Enhancing World Language Classes with Music: Discover March Madness for Boosting Student Engagement

Are you on the lookout for effective strategies to enhance engagement in your world language classes? In this post, and in Episode 77 of GWP The Podcast, I delve into March Madness, a dynamic approach to using music that has significantly boosted student interest and participation in Spanish classes.

In episode 77, I am joined by Justin of Spanish Plans. Justin shares with us great ideas to successfully integrate not only March Madness but music into our classes, ensuring our students are cultivating an appreciation for different musical genres and encouraging the exploration of Spanish music outside the classroom. This post highlights our conversation but to hear all of the details about March Madness and the power of incorporating music into language learning, listen to episode 77 above or here.  

What is March Madness?

March Madness isn’t just a competition; it’s a gateway to cultural immersion and linguistic enrichment. Through this engaging three-week event, students evaluate and vote on songs, connecting them with a diverse array of artists and genres. This innovative use of music in world language education not only introduces students to high-frequency language in context but also cultivates an appreciation for the cultural nuances behind the lyrics.

I also asked Justin to explain March Madness further. He continued, “It’s a competition where we have 16 songs that go head to head, students listen to the songs in class, and they vote for their favorites. And at the end of the tournament, a song ends up winning.” 

How March Madness Began

Justin next described how March Madness started. He shared that it was about 2014 when he saw a post on Twitter from English teachers who had made a poster about a tournament of books. As many know, March Madness is the college basketball tournament. This made Justin think, “How can we use this in our language classes?” 

This was a great opportunity to build some connection with our students somehow. So, Justin took to his Twitter account and posed the question of what can we do as teachers. One teacher commented, “What about music?”

Justin started off with 12 songs and posted this idea on his blog. The following year, he created another bracket with more songs, and eventually classes and teachers from all over were joining in and using the bracket that he had created. In 2017, Justin streamlined this process where he started using only current songs from the past year. Then, he added in national voting so students across the nation could connect and cast votes. In the GWP The Spanish Teacher Academy, one of our members suggested that I do an episode on March Madness, and I was so excited about the idea. 

Benefits of March Madness

Justin shared with us that he loves music, and it’s a big part of his life. In his classes, he plays songs throughout the year, and he also does lessons about particular songs. He added that students love being able to get to choose their favorite song and love having their opinion being part of the tournament. 

Student Engagement

Justin also believes that March Madness helps students be more engaged. He thinks this type of tournament is really key to student engagement. Music is also something that always helps people make connections. In March, teachers are at the point where they’re looking to do something different because kids are tired. We’re sitting in classes with testing season upon us. March Madness is something different, and it’s something that really engages the students.

Music and Culture

Justin also brought up the culture benefit of music. Music is culture, and the artists that are in these brackets are famous in their culture. We get to introduce these popular artists to students that they may not have been previously exposed to without this tournament, or without music in general. This tournament builds that connection to culture. In addition, students can learn about people and the culture from these different countries.

Learning the Language

We want students to not only love the music and enjoy it but also learn some Spanish as well. Justin believes that’s the hidden component of it. As Justin says, “It’s not the focus of the tournament, but there’s definitely ways that we can use different strategies so that our students are picking up the language.” 

The focus of March Madness isn’t necessarily going over the lyrics. By using songs throughout the year, though, we can do that. Also, these songs aren’t necessarily chosen because the lyrics are great or have a good message. We’re looking at popular songs, getting students to know what’s current, hip, and what’s out there. 

There’s opportunity throughout the year to do language-learning types of activities. Justin explained, “What teachers can do when they look at a song is look at what the high frequency words are during the song, pick those out, go over those with the students, maybe take the chorus, and go over the translation of those words or use those in context. Maybe point out that we’ve been studying these words, and here, they come up, and we’re going to hear them today in this song.”

March Madness Tips

Justin thinks one of the most important things that we can do with March Music Madness is actually talking about the songs and about the artists and where they are from. In episode 77, Justin gives us examples of questions he asks his students about the songs and artists and information he asks his students to seek out. I think if we want to make a lesson out of each song, our students are going to end up hating March Madness. We are also going to be so drained by looking at the lyrics and picking out words that we can use. 

Getting Started with March Madness

One of the things to remember when starting March madness is to be flexible. Justin explained that the first week is basically just doing the bracket. He also basically does this activity for three weeks. The first week and a half is getting through that first round because they’re playing the song for the first time. Basically, it’s listening to the songs and talking about them. For example, you can ask, “Do you like this song? Your classmate says they think this song is going to win. Do you agree?”

Justin has a calendar available for teachers. Some join for the final eight instead of 16. There’s different options that teachers can do depending on their needs and depending on what works in their classroom. Remember, it’s flexible. One thing, though, we don’t choose songs that have swear words in them, and we’ve tried to make sure that the videos are mostly appropriate. This, again, will depend on the school and teachers.

Every classroom is going to be different; every setting is going to be different. Justin encourages teachers to preview the songs and see if they’re comfortable within their own setting. If not, Justin does offer some alternative songs on his song list that you can look at and swap them out. 

National Polls

Justin has on his website embedded polls and direct links that you can send to students or post in your Google classroom or whatever system you have where students vote, and they can see the total votes nationwide. He also polls his students and does a comparison. So, you can say, “Okay, here’s the winner in our classroom, and here’s the national winner.” That way, we can also talk about comparisons. 

So, you have the option to do the entire bracket 16 and the entire three weeks of March Madness, or you can do a condensed version where you don’t participate in the whole three weeks but go in after the first round. You can swap songs in case you just don’t feel comfortable with a particular song. Teachers can participate in the National Poll, or you can do your own poll and then compare your own poll with the national one, or do both. March Madness is very flexible! 

March Madness officially kicks off on March 4, and that is when the first poll opens. Find the March Madness links below to get ready for this year’s start. Don’t forget to listen to episode 77 of GWP The Podcast to hear my whole conversation with Justin. We end our conversation with Justin also providing us some tips on how he introduces the songs’ videos to his students. Listen above or here.