. I have witnessed many students struggle with learning the French language or losing motivation by doing countless worksheets. I also know that, as teachers, it can be very busy and subjects like music and art can be skipped or periods shortened to make way for subjects like math, reading, and writing. Therefore, through this project, I hope to explore how teaching French through music, particularly song, can be a solution to both these problems. 

    I have loved singing and making music since I was a small child. I started piano lessons when I was in kindergarten and sang every day with my family at the conclusion of our dinners. In the last number of years, I have started to learn to play the cello.  I have experimented with guitar, tenor recorder, violin, and organ, but my primary musical instruments remain piano and cello. As I have recently moved into a tiny house with my husband, my instrument of choice has become predominantly cello as a piano is too big for this house (although a cello is not little either!). I hope to use my love for music to inspire my students as well! 

    For this project, my guiding question will be: 

    How can music, particularly singing, foster engagement and longer retention of French in
elementary classrooms? 

    My goals for this project are: 

    1.  Research the connections between second language acquisition and music. 
    2.  Compile a collection of songs and resources that can be used to teach French.
    3.  Learn how to sing/play on cello two songs, and create a lesson outline using one of them. 

    I will measure my progress using:

    1. By week 3, I will publish a short (approx. 250-350 word) description of the connection between second language acquisition and music.
    2. By week 5, I will publish a resource bank on the blog with at least 10 resources/songs that I recommend.
    3. By week 6, I will publish a recording of the song I have chosen and attach my proposed lesson outline. 

Photo credits:  Full Voice. (2019, December 29). Voice Lessons for the SUPER YOUNG singers! by Christin Coffee Rondeau. Retrieved from https://www.thefullvoice.com/full-voice-blog/2017/6/29/voicelessonsforveryyoungsingers