You may need to think carefully when finding the perfect song to practise a specific grammar point, but it is not too difficult to find at least one example in a particular song. You can also exploit examples as a test of grammar comprehension. “But you don’t got to brag” as opposed to “But you mustn’t brag” in “Summer Nights” from Grease). This, however, reinforces the correct use of language, as we are rather perversely more likely to remember mistakes in language use (e.g. One of the possible criticisms of the use of songs in the classroom is that the grammar used is often incorrect, or slang. (An ideal song for a low-level class is the Beatles’ “Hello Goodbye”, which contains all the following opposites Hello-Goodbye, Yes-No, Stop-Go, High-Low, Why-I Don’t Know). As a while-listening activity ask students to put the words in the order they hear them. Students write down the opposites of these words (their answers should, but do not always, correspond to the original words), then listen to the song to check. Choose between ten and fifteen words from a song, and write the opposites on the board. One of the easiest vocabulary exercises is predicting opposites. They are also ideal for practising reading skills, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. There are many different ways of exploiting songs, from the traditional gap fill to word/line order exercises – do not forget that songs are essentially listening texts, so any activities you use to develop listening skills can also be used with songs. Depending on the aims of your lesson some songs will be more appropriate than others. One of the fundamental rules of language teaching is that the activity should be motivating, and letting the students suggest which songs to use in the classroom puts them at the centre of the learning process. Students listen to all kinds of music outside the classroom, so are very enthusiastic when teachers choose to exploit songs in the classroom. It can be very annoying, but from the point of view of a language teacher, with an appropriate song, this becomes an ideal alternative to the traditional, more boring drill of repeating a sentence aloud.
We have all experienced hearing a song on the radio or in an advertisement and then finding ourselves repeating the chorus for the rest of the day. Kylie Minogue’s 2001 hit “I Just Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” was about a man, but she could easily have been singing about a song.
#SONG TO TEACH PAST TENSE HOW TO#
Using authentic songs in the ELT classroomįergal Kavanagh, a teacher at the University in Naples, Italy, offers advice on how to use songs in the classroom.
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