Jazz Chants
A Look Back At A Technique That Still Shines Today - Carolyn Graham's Jazz Chants.
We’ve been using a time machine and making many videos and lesson materials to help teachers and students discover Jazz Chants. See our Youtube playlist for many examples.
I first started using these short, rhythmic songs with low-level students. I needed to create some class spirit and atmosphere and also inject some smiles into our steady workbook stuff. I was teaching in Toronto, a LINC program, Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada. So note - Jazz Chants aren’t just for children!!!
So many techniques, methods, fads (may I say) have come and gone in English language teaching. However, Jazz Chants - in my humble opinion - have stood the test of time with their simplicity, focus on “real” spoken English and its intonation, stress and pronunciation.
I’ve had the honor of attending some of Carolyn Graham’s workshops in the past and the creativity never ceases to amaze me. A teacher in N.Y. City with an avid interest in improv. jazz - she brought her passion into the classroom and Jazz Chants were born!
What is a Jazz Chant?
See this simple example about animals. Visit Barbara Sakamoto’s blog - Teaching Village for a nice explanation from the jazzy creator herself.
Basically, Jazz Chants are simple songs that are chanted individually, as a group or ideally in a 2 part chorus. They can be both focused on vocabulary (like this example) or on set phrases, chunks, idiomatic language.
The lyrics follow a 1,2,3,4 jazz rhythm. For a vocabulary chant, Graham suggests the following rule of thumb:
2 syllable word (Ze-bra) | 3 syllable word (El-e-phant) | 1 syllable word (Cow).
Then repeat the line. Then, use just the first two words. Then end with the 3 words. See our free template with more details on how to make/write a Jazz Chant.
[Paid subscribers - see this full presentation with audio of all the classic Jazz Chants].
But don’t get hung up on the timing, beat. Great if it happens but the aim after using some set Jazz Chant examples with students is for the students to write their own on a given topic/theme you are studying in class.
Let your students loose, they’ll love using Jazz Chants to practice the language studied in class. And like I said, it definitely will create smiles and wonderful classroom dynamics - happiness!
Let us know if you’ve used Jazz Chants with your students. Any tips, recommendations, very welcomed!
Reading this brought back a vivid memory. I was a new teacher in Istanbul when I found Jazz Chants at the British Council Teachers' Centre. I still remember turning those pages and feeling like I'd discovered an oasis. We had so little to work with back then, and this was something that genuinely made the classroom come alive. Some things never get old.