Magdalena Dygała University of Technology and Humanities

in Radom, Poland

TEACHING ENGLISH THROUGH MUSIC AND SONGS

‘MUSIC PRODUCES A KIND OF PLEASURE WHICH HUMAN NATURE CANNOT DO WITHOUT.’ 

MUSIC AND LEARNING

Music stabilizes mental, physical and emotional rhythms to attain a state of deep concentration and focus in which large amounts of content information can be processed and learned’

Chris Brewer, Music and Learning

- improves concentration

- stimulates students’ brains

- helps students absorb the material

- motivates learning

- brings sense of community to a group

- brings lots of joy

STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT MUSIC:

BEFORE YOU PLAY ANY MUSIC:

• Start with a survey to find out students’ favourite types of music• choose a well known song• with children try to use songs with

repetitive verses• pre-teach new vocabulary

MUSIC AS A NICE LEAD-IN TO THE LESSON

• use, for example Michael Jackson’s ‘Earth song’ to provoke students to discuss some issues of natural disasters

TECHNIQUES FOR USING MUSIC

• use music to affect your students’ mood• guess the title• show some pictures connected with the

song • make students guess the name of the band

or the title of the song

’ENGLISHMAN IN NEW YORK’ BY STING

• before listening to the song, you can show some pictures of a man with Big Ben in the background and another photo presenting the Statue of Liberty and make them guess the title of the song.

TEACH GRAMMAR THROUGH SONGS

• ask your students to look through the lyrics and find some examples of a grammar structure

• if you practice, for instance the Present Perfect tense, take out the verbs and ask students to fill in the gaps

• the example of the song: ‘I still haven’t found what I’m looking for’ by U2.

LET’S ROCK GRAMMAR – SECOND CONDITIONAL

Use music while introducing new grammar structures to your students (00:00–4:00)

Divide students into groups and make them compete with each other (9:57- 15:05)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaydrAQhjUU

ENJOY WATCHING

ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHING NEW VOCABULARY:

• play some soft classical music and ask the students to write down the adjectives that come to their mind, next students share the words with the rest of the class

• you can ask them to discuss the difference in meaning between some of the words

• play some different type of music like reggae, rock etc. and elicit some other words from students

‘MUSIC IS THE SHORTHAND OF EMOTIONS’ LEO TOLSTOY

• Music serves as a great source of inspiration for your students, evoking wonderful memories and emotions

• ACTIVITY: play, for example, ‘Over the rainbow’ by Israel Kamakawiwo’Ole and ask your students to close their eyes and imagine the best day in their life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fahr069-fzE

• Next students can draw a picture of what they’ve just imagined, share it with their partner and write a story.

MAKE STUDENTS SPEAK

• after listening to a song by a well-known singer or group, ask your students to work in groups and prepare an interview with the singer or band members

• students role play the dialogues in front of the class.

… AND MOST IMPORTANTLY …

Make your students ENJOY MUSIC AND SONGS

THANK YOU

Magdalena Dygała mdygala@gmail.com

RESOURCES:

• Super Simple Songs

• Music and learning by Chris Brewer

• Reasons for using songs by Kevin Schoepp

• Etpedia by John Hughes

• Oxford Learner’s Pocket Verbs and Tenses by Jon Hird (Let’s Rock Grammar lesson)

• Songs resources / downloads