SONGS in the English language classroom

Using songs as part of the teaching and learning process of a language is a great technique. This is something I have always used in my EFL classes, and students, no matter their age, have enjoyed it a lot.

I think that the important thing here is not just play a song and let the students listen to it, but choose the right one. With "the right one" I mean a song students like. Since it is impossible to have 20 students who like the same song, what I do is, in our first class together, play a group game that will allow me to know their likes in music, such as a "Find someone who..." activity. I will be able to know which songs or artists they like, but without asking them 'Who is your favourite singer?' or 'What is your favourite song?', something really boring and nonsense.

I do a lot of different types of activities with songs, from gap-fillings to matchings. There are also small discussions about the meaning of the song after listening to it. What I like is to prepare before, while and after listening activites, for the students to take the most advantage of it.

Sometimes, I also use songs to revise a particular sound (phonetics), such as Rihanna's "Shine Bright Like a Diamond". I made up an activity with this song in which students had to identify as many /ai/ sounds as possible. How many can you identify? Listen to it and tell me! Then, I'll tell you if you are right or not ;)

Regarding this topic, there is an article written by Adam J. Simpson that explains really well the use of songs in the classroom. Have a look at it and enjoy practising English while listening to music ;)

http://www.britishcouncil.org/blog/how-use-songs-english-language-classroom