Album Notes

Welcome to The Moon Through My Window - Level 1, an enhanced music CD with printable lyric sheets and vocabulary lists for English as a Second Language (ESL) learners! If you are a teacher looking for a fun and effective activity to do in class, a way to help you along with your own personal studies, or merely something you and your kids/students can enjoy listening to, this is the right album for you!

Have you ever tried to use music in the classroom as a teaching resource? As a musician, I did this many times during my experience with teaching English as a second language. I have always felt that music has a unique way of allowing students to learn vocabulary, memorize and retain it for longer, and then in turn help with their overall pronunciation levels while speaking. Furthermore, when students are exposed to different genres of music, I feel it opens a gateway into understanding different cultures, and as a result, broadens their horizons by broadening their dreams.

     While famous songs are nice to use in class, it is difficult to find any that include vocabulary the students are learning now. This is what made the lightbulb go off in my head: Why don't I write some original songs and include vocabulary ESL students are learning at beginning and intermediate levels?!? This way, when using lyric sheets as part of an activity, students will be reviewing vocabulary they have just learned.

     It has been a pleasure to focus on writing these educational songs. My goal has been to write them with a simplicity that students can really make use of in the classroom, but also with lyrics native English speakers can enjoy. If an unknowingly native English speaker does not notice the songs from this album are meant to be used as a teaching resource, I will feel I've done my job well.

     Again, this CD is enhanced, so when inserted into a CD player it plays the audio like a regular CD, but when inserted into a computer a window automatically opens with the lyric sheets and vocabulary lists available in PDF form. A teacher can print off the lyric sheets and vocabulary lists, and then make copies to use in class. Or, anyone can print the PDF files on their home printer and do the activity themselves :-)

    As the developer of this project, I am proud of what it has become, and naturally I want to share it with the entire world! It has taken quite a long time to finish the first album, and although there is still a lot of work to do for the next albums, I am enjoying every minute of it. Nevertheless, the last thing I want to do is mislead you into buying a product that isn't right for you, so you should know ahead of time that this album is not meant to replace a textbook. It will make the process more enjoyable, yes, but it is not a quick fix to learning English.

     My goal with this project to to enrich the ESL learning experience. I hope this music can be useful to ESL teachers worldwide as a resource in the classroom, non-native English speakers who wish to study English on their own, and for native English speakers who merely want to enjoy the music. Go ahead, give it a listen and see what you think!

Kindest Regards,
Mike
http://www.themoonthroughmywindow.com