Choir teacher goes viral for using Gen Alpha slang to engage students
A Michigan choir teacher and her young students are going viral after a video of them singing a made-up song featuring Generation Alpha slang racked up over 3.6 million views on TikTok.
Taryn Gontjes, a choir director at Cityside Middle School in Zeeland, shared the TikTok video that shows her playing a piano and directing students, before they all start to sing along together.
The original song idea came to Gontjes recently after she decided she wouldn’t discipline her sixth-, seventh- or eighth-graders for using slang constantly.
“The slang is just really big right now, and 6-7, it's just a huge thing. Literally, every kid is saying it,” Gontjes told ABC News. “Some teachers have banned it from their classrooms just because they're so tired of hearing it all the time. But I just decided that wasn't a battle that I wanted to fight. And so, I thought, ‘Why not just make it part of what we do and have fun with it and embrace it?’”
Gontjes estimated it took her sixth-graders about 15 minutes to come up with the final, collaborative song “on the fly,” part of a warm-up exercise.
“I just said one day, ‘OK, we're gonna work together and we're gonna make a brain-rot version of it,’” Gontjes recalled. “And they thought it was just the coolest thing ever because an adult who's not using this slang all the time is encouraging it rather than banning it.”
The students weren’t the only ones who received the song well.
Gontjes’ video has since received nearly 4,000 comments, many with positive reactions.
“Oh no…. It’s in my head forever now 😳 “6-7, 6-7, 6-7, Skibidi. Ohio, a big back Ohio. Alpha, Sigma, Rizzler. Go back to Ohio! SLAY!” 😂😂😂” commented one TikToker.
Another added, “ok they ate that 😭😭.”
As a choir teacher, Gontjes said she regularly encourages children to try different things in the classroom, and even if it doesn’t seem like it at first, it has proven to be a successful teaching strategy.
“I can still teach something but just [use] a silly song like that as a vehicle, and then later on, when we're working on our actual music, I can say, ‘OK, we learned how to do a tall vowel shape in that warm-up so now let's take it and apply it to this,’” Gontjes explained. “It's silly and it's fun, but at the same time, it's really educational and we learn a lot as we're doing those silly things, too.”
Gontjes said since sharing her video and other similar ones on TikTok, she has been heartened to hear from other teachers and schools who’ve been inspired by what she’s doing in the classroom.
“We create things every day and it's a really treasured part of our class period,” Gontjes said.
“I want people to know that being a part of music is such a good thing for kids,” the longtime teacher added. “Music is important, but being able to spend time with them and build relationships with them and walk alongside them as people is also really important.”
