We worked with Genevieve Shaw (Geni) for several years. She is a graduate of English Language and Literature from the University of Edinburgh (UK) and has worked for many years in the field of linguistics. Starting out as a teacher of the English Language, she went on to become a professional translator. She collaborated on several projects with LocalizationLab. A musician, cellist and singer-songwriter, Geni also worked for a long time composing, singing and recording songs for Kids&Us, the leading national company for after-school English. This experience led her to develop a new musical method and resources for teaching English to primary-school children: LaLaSchools.
When did your career begin?
I have always been involved with music, as I started learning the cello at the age of four. I remember composing songs from an early age too, as it came naturally to me. I always had a tune going around in my head.
After I graduated from university, I came to live in Barcelona and began teaching English. The more time I spent in Catalonia, the more interested I became in the local culture. There is so much going on here that simply doesn’t exist in the UK: chestnut time at Halloween, human towers, the pooing log and pooing man at Christmas time, the Saint George’s Day celebrations, fire-runs, stick dancing, and so on.
In around 2013 I began to compose and record music for Kids&Us. This experience showed me the potential for teaching language through music, and in 2019 when my daughter and third child was born, I decided to create my own method and resources to teach English, based on music and Catalan culture. I wanted to teach children how to talk about their own culture in English.
What is your current project?
LaLaSchools. I create resources for teaching English in primary schools based on music and Catalan culture. I also teach in primary schools, where I implement the LaLaSchools method. I work with children aged 1-12.
Why music?
Catchy songs get inside children’s heads. Children of all ages respond, on the whole, really well to music. Rhythm, melody, rhyming lyrics, movement and repetition all boost children’s language acquisition.
Time and time again, I see children easily memorise advanced language structures through songs, and I really do think that teaching English through music is like using a magic wand. As children learn the songs, we explore their meaning through picture resources, and then turn this knowledge into movement-based games. It makes me really happy to see the kids learn English through songs that I have written, and it’s one of the most rewarding things I have ever done!
Why Catalan culture?
There are so many unique cultural traditions in Catalonia that simply don’t exist elsewhere – the pooing log, the pooing man, human towers, giants, fire-runs, Three Kings Day, carnival. I believe it’s important for children in Catalonia to learn how to talk about these traditions so that they can speak about their own cultural experience to people visiting, or to people in other countries.
These are cultural traditions that are an everyday part of primary school throughout the entire school year. In primary school, children are constantly exposed to these traditions, and any child who goes to school in Catalonia will be familiar with them, independently of whether their own family celebrates them at home.
Why and when did you decide to start this project?
When my daughter was born in 2019, I knew that I wanted to change my career and focus on music. I started by creating personalised lullabies for babies, but after a time I began writing lots of songs to help us in our day-to-day routine. I found that singing really helped in transitional moments, such as bath time, nappy changing, getting in and out of the car, etc.
When my daughter turned two, I decided to open a playgroup in the village where I live (Sant Martí Sesgueioles), and lots of children came to play and sing songs in English. One thing led to another, and gradually I started working in local schools teaching the songs that I was writing.
At the same time, in 2019, I also began a project (LaLaFolk) to write songs based on Catalan culture with Laia Gonzalez Prat, who is an English teacher and the director of the ZER Vent d’Avall. We co-designed a programme of songs based on Catalan culture for the full range of ages at primary school. Nearly five years later I am still writing new songs that I use on a day-to-day basis with LaLaSchools!
What is different about your project?
Teaching English through singing and music is like magic! Songs gets inside children’s heads, and parents often tell me that their kids begin to sing random lines from songs at unexpected times of the day, when they’re away from the classroom.
Secondly, the idea of LaLaSchools is to encourage children to use English as a neutral tool to talk about their own experience and culture. All too often, children learning English are expected to become immersed in British or US culture even though statistically they are more likely to speak English with non-native speakers.
Thirdly, it’s fun! The children sing, move and play as they learn English, which is always important when learning a language. Even with babies learning their first language – the more they sing, play and have fun, the more language they will learn. The LaLaSchools teaching method is designed to engage children and get them jumping about as they sing.
Lastly, it’s not just me who thinks this. A recent study by the University of Barcelona found that 80% of students learned English more effectively with music and specifically with our teaching materials. Link to study.
How can people access your resources? Is LaLaSchools just for schools, or can families access it too?
My recent album ‘Everyday Songs for Little Kids’ is available on Spotify and other streaming platforms, so that parents or teachers of children aged 1-6 can listen to my songs in the classroom, in the car or at home. Likewise, I am in the process of releasing songs about Catalan traditions on Spotify and other streaming platforms. These songs can be used by teachers who would like to give their classes a fun and musical boost! Search for ARTIST Genevieve Shaw or PLAYLIST LaLaSchools.
I currently teach at local primary schools in the Anoia and Bages regions and I also run workshops in Catalonia. If you would like to consider implementing LaLaSchools for the coming school year at your school or would like to do a workshop, please drop me a line.
If you are a teacher and would like to do a training module on a specific Catalan tradition, I run online training courses and provide teaching resources. Please send an email for further information.
Lastly, I run a local playgroup in the village of Sant Martí Sesgueioles on Mondays from 17:30-19:00 for children aged one to seven, where we do LaLaSchools English and music sessions. Please get in touch for further information.
contacte@lalaschools.cat www.lalaschools.cat Instagram: @lalaschools
At LocalizationLab are happy to see our collaborators like Genevieve explore new ideas and make their dreams come true. We also find it really rewarding that Catalan traditions are being explained in English so that they can reach kids everywhere. We are sure this methodology will help many children learn English.