Jazz Chants

What is a jazz chant? For those who are unfamiliar with jazz chants, it is a fun and unique way of linking the rhythm of natural spoken language to the rhythm of music. It aims to help students to sound more natural when they speak English. In simpler words, it's like speaking in a rhythm.. and the best part is, there's no fixed/specific rhythm for every jazz chant text, thus, you can create one that suits your liking!

I learnt about jazz chants early on in my teaching career and found it helpful in developing speaking skills with my students. It's also a great way to kickstart a lesson. My students have always found it entertaining when I use jazz chants as my set induction - it helps them get ready for the lesson and the activities that follow. I soon found myself creating my own chants for different topics and using them with my classes regularly. Below are the videos of my students doing a jazz chant. It's the same chant but I turned it into a boys vs. girls thingy and whichever group that performed better got a reward in return. It's more fun that way hehe :)

You can use the chants in a variety fun ways, from practising stress and rhythm to learning different vocabulary and grammar. For instance, pre-teach the target words or grammar points prior to listening to the chant and get the students to identify those words as they listen and next, get them to sing along. To complement the chanting, I usually ask my students to clap their hands or tap their hands on the desk or even stomp their feet on the ground to get them into the rhythm. I'm sure they'll enjoy it. My students always do.

Try it.. you might be surprised.

p/s: Felt proud when I heard some of my students chanting one of the chants I've taught them when they saw me.