 FREE interactive lesson  Stacey Tipton has spoken and taught
Spanish for over 14 years, teaching at Tulane University, Berlitz, and in Buenos Aires.
She started using music to learn a foreign language many years ago while she was a Rotary
Exchange student in Zacatecas, Mexico. Music played a large role in her becoming fluent in
Spanish, and also helped her retain my language skills through the years. Stacey Tipton
holds an M.A. from Tulane University in Latin American Studies and is also a proud alumnus
of Washington State University.
In this interview, find out how the connection between learning Spanish and music began; how her
immersion in Spanish culture and language in Zacatecas, Mexico shaped
her as a teenager; her other musical tastes
and a special FREE interactive lesson where you can
learn Spanish while learning from the popular song, La Cucaracha.
How
the idea began
Joe:
Thank you for joining us today Stacey. I think when most people think about
learning Spanish as a second language, they think about a teacher dryly reciting
pronunciation and sentences. You have been teaching Spanish for over 14 years. How is your
approach different and how did you develop this new musical approach as seen in "The
Musical Linguist"?
  Stacey:
I first thought about writing this book after a trip to Italy, where I found
myself desperately searching for Italian cassettes or CD's in the airport gift shop before
I got on the plane in Milan. After a few weeks back in the U.S., I began thinking how
great it would be if I had a little grammar book to accompany the music, one that would
help me understand the grammar patterns as well as the vocabulary in each song.
So to be honest I think my approach comes more from being a
longtime student of languages rather than a former teacher. I think there is a tendency to
"overteach" where languages are concerned, or to throw a ton of material at the
students and hope that at least some of it sticks. My experience learning Spanish,
Portuguese, and Italian has led me to rebel a little against this, and to build a program
that tries to teach "more" by teaching "less." I try to use music to
imbed grammar and vocabulary patterns into the hearts and minds of the students, without
making the student feel like learning a foreign language is an overwhelming task. I've
also seen first hand that true fluency begins to take root when you develop some kind of
emotional connection to the words and ideas, which is why being immersed in a foreign
country is the number one way to learn. Music can help simulate this through the
connection between the listener and the music.
Early
experiences in Mexico
Joe:
One of the advantages of homeschooling is the ability to get involved with unique
experiences, not allowed in a traditional school setting. Could you tell us a bit more
about your early experiences in Zacatecas, Mexico as a rotary exchange student, and how
they shaped your life and your approach to teaching Spanish.
Stacey:
Being from the Pacific Northwest (raised in Seattle but born in Anchorage),
Mexico was just about the polar opposite of my life as a 16 yr old in the United States!
The Rotary exchange offered a wonderful opportunity for me to spend my junior year of high
school with a Mexican family with 5 children, all close to my age.
 The first few months were
definitely the hardest-- going to an all girls school didn't help! In the beginning it
seemed like a constant struggle to adapt to different customs, attitudes, and a new
language. But in time I grew to love Zacatecas so much that they almost had to force me to
board the plane to go home. I grew to love my host family very much, and found that
without really realizing it, I had also become fluent in Spanish.
The transition from struggling language student to near
native speaker is actually a very natural one when you are immersed in speaking the target
language. I think it happens because of an innate desire to communicate. At age 16, there
is nothing worse than sitting at a table full of gossiping teenagers and feeling like you
are out of the loop! And the closer you become to people, the more you want to understand
and be understood. I also left Zacatecas listening to more Mexican music than American.
The music was the one thing I could take with me, to keep practicing my Spanish and to
keep the memories of my experience in Zacatecas alive.
Musical
tastes
Joe:
What kind of music do you enjoy the most and who are your favorite artists? How
have the Miami music scene and the Latin explosion in popular music influenced you?
Stacey:
I must say that my music taste has come a long way since the days of listening to
Timbiriche and Flans, two popular Mexican teenage groups from the 1980's. Some of my
favorite groups and singers are Donato and Estefano, Juan Luis Guerra, Thalia, Miguel
Bosé, Ricky Martin, Maná, Los Autenticos Decadentes, Ricardo Arjona, Juanes, Manu Chao,
and Chayanne- among many others!
  Probably the most exciting moment
I've had mixing it up with the Miami music scene was meeting Chayanne
briefly at a Miami nightspot - what a nice guy! It has been fantastic watching the rise of
Latin music
in the U.S., back from the days where the Macarena was the only song people had ever heard
of, to where Ricky Martin
( his profile)
and Gloria
Estefan are household names. Even my DAD has heard of Ricky Martin! It's a
wonderful time to be involved in a product that helps promote Latin music, and I hope that
more and more people begin to use these catchy songs to further their knowledge of
Spanish.
Joe:
Do you have any children? How has your musical side affected your children and
what are they doing musically?
Stacey:
Not yet, but hopefully they aren't too far off! I definitely plan to raise them
in a bilingual household, and undoubtedly music will be a big part of that. I read a study
the other day that said that babies can remember music they heard while in the womb, and
that shows that it's never too early to begin thinking about your children's cultural and
linguistic education!
FREE
interactive lesson
Are you interested
in this book
It comes with a FREE CD
with complete lessons
Click here to buy
"Sing
With Me A-B-C"
by Bente
Martinsen and Solveig Pedersen
hosted by Joe Spataro
featuring FREE samples of her program
  "Sing
With Me ABC" works with basic letter recognition, phonemic awareness, and also with
numbers and rhythm and rhyme. The books supplement any reading and music curriculum for
pre-school and kindergarten. In this interview with author Bente Martinsen, she discusses
how music is such a valuable part of the learning process, how the program was developed,
her perspectives from Europe compared to the US, how the collaboration began with her
co-author Solveig Pedersen; and FREE samples of how the program works with the letters A,
N, P & the whole alphabet. If you have a question about the program, you are welcome
to participate in our discussion group and ask a question. |
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