By Barbara Mills
One of the ways that I have successfully built a Music Lingua business is by being a presence at the local libraries. The children’s section of the library is always looking for content providers. It’s a win-win situation if you can offer to do a free French program for them from time-to-time. I like to do this between sessions, a couple of weeks before I have classes starting up, so that I can get some renewed exposure in the community.
The program that I do is primarily a public service outreach to parents of young children who may not know about the importance of early language training. While most parents think it would be cool for their kids to learn a foreign language at an early age, and they understand the benefits of being bilingual for education, travel and job purposes, not many people understand the important physiological changes that the young brain undergoes when exposed to another language. These benefits extend to other cognitive learning areas such as better math and analytical skills, and reading and writing ability in the mother tongue. I remind parents that the ‘Window of Opportunity’ to learn a language effortlessly is before they are 8 years old, and preferably as young as possible. While it is a mini Music Lingua class for the kids, I weave in information for the parents, highlighting the resources at the local library.
For example, parents can expose their children’s ears to the many sounds of languages by checking out the Little Pim DVDs and international music CDs. I don’t expect kids to start speaking languages by utilizing these resources alone, but training theirs ears and reproducing the sounds of other languages is one step towards getting the accent right when they are studying languages. I like to use the example of English-speaking Japanese who were not exposed to English as children. As we age, it’s very hard to get our brains and mouths to make new sounds – especially the English L’s and R’s for the Japanese.
The other side of language learning is to replicate a meaning in several languages. I ask the kids what I am saying when I wave my hand in the air – everyone knows that means hello! I then ask them to say hello in another language they may know and out comes, “hola”, “bonjour”, “konnichiwa”, “nihau”, etc. Then I ask what their favorite DVD is to watch at home and the excited voices tell me all about their favorites with the nodding parents rolling their eyes behind them. I then tell the parents that they are in a great position to help inspire language learning by allowing the children to watch that DVD yet another time, but this time in whatever foreign language is available. If the children have memorized the video, they will anticipate, by the music and context, the words the character is about to speak. By simply giving them the words in another language, they will pick up snippets of language – which is one of the main principles used in the Music Lingua curriculum. Is this free, at-home strategy as good as taking a class and having a face-to-face interaction? No, but it is something they can easily do and opens up the conversation of what actually happens in a Music Lingua class!
Now that you have a free Music Lingua class booked at the library, it’s time to get some exposure. Make sure that the library will help advertise the class through their normal venues (posters, flyers, newsletters, online calendars, etc.). In my community, there are several children’s publications and newspapers that have community calendars. If the library doesn’t plan to list the activity in those publications, ask permission to do so yourself. These publications make their money through advertising, but they pull in readers through their community calendars. Parents often skim over the advertisements but look at the calendar carefully for fun things to do with their children. Save your advertising money and focus on being highlighted in the calendar instead!
Please add your comments, ideas and questions about this concept in the comments section below!
Barbara Mills has been a French Music Lingua teacher in Colorado Springs for the past 
5 years and has successfully grown her classes, starting with 5 families in 1 class to over 20 families participating in 5 classes currently. She credits her success with the love of children and the French language as well as a strong background in entrepreneurship, marketing and business development.
Several teachers have asked about what to do for a library class. Here is the format I have used for several years:
1. While everyone is making name tags and getting settled, I start with colors (I have rubber circles that we sit and stand on in a semi-circle)
2. Then we jump into the Hello Song from the Life on the Farm CD – very simple.
3. Then we do the name song – going around the room to learn each other’s names. Don’t play the music but use the “My name is” song.
4. We stand up and do the “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” Song
5. Sit down and do the Itsy Bitsy Spider song from the Life on the Farm CD. Everyone gets to hold a small spider and then I act surprised that there is a big spider and bring it out of my box when the song shifts (they love that) Then we count the legs (10 not 8) so we know it’s not a real spider
6. Good-bye Song – again, no music, just sing one verse and then more verses to sing everyone’s names.
7. I say thank you and then have them come up for a sticker so they can practice Thank You too.
In the midst of this program (I limit it to 15 kids + parents), I will intersperse important information about language learning for kids as a public outreach to families (as described above) I also talk about how important French is in the world (lest we forget). . . .
I only do these programs between my own sessions – so that families can try a free class before they register for one with me. So, of course, I have information about the upcoming classes, show them the materials and offer a sign-up sheet for emails regarding future classes. The libraries I work with require registration for the free class to keep the numbers manageable and share this list with me. This way, I can learn all the names quickly before class and, with their permission, follow-up with the families with a phone call.
I only make one call EVER to a someone on that list. I make it clear that I received their name and number from the library. If they registered but did not attend AND I have room in my classes, I will invite them to try a free class during the first week of the next session. Many accept and if they show up, they usually sign up. If they did attend the program, it is a nice gesture to call and ask them (if they didn’t stay after class to talk) how you can support them in language learning for their children. Regardless, I ask if they would like to be on my email list. Many are willing since they actually registered their kids for the free class after all!
I hope this helps! Please post more questions or comment below!
Here’s a picture of me in action!