Year 9's Favourite Spanish Song for Phonics

 This song is the third lesson I do with Year 9 Spanish beginners. It's the lesson where they realise they can pronounce Spanish correctly and fluently, with rhythm, style and flair. So much so that even without knowing the words, they can recognise the song through the flow and rhythm of how they read it aloud.

I've written here about how in the first couple of lessons we use greetings and a random character called Ángela (or José) to cover all the main features of the sound-spelling link. With numbers we look at what happens when we have 2 vowels together (ua, ie, ei, ue). Then we are ready to tackle the song...

In the whole lesson, I cannot read any of the song. If I did, I would be unable to avoid saying it in rhythm or even singing, and giving away the song. Pupils work on reading it aloud. After a while, they start to get that annoying tingling feeling that they know what it is. Then eventually someone always gets it.

Here is the start. First we highlight the key sounds - ch, qu and j. And in the next chunk, I think there is a ll and a ci.

No sé qué está pasando
Que todo está al revés
Que tú ya no me besas
Como ayer
Que anoche en la playa
No me dejaste amarte

Algo entre nosotros no va bien

A pupil reads it aloud to the class, and we check vowels are correct and the ay and ar sounds. And we introduce the idea of sinalefa - there is only one vowel sound where qué meets está: questá. And the same in the next line for está al. This is a key feature of fluent Spanish and in this lesson it is the key to getting the rhythm of the song. Then they practise with a partner reading aloud with flair. And they all make random guesses. Mostly, "Is it despacito?" I tell them that when they do get it, they will KNOW. And they should get my attention but not shout it out.

Here is the next section:

No busques más disculpas
No siento tus caricias
Ya no eres la misma
Que yo amé
Te veo tan distante
Te siento tan distinta
Pues hay dentro de ti otra mujer

And now they are getting very good, and the dangerous recognisable section is coming. It's important I don't read any of this, as I am incapable of doing it without tapping my foot and singing. Read it aloud in your best Spanish, otherwise it doesn't work!

No culpes a la noche
No culpes a la playa
No culpes a la lluvia
Será que no me amas

And if they still don't get it, then there's this bit:

Ya no sé, ya no sé, ya no sé qué va a pasar

Ya no sé, ya no sé, ya no sé qué voy a hacer

Got it yet? You have to read it aloud with rhythm, style and flair.

At this stage someone always gets it. And NOW I can read it aloud for them. And play the song. It is, of course, Será que no me amas by Luís Miguel. Which they all know.

Now the problem is to stop them singing in English! Do the normal play the song, turn the volume down so they can keep singing thing. And see if they know what any of the words mean. Then come back to the song again after a couple of months to reinforce the pronunciation and so they can see how much more they understand of the words.

Did you get the song? Just by reading it aloud?