Heyer, S. (2010). True stories behind the songs: A beginning reader. White Plains, NY: Pearson Longman.

Heyer, S. (2010). More true stories behind the songs: A high-beginning reader. White Plains, NY: Pearson Longman.

Sandra Heyer’s True Stories Behind the Songs: A Beginning Reader and More True Stories Behind the Songs: A High-Beginning Reader provide wonderful combinations of music and thematic literature that offer 21st-century English language learners an amazing acculturation experience. The two books follow similar formats and vary only in their level of study and difficulty of the themes selected. The concept of using music to instruct English language learners offers real-life, natural language through vocabulary usage and grammatical constructs. The meaningful and appropriate use of song is a motivating factor in learning English and targets interesting and relevant topics in American culture and history. Songs and their lyrics offer both the oral and written components of language study, and much research has demonstrated a solid link between native-like pronunciation and musical methods (Martinec, 2000; Voigt, 2003). Heyer fills her books with excellent teaching ideas including pronunciation practice, prereading activities, and postreading exercises based on vocabulary, comprehension, and writing.

Both workbooks are organized into eight rich units that address central themes through a piece of music and two literary components (one story is about the song and the other addresses the focal point of the unit). The thematic units center on pertinent and significant issues for English language learners as they acclimate to their new culture. True Stories Behind the Songs: A Beginning Reader focuses on personal information, identity formation, relationships, leisure activities, daily routines, family, and multiculturalism. More True Stories Behind the Songs: A High-Beginning Reader further develops the English language learners’ knowledge of house and home, sports, literacy, financial management, U.S. government and the army, altruism, and philanthropy.

Each book provides 8 songs and 16 literary pieces. The music ranges from traditional American favorites such as “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” to classic Beatles songs such as “Here Comes the Sun” to modern-day movie soundtracks such as Titanic’s “My Heart Will Go On.” Music can often assist and engage English language learners who are struggling with their language development (Abril, 2003), and the musical variety aims to target the interests of both adolescent and adult learners. Along with the written lyrics, the books also offer a companion Web site with the iTunes recordings of the songs. This allows the English language learners ample opportunities to interact with the music and addresses an important skill in language learning: listening.

The literary selections are as varied as their musical counterparts. The array of biographies, personal anecdotes, and poems give English language learners differentiated exposure to real-life literature. The teacher resources accompanying these literary pieces are among the most valuable components of the workbooks, and the ideas and strategies presented are easily applicable to other areas and topics of instruction. Each of the literary pieces is preceded by prereading activities and followed by vocabulary, pronunciation, reading comprehension, and discussion/writing exercises, allowing learners to truly immerse themselves in the thematic experience. Matching, fill-in-the-blank, error correction, and open-ended writing tasks provide ample opportunity to interact with and use the new material presented within the unit.

Sandra Heyer’s True Stories Behind the Songs: A Beginning Reader and More True Stories Behind the Songs: A High-Beginning Reader do an excellent job immerging English language learners into the academic and social world of the United States. Literature and music complemented by movie and television citations, historical and political references, interdisciplinary components of study, and a range of human emotions truly capitalize on the success of this series. English language learners will certainly enjoy their linguistic experiences through these workbooks as they navigate the world of English language learning and develop a deeper cultural understanding.

REFERENCES

Abril, C. R. (2003). No hablo ingles: Breaking the language barrier in music instruction. Music Educator's Journal, 89(5), 38-43.

Martinec, R. (2000). Rhythm in multimodal texts. Leonardo, 33(4), 289-297.

Voigt, E. (2003). Syntax: Rhythm of thought, rhythm of song. Kenyon Review, 25, 144-164.

Fran Malkin is currently an assistant professor at SUNY Old Westbury and has been working with foreign language and English language learners for the past 15 years. Her current research interests include teacher preparation and professional development.