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Fun:
Q: Teacher: What is the
shortest month?
A: Student: May, it only
has three letters.
Dear visitor,
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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 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
2-Mad Libs
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.
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.
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.
4. Dictation-wall
Dictation-wall
5. Translation
6. Jigsaw-listening
7. Composing
Listen to the song.
8. Writing
Put random words from the song on the board.
Students try and write the "tale of the song."
Students paraphrase the song
9. Pronunciation
10. Vocabulary
11. Listening
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 woman.
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?’
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:
4. Focus on a particular verb tense
oraspect of grammar
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’):
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
Sing Out Loud Children's Songs
View Other Resources:
1-Classroom Activity 1
2-Classroom Activity 2
3-Classroom Activity 3
4-Classroom Activity 4
5-Classroom Activity 5
6-Classroom Activity 6
View Resources:
1- Micro-teaching.
2-Talking to learn.
3-USA Education System.
4-The Conversation Class
5-Pre-Shool Education.
6-Puns, puzzles and Riddles.
7-Curiosity and Comprehension.
8-A Classroom Language Journal.
9- Twenty Testing mistakes to avoid.
10-Creating a storytelling Classroom.
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