kevinfar
New member
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2015
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Malta
- Current Location
- Australia
Hi guys, I'm new to this forum so glad to be here!
I just wanted to start off by giving back some information to teachers around the world, from whom I've learned so much, and today's topic is how you can use songs in your ESL classroom to engage your students are created better lessons.
First of all - why songs? Firstly, because playing a song in today's classroom is relatively easy to do. Just take your phone and a set of small speakers into class is the worst case scenario. Most classes already have the setup needed to be able to play songs.
So how can songs be used to engage students? Here are some ideas:
1.An opener for classroom discussions and debates
Artists write songs on many different topics and you can use this to your advantage. If you are covering a topic that could lead itself to different opinions, why not use a song to introduce the topic or just before the actual discussion? This gives students a break from the usual medium of information (just words) and personally, I find that it helps them reflect more than if I had just presented a topic using words.
2. Tense explanation
This is also a great one that I love to use. Songs are written about someone's past, present and future with all of the different combinations of those tenses. In some cases, you'll find that a song will instantly pop into your head once you are planning your lesson. In that case - great! That song can be used to give a better explanation to students about your lesson. If not, you might have to do some research - but you're already doing that, so why not include a song in your class?
3. Conditionals
Maybe you've thought about this before - maybe not. In any case, I always think of the song "If I Were a Boy" by Beyonce whenever I think of the song + conditional combination. I've also used this song a couple of times in class and it works wonders. Give it a go!
4. Vocabulary Builder
Just like any other piece of content that we give our student, a song can be an ideal source of expanding students' vocabulary. Make sure that they students are aware of the context of the song and then try to elicit unknown vocabulary using the song's context. Just another way of doing things instead of just giving a reading text and eliciting vocabulary that way.
5. Working out the context
You can also reverse point number 4. Find a song that has vocabulary which students will probably know the meaning of and elicit its context. Elicit feelings. Elicit what could happen next in the situation. You'll find that students will place themselves in the musician's shoes and really get into this activity.
There you have it. My top 5 ways in which you can use songs in your ESL classroom. Try out any of these and let me know how it goes.
Cheers,
Kevin
I just wanted to start off by giving back some information to teachers around the world, from whom I've learned so much, and today's topic is how you can use songs in your ESL classroom to engage your students are created better lessons.
First of all - why songs? Firstly, because playing a song in today's classroom is relatively easy to do. Just take your phone and a set of small speakers into class is the worst case scenario. Most classes already have the setup needed to be able to play songs.
So how can songs be used to engage students? Here are some ideas:
1.An opener for classroom discussions and debates
Artists write songs on many different topics and you can use this to your advantage. If you are covering a topic that could lead itself to different opinions, why not use a song to introduce the topic or just before the actual discussion? This gives students a break from the usual medium of information (just words) and personally, I find that it helps them reflect more than if I had just presented a topic using words.
2. Tense explanation
This is also a great one that I love to use. Songs are written about someone's past, present and future with all of the different combinations of those tenses. In some cases, you'll find that a song will instantly pop into your head once you are planning your lesson. In that case - great! That song can be used to give a better explanation to students about your lesson. If not, you might have to do some research - but you're already doing that, so why not include a song in your class?
3. Conditionals
Maybe you've thought about this before - maybe not. In any case, I always think of the song "If I Were a Boy" by Beyonce whenever I think of the song + conditional combination. I've also used this song a couple of times in class and it works wonders. Give it a go!
4. Vocabulary Builder
Just like any other piece of content that we give our student, a song can be an ideal source of expanding students' vocabulary. Make sure that they students are aware of the context of the song and then try to elicit unknown vocabulary using the song's context. Just another way of doing things instead of just giving a reading text and eliciting vocabulary that way.
5. Working out the context
You can also reverse point number 4. Find a song that has vocabulary which students will probably know the meaning of and elicit its context. Elicit feelings. Elicit what could happen next in the situation. You'll find that students will place themselves in the musician's shoes and really get into this activity.
There you have it. My top 5 ways in which you can use songs in your ESL classroom. Try out any of these and let me know how it goes.
Cheers,
Kevin
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