Carolyn Graham

Not to be confused with Caroline Graham.

Carolyn Graham
Occupation	Musician, Writer, Teacher, Teacher trainer
Language	English
Nationality	American
Genre	Text book, Poetry, Songs
Website
Official website of Carolyn Graham

Carolyn Graham is the creator of numerous English language teaching books, most notably Jazz Chants and Let's Sing, Let's Chant, published by Oxford University Press. She wrote the songs for Susan Rivers' Tiny Talk series of ELT books, also published by OUP.

Graham developed the technique of jazz chanting during her twenty-five years of teaching ESL in the American Language Institute of New York University. She has also taught at Harvard University and has conducted workshops in the NYU School of Education, Columbia Teachers College in New York and Tokyo, and elsewhere throughout the world. Ms. Graham is the author of numerous Jazz Chants® books, all published by Oxford University Press.

Method Jazz Chants by Carolyn Graham

Jazz Chants are world famous exercises when students repeat rhythmically words and short phrases to music. It is a rhythmic expression of natural language which links the rhythms of spoken American English to the rhythms of traditional American jazz. A jazz chant is a fragment of authentic language presented with special attention to its natural rhythm. It is important to remember that jazz chanting is not like rapping, nursery rhymes, or songs, which distort the spoken language for poetic effect. The rhythms, stress and intonation pattern of the chant should be an exact replica of what the student would hear from an educated native speaker in natural conversation.

Throughout the ’80s and ’90s Graham’s jazz chants spread far and wide along with the ESL teaching methods and techniques that sprouted like bamboo shoots after a spring rain during the same period. Today jazz chants can be heard in hundreds and thousands of ESL and EFL classrooms around the world.

Books

Carolyn Graham is the author of the following works:

External links

• Oxford University Press
• The series of computer programs Languages with Music is the implementation of the ideas of Jazz Chants
• Full collection of the most relevant materials about Jazz Chants on the Internet
• ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION JAZZ CHANTS US Department of State. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. A Website for teachers and learners of English as a foreign language abroad
• Jazz chanting in Argentina The Power of Rhythm: Jazz Chants in the Classroom.
• Jazz Baby in Africa & Madagascar US Diplomatic Mission to South Africa.

• Tiny Talk series of ELT books