Teaching English with songs and music
     

      There are many reasons to use songs in the  classroom. Songs  is a very good tool to motivate the stundents' learning
         process, it works also as a break for the routine.Songs could be an essential part of English  teaching. It   makes   the
         students more sensitive to the sounds and  the classes becomes more interesting and poweful.  Be  careful  with  your
         students leves you should choose a song according to their level and try to see if the song is suitable  for  them. There
         lots of songs withc are unsuitable for the language teaching, this songs have a bad  pronunciation  or  better the words
         are pronounced wrongly.
         Songs are a good way to teach in an "Edutainment" way because they incorporate all the language skills:
         (1) Listening (to the song) - Following the song to determine words.
         (2) Reading (following the lyrics to determine the words)
         (3) Writing (filling in the blanks) - Reading the lyrics
         (4) Speaking (singing the song)

        Kind of songs:
        - Special songs  - Children's songs  -  Action songs  - Teaching structure songs  - Telling stories songs - Pop Songs -

        Working with the songs

       Although many teachers use songs only for listening purposes  there are many activities that  you can apply  to   develop
        your teaching process . Blanks - Strips of paper - relaxation -  Organize  the verses  -  Correct the mistakes - Games -

        There are some suggestions before using the songs, such as: Pre-teaching vocabulary - Play the song first to the students
        Repeat some new vocabulary chorally, etc.

        Game 1 -

        This is not an original game but it was really different and nice to use with my students, they liked  it very much special
        it worked as a competiton and they love competition.
        The game was like that : I chose a song  and aslo the blank strategy, but a did different, I typed the missing words and
        put them on the board. and I asked the students to be in two. They had to listen to the music run to the board pick  up
        word and fix it on their shirt or blouse. The winner was the team which hat more words.

        Game 2 -

        This is a very relaxation stractegy, you select a song , cut it on strip of papers,  divide  the class  in  teams,  each  team
        should sit on the floor in a very relaxing way, you play the song and the students have to organize the lyrics. Remember
        that you have to play the song more than once.

        Game 3 -

        I sometimes use songs in my class to play different activities, such as : Talk for one minute - The teacher set the class
        in teams, gives to team a ball and ask them to pass the ball  when the song plays. When the teacher stop the song the
        student who is with the ball has to speak for one minute.

        Game 4 -

        This is a very good activity to develop the students speeck, I  use to call it "Talk time". How does it work ?
        It is very simple you ask the students to stand up, play a song and they have to walk aroung. When the song stops
        the students has talk with that classmate that he or she stopped in front of. They can talk about anything they want.

        Game 5 -

        If your class is big you can play a verse game. It means you  give to each student a verse of a song. Mix them  up
        play the song and ask them to organize themselves according to the song.

        Different ideas for music that could be tried for different lessons: something the students normally listen to,
       While listening, students can write about the music itself, or you can give them a specific idea to start with, e.g. write
       about being home alone during a thunderstorm while a thunderstorm CD is playing. or maybe Eniye songs are playing
       An alternative is to give students a regular writing assignment, but play the music to create a different atmosphere for
       writing.What works for one person may not work for someone else, so while opera may relax you, it may set a student's
       This is a perfect opportunity to also introduce different kinds of music to your students. In many cases, they will be
       unaware that some kinds of music even exist.
       Use soft background music while students are sharing their stories with the rest of the class.
 
 

                                              If you have other  ideas please don't exitate  contact me by the email

                                                                          yuppie@truenet.com.br