Songs
can be a useful tool when teaching ESL because they give students
the opportunity to listen to someone other than you, their teacher.
Songs can be a challenge for students because they are often faster
than an instructor’s speech however they can also be enjoyable and serve
to reinforce certain aspects of English
Benefits of Songs:
They are memorable:
The
song the students learn at their early age has its own interesting
language. When students grow up , they never forget such language. It lives in their memory for ever.
They can be great fun.
The
biggest factor that makes them fun for the kids is how much the teacher
likes them, so you have a perfect motivation for using your own
favorites.
They mark different stages of the lesson
You
can start the class every week with the same song, end the class with
another, and use songs or chants to mark other transitions like books
out and books away.
• Students just show their understanding by doing the actions while others sing along or even improvise their own words.
They can be used at whatever stage
You can use songs during
presentation, practice or revision before a test. You can even use an
action song for a week or two before the formal presentation, and so
make the presentation when it comes much easier.
They sound great to mothers and school managers listening outside your classroom door They can be performed during end of year shows or parties They allow for lots of repetition of the language kids not to get bored.
1-Grammar
Often songs can be used to practice particular grammat points. Some textbooks spend enormous amounts of time on particular
topics and creating new activities may become challenging so songs are
something you can turn to.
2-Mad Libs
Mad
Libs are a great way to practice parts of speech. You can really use
any passage to make a Mad Libs activity but it can be fun to use songs
too
3-Holiday:
There may not be a particular point to using the song in your class
besides to conduct a listening activity using a popular holiday song,
but sometimes that is sufficient and your students are sure to enjoy it.
If your students are willing, it may be appropriate to practice singing
the song too.
4-Discussion:
Certain
songs can be used to lead into discussions. This type of activity would
be appropriate for more advanced learners. If you are not exactly sure
what kinds of questions will be appropriate, you can start off with very
simple ones such as “Is this a happy song?”
and when students say “No” ask them why not?
This can lead into a
discussion about people’s indifference, homeless people, or something
similar.
Songs can be taught in many ways:
1. The close or gap fill
This
is the most familiar and popular activity, and for that reason is
probably overused. However, there are many important things to bear in
mind when using them, and there are many different ways to use them.
Have a point, be it vocabulary or prepositions or whatever.
Don't cloze 3 or more in a row.
For lower levels: give the first letter, miss out word endings, give
dashes for letters, or give a glossary.
Give vocabulary clues or synonyms for the missing words.
Get students to work in pairs to predict words before you play the tape.
Insert extra words which students then cross out as they listen.
Change the words, as in "Careful Shouts" or "Countless Whiskies."
Close unstressed, then stressed words in the same song, and have
students discuss why one is easier than the other.
Close several words in a row and Ss have to guess not only form
(adj., adv., n., vb, prep.) but words, rhythm and rhyme.
2. A-B activities
Students
match beginnings and ends of lines, such as ."Another Day in Paradise"
(simple) or "Private Investigations" & "If Only..." (more
complicated).
3. Mixed-up activities
Generally, have the lines of the song on separate strips of paper.
Students put down strips as they hear them.
Mixed-up lines/verses.
Students try to organize in advance (use prompts).
4. Dictation-wall
Dictation-wall
Self-dictation (whole song blanked)
Part Dictation
5. Translation
Class chooses a song from their own language.
Groups translate.
Check with other groups.
Combine the best. Then work on rhyme and rhythm.
6. Jigsaw-listening
Groups
listen to different songs with the same (Luka/Behind the Wall) or
different themes (Easy Street/Money for Nothing) and peer teach
vocabulary, compare.
7. Composing
Listen to the song.
Students add verses of their own.
Good songs for this are, "Imagine" & "Man Gave Names To All The Animals" by Bob Dylan.
Students finish the line in each verse, then listen to check.
In groups, students then write their own verse.
8. Writing
Put random words from the song on the board. Students try and write
the "tale of the song."
Students paraphrase the song
Cut the song in half. Students predict the other half.
9. Pronunciation
He's got the whole world... /h/ sound
Do I speak double Dutch to a real double duchess... /d/ sound
10. Vocabulary
Miming verbs
Dictionary work
Matching
11. Listening
Give Ss word list. Ss number as they hear them.
Sound discrimination, e.g. tempted/tended
12. Posters
Arrange lyrics and pictures, or just lyrics, or translate.
Bibliography
Music and Song can be used to talk about people's lives.
Principles for making a song ‘work’.
Students have fun and are therefore motivated.
Students learn quicker than with other methods Students remember longer than with other methods Students use rhythm and intonation when speaking, moving.
Using the song reinforces other things such as discipline, group work,
rewarding good behavior, fostering learner independence
Electronic song teaching:
Songs can be presented
to learners in class without any excessive efforts or expensive musical
instruments. This can be carried out through an electronic program like
"Movie-Maker" or "power point".
This program can present the song words
with tune, motion and sound effects and timed automatic transition
electronically in a lovely way.
Make sure that:
1.Meaning of the song can be made clear in a quick and easy way.
2.Whether the students understand the the song or not, is easy to
gauge.
3.The meanings and the song are easy to remember
4.The song is suitable for the students in terms of age, speed
and content.
5.The
language in the song is similar to language they will be able to
use in
other parts of the class and/ or outside the class.
Factors to take into account:
1.
Are the gestures you want to use the same in English speaking countries
as in the country of countries the kids come from? If not, will you
want to use the one they know to reinforce the meaning and avoid
misunderstanding or teach them the British or American gestures as a
kind of cultural training?
2. Is the first
gesture you think of (e.g. rolling arms around each other for “roll
over” in “There was one in the bed” song) something that might be better
used with another meaning in a later song or in classroom instructions
(e.g. the rolling arms gesture could be the best gesture for “repeat”)?
3. Can the students still use the same gestures if you speed the song up for a bit of variety?
4. Do the gestures build up to a climax, e.g. leaving the most amusing or energetic gesture for the last verse of the song?
5. Are the gestures fun?
6.
Will some of the kids, e.g. the older ones, be embarrassed by doing any
of the gestures, e.g. looking camp if they have to mime being a wo
man.
Making a song the focus of your class
1. Listen to the song
That’s it – start things off by just listening. It’s important to
remember that this is supposed to be a fun activity; don’t make it too
serious or boring.
2. Ask some questions about the title
Here are an example of the types of questions you can ask:
For Queen’s classic ‘We are the champions’:
‘What is a champion?’
‘What kinds of champions are there in the world?’
‘What activities have champions?’
Such questions tend to work really well as conversation
starters, so group three or four learners together and then get feedback
from each group on their thoughts. If you think it would help, make
this your first step, i.e., before the initial listening.
Alternatively,
prior to having listened to the song you can teach a
couple of words and give a simple task for the first listening. My favorite strategy is to give three or four words from the song and ask
them to listen out for the words that rhyme with them. You could also
brainstorm possible rhymes before listening.
3. Listen to the song again, this time with lyrics
This time, you should give learners the chance to read the lyrics to
the song. At this point you might do one or more of the following
activities:
Learners can just read the lyrics while they listen. They can possibly highlight unknown words for later discussion.
You can make a lyric worksheet as a gap fill; learners fill in the gaps as they listen.
4. Focus on a particular verb tense or aspect of grammar
How many examples can you find of the past simple in the lyrics?
Why did the writer of this song choose this verb tense?
This acts as a springboard for discussing the function of a
specific tense, as well as examining its form. Furthermore, it often
tends to raise awareness of grammatical flexibility and ‘poetic license
in the construction of song lyrics.
5. Focus on vocabulary, idioms and expressions
Start with questions like these (again, for Queen’s
classic song ‘We are the champions’):
What does ‘I’ve paid my dues’ mean?
What does ‘my share of’ mean?
What does ‘I’ve taken my bows’ mean?
Go through the meanings, illustrating with other examples if
necessary. Songs often serve as really good contexts for phrases and
idioms, but it’s good to make sure that the meaning is clear.
6. Round things off with some creativity
You might want to try finishing things off
with an activity that