Lesson Plan for Bilingual K-2nd Music Class (English / Spanish)

I love having the opportunity to work with bilingual students. The lesson plan below contains activities and songs that are ideal for a bilingual group of young musicians.

K-2nd Grade Bilingual Music Lesson Plan - 45-60 minutes

 

Materials:

1. Optional (ukulele or other instrument to accompany songs)
   
2. Drum
3. Copy of Drum Dream Girl book
   
4. One colorful scarf per student
5. Hand sanitizer
6. Bluetooth speaker and/or projector
7. If no projector: lyrics poster of "Al tambor" and "De colores."
   

 Set up:

• Students should sit at their desks or on the floor in a semi circle

Class Greeting 

A class greeting with an instrument helps establish music time.  Sing "Time for music" with a doorbell "ding-dong" melody. 

Quick song(s) they probably know: if you are able to find out a song from their regular repertoire that you can lead, great!  My favorite“If You’re Happy and You Know It" but beginning with a question in Spanish.  Announce that you are going to ask a question en español and go through the sentence asking the students to translate it for you: "Buenos días, amiguites cómo están?"  If they are feeling good, they can answer "Muy bien" which means what?  Yes, "very good"!

Drum Dream Girl: Share the book Drum Dream Girl with the class and try to use big motions and add "sound effects" as you read to keep students' attention.

 

 

 "Al tambor": Using a djembe or similar drum, announce that we'll now be singing a song about a happy drum.  

 

 

 

 

"Can you say tambor?  I'm going to say 

Al tambor,

Al tambor,

Al tambor de-la-legría

 

Which means the happy drum en Español."

 

Start by playing a steady beat on the drum, then singing the chorus of the song.  After singing it a couple of times, go up to each student and have them tap the drum while you sing the verse of the song contatining their name (Maya, o, Maya, Maya amiga mía). Here is the recording I learned it from by José Luis Orozco:

 

 

Once everyone has had a turn, encourage the students to give themselves an applause.

 

Transition: distribute one colorful scarf per student.  

Then do a "roll call" with the names of the colors in English and Spanish 

(this will depend on what color scarves you have).

 

Movement with Scarves: Depending on the time of year you can use different music selections, but this is my go-to song for moving with scarves:

Folding the scarves: This song is encourages slower legato (connected) movement and instructs students to fold the scarf before putting it back.

Sing along song: "De colores" is a great choice after the students see the rainbow in the "Al tambor" video and play with colors using their scarves.  

 

Another quick song they probably know: "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" in English and Spanish!

 

La arana pequeñita subió, subió, subió.
Cayó la lluvia y se la llevó.
Salió el sol y todo lo secó.
Y la araña pequeñita subió, subió, subió.

 

 Goodbye Song: You can sing "Music Time is Over" in the same ding-dong (sol mi) melody you used at the beginning of class or the song of your choice.  Here is an example:

  

During the goodbye song, you can distribute hand sanitizer to students and other teachers present.  Finally, encourage the class to give themselves an applause for doing so well in Music Class.

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Did you try some or all of this lesson plan?  Let us know how it went!