Every year, the BHS language department participates in their own version of March Madness. Each class has a bracket of songs in their respective language, and throughout the month students decide the winners of individual song face-offs until the most popular one is crowned victor.

“I just have my kids fill out brackets for the chance of winning a box of Lafeen’s doughnuts!” says Japanese teacher Mark Wright.

Songs can come from many different countries, too. Last year, the German bracket featured songs from both Germany and Austria, as well as some smaller German-speaking countries, and this year the French class features songs from Switzerland, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Canada, Haiti, Guiney, Tunisia, Cameroun, Morocco, Congo, Lebanon, Comoros, and Madagascar, according to French teacher Svetlana Cuello.

“We locate all the artists’ homes on a map,” says Cuello, which “reinforces [students’] geography awareness in a meaningful context.”

Some of the songs featured this year include Fieber by Montez x SDP, Zeit by ENNIO, and Alles Easy by Lena Marie Engel in the German Bracket, and Dépassé by Nuit Incolore, Travailler by Baladji Kwata, and Level Up bu Leflofranco in the French Bracket.

This Musical March Madness “helps to promote respect for other cultures and perspectives, connections, empathy, and social justice,” says Cuello.