Children Learn Language Through Music

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If one were to choose a theme song for Francophones and Francophiles the world over, Frère Jacques would win hands down. For many, this well-known melody brings back happy childhood memories.

Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous, dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines, sonnez les matines,
Din din don, din din don!

As we sang, we learned one of the world's most widely known languages.

Teaching specialists recognize the importance of songs in second-language acquisition. Lecturer and TV presenter Suzanne Pinel emphasizes that, by giving our children the opportunity to listen to and sing songs in a different language, we give them a setting full of wonders and joy in which they can develop second-language skills beyond our wildest expectations.

By its nature, Pinel writes, music makes learning language as easy and pleasant as playing a game. In order to motivate anyone, child or adult, to want to learn a new skill, one starts with a known element. Music is an ideal vehicle, since hearing is the first of the senses to develop, and a child is naturally interested in rhythm and musical sounds. Songs become the known element on which to build the learning process.

Music sets a natural, comfortable atmosphere in which learning becomes child's play. When work becomes play, the age of the learner becomes irrelevant since he or she will want to repeat the experience—and repetition is necessary to learn and master a given subject.

Songs can relieve the tedium associated with repetitive skills. One has only to think of how effortlessly we hum commercial jingles.

Similarly, when a child hears a song, he or she listens to it, takes it in, and very often repeats it spontaneously.

Songs encourage the acquisition of spoken language because they develop the aural and oral skills that are key to success in language learning. Songs make the ear sensitive to the sounds of a language: to sounds that rhyme, to sounds that are soft, hard, low, and high. In an almost unconscious manner, students learn where to place the accent when speaking.

Here, then, are some suggestions to introduce your children to the sounds of 15 different languages. Some are memorable in their rhythm, intonation, and repetitive refrains; others are as soothing as a lullaby.