In the Croatian education system, students from fourth to eighth grade learn about Croatian traditional music, which is part of the national music culture curriculum. They get to know traditional customs, instruments, and songs of a particular region. The students expressed their desire to get to know the music, culture, and music of another European country.
It is important that our students develop awareness of the protection of cultural heritage, but also that they respect differences and develop multiculturalism. In our educational system, we teach about Croatian tradition and the preservation of local and national identity, but we also try to make students aware of the importance of respecting others and those who are different. While learning about the cultural heritage of European countries, the students noticed similarities and differences, they were especially surprised by the numerous similarities. With this, they realized that regardless of the distance, we all have many similarities both in our cultural heritage and tradition, as well as in our everyday life.
I decided to allocate 5 school hours (5×45′) so that I could teach the students to play and sing songs from other countries in Europe and so that they could learn and adopt something new about these countries. The scenario Fun with flags (LS-GR-292) helped us to choose countries and motivated them to learn something new and create something of their own. I used this scenario with 6th grade students – there are three 6th graders (11-12 years) in our school, 61 students.
With the help of this scenario, I not only developed students’ skills for the Music Culture class, but also covered numerous cross-curricular topics, but also connected with other subjects – Geography, Fine arts, History and Physical education. The students adopted the outcomes of musical culture, but also repeated, established and developed numerous outcomes of other subjects, developed numerous skills that they will use in other subjects, but also those that will be useful in their lives.
Stages of Implementation
1. Introductory part
In this introductory part of this implementation, I wanted to determine what the students know about the term cultural heritage, tradition, but also about the European countries that they will meet during these hours of musical culture. The countries we will learn more about are Hungary, Italy, France, and Belgium. I knew that, according to the Croatian national curriculum, they had already learned about these European countries in Geography and History classes, and I wanted to check and determine these most basic contents.
What is cultural heritage?
In pairs, the students presented their first thoughts in the digital tool WordArt and what they associate with the term cultural heritage.
Where are they located?
The students found the listed European countries on the map.
How the flags of the selected countries look like
Students recognized the flags of the countries in a Kahoot quiz.
Suitcases
The students participated in a creative task in pairs, with which I wanted to motivate and encourage them to work. Task for students:
– Paint the cover of the suitcase with the symbols of the given country
– Design a trip to a given country and write a trip report (the trip must include at least 5 elements of cultural heritage)
My flag
Students used the suggested digital tool from the original scenario to create their own flag – a flag that represents their identity. After making the flag, they presented in front of the class – why they used those colors, shapes, why the flag looks like that, what it symbolizes and what their country is called.
2. Main part
According to the Croatian national curriculum for Musical Culture, 6th grade students (age 11-12) learn about cultural heritage, tradition, traditional musical instruments, sing and play traditional songs. So, we also sang and played traditional songs of selected countries (France, Italy, Hungary, and Belgium) in the main part of this implementation.
Bonjour!
The students played the song Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman (Twinkl, twinkl little star) on bomwhackers. The song is a traditional song from France.
Let’s shine
The students sang the song Nek svud ljubav sja (Let love shine everywhere), traditional children’s song from Belgium.
You can watch and listen to their playing at the following link.
//photos.app.goo.gl/HbUrtPiCiw7wtSiS6
Parliamo Italiano
Students researched instruments that were made in Italy. After the research, in groups of 4, they made mental maps, which they presented with explanations for each musical instrument.
Neighbors, how are you?
A group of students presented the Hungarian kids dance Cifra and we all danced.
You can see how it looked on the link.
//photos.app.goo.gl/g62f17teNRJW2igQ6
Cultural and musical landmarks
The students researched musical and cultural sights and marked them on the digital tool Padlet board in the selected countries.
3. Final part
Students tested their acquired knowledge in a Kahoot quiz.
Students expressed their satisfaction with what they learned in the Forms survey.
//forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=FvJamzTGgEurAgyaPQKQkYkWPUucVS1AlZ5wLVwP4vNUREI0QURLVEdZQ01LV1JBOVU2RDFJTENYMC4u
Students will present their acquired knowledge and skills on School Day in May by playing, dancing, and singing the learned songs.
Learning outcomes
In the lessons of musical culture, by applying this learning scenario and using Europeana, they developed the skills of playing and singing the traditions of other countries, they connected these teaching contents in an interdisciplinary approach combining geography and history. The countries that the students wanted to cover were Hungary, Belgium, Italy, and France.
During the class in which I implemented this scenario, the students:
– recognized the flags of selected countries
– found countries on the map – developing cartographic skills
– went on an imaginary trip as a couple
– looked for cultural and musical landmarks and wrote them on the map
– founded their own states, designed their own flags
– played and sang traditional songs
– developed multiculturalism
– developed musical skills
– developed awareness of the preservation of tradition and cultural heritage
– they developed, raised awareness, and improved their talents – developed social and communication skills
– expressed themselves creatively
– developed critical thinking
– developed digital skills using different digital tools
Outcomes for the educator
I have often encountered the problem of a lack of materials, ideas, and digital tools that could be used in the teaching of music culture in various educations. Education and examples are always more applicable in the teaching of educational subjects (especially STEM subjects), and musical culture as an educational subject is neglected and no one cares about us teachers of educational subjects. This is not the case with Europeana.
I often use Europeana as a source of information, and there I find additional materials and ideas with which I can enrich the teaching process, as well as my extracurricular activities. This scenario helped me process and realize what the students and I imagined. Through these activities, the students showed their knowledge in other areas and successfully connected the contents of the history and geography subjects, and I am glad to see how the students express themselves creatively and use their talents.
I found out about Europeana on the recommendation of a work colleague. After I discovered what I can find there, I recommend it to others as a useful source of information that can enrich every subject.
Link to the learning scenario implemented: Fun with Flags (LS-GR-292) – Teaching With Europeana (eun.org)
Do you want to discover more stories of implementation? Click here.
CC0 1.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana and has been provided by the Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum.
