How to use songs and music in the classroom

The benefits of using songs and music • If you use video from websites, check there is no
inappropriate advertising with the video.
There are many good reasons for using songs and
• Not every student will be comfortable singing, so
music in the language classroom. Some songs provide
don’t force students to sing if they don’t want to.
interesting examples of grammar or vocabulary use, and
• In general, it’s better to choose instrumental music
practising grammar and vocabulary with songs is likely
for background music; music with lyrics can distract
to be memorable. Songs can also be used for listening
students from their task.
practice; every kind of task that can be done with a
normal listening passage can also be done with songs.
In many cases, the lyrics of a song can be good material Seven activities using songs and music
for discussion, and you can devise tasks that focus on
interpreting the meaning of the lyrics or identifying the 1 Jumbled lyrics
feelings expressed in the song. Aim To practise ordering sentences in a text
Another benefit of songs is the cultural content they 1 Before the class, cut up the lyrics of a song so that
contain. There are songs that deal with historical events, there is one line on each strip of paper. Prepare
political issues, or social values, and they can help one set of lyrics per group.
students understand different perspectives and attitudes 2 Put students into small groups and distribute the
in a way that can be more engaging and meaningful cut-up lyrics.
than a traditional text. Songs belong to a time and a 3 Give the students a time limit to put the lines in
place, and listening to and talking about a song in class the correct order.
are excellent ways of placing English language learning 4 Play the song and ask the students to check
in a real, living context. Well-known songs allow students the order of their lines and make any necessary
to understand that English is an important part of a changes.
global musical culture, and can make the challenges 5 Ask each group in turn to read out (or sing) one or
of learning English seem more valuable and relevant more lines of the song in the correct order.
to them. Note It’s best to choose a song that students are not
Music can be used for classroom management as a familiar with, so that they use clues such as rhyme
way to mark the start and end of a task, or for different and linking words to help them put the lines in the
phases of an activity. For example, students participate correct order.
in a mingling activity and stop speaking when the 2 Wrong words
music stops; or when they are working in pairs, they can
Aims To give students intensive listening practice;
change pairs every time the music stops.
to focus on the pronunciation of similar-sounding
Music played quietly in the background can be very words
effective for certain parts of the lesson and can help 1 Before the class, type the lyrics of a song with
establish a specific mood. For example, during a role- wrong words inserted at regular intervals, e.g.
play in which you want students to enjoy themselves as every one or two lines. It’s best if the wrong words
well as practise speaking, you might have lively music sound quite similar to the right words, e.g. ‘When I
playing in the background. Quiet classical music playing find myself in chimes of trouble’ (the correct word
before the lesson starts can be very effective in helping is times).
students focus and tune into the English lesson. 2 Give students copies of the modified lyrics, and
ask them to work in pairs to try and identify which
General tips words are wrong, and what the correct words
should be.
• Choose songs carefully. It’s good to play songs that
your students like, but it’s unlikely that all the students 3 Play the song and have the students check their
will like the same songs. You can also take advantage work.
of the opportunity to introduce students to songs Note For this activity it is best to choose a song that
they may not have come across before. students are not familiar with.
• If the activity focuses on the lyrics of a song, make 3 What’s in a song?
sure that the recording is of good quality and the Aim To research information about songs and
lyrics are easy to hear. present it to the class
• Check that the language of the song is appropriate 1 Before the class, select a number of songs that
for the level and age group. have an interesting background story to them.
Good examples are Hey Jude and Layla.

Professional Development How to use songs and music in the classroom photocopiable © Oxford University Press 1
How to use songs and music in the classroom

2 In class put the students into groups of three or 1 Before the class, prepare a number of short audio
four and let them choose a song, or give each tracks, each one representing different musical
group a song. genres, e.g. country music, pop, blues, bossa nova.
3 This step can be carried out in class, if 2 Teach or revise the vocabulary of musical genres.
circumstances allow, or for homework. Tell the This should include all the genres represented in
students that they have to find out as much the audio selection and a few others to make a full
as they can about their song and present their lexical set.
findings to the class. For example, they could work 3 Teach or revise a range of informal words and
out what the lyrics mean, find out who wrote phrases used to talk about likes and dislikes,
the song, explain who or what the song is about, e.g. I love it, I can’t stand it, I quite like it, it’s OK but
and any other interesting background details. It is I’m not crazy about it.
important that they have access to resources for 4 Teach or revise a number of adjectives that can
this, such as dictionaries and the Internet (for sites be used to describe music, e.g. fantastic, brilliant,
like Wikipedia and songfacts.com). boring, terrible.
4 Give students time to plan how to present their 5 Play the first of the audio tracks and use it to build
information. They could do this as a simple a model dialogue, such as:
PowerPoint presentation; or as a dramatized A What kind of music is this?
presentation, e.g. they play different characters B I think it’s jazz.
involved in the background story. Make sure that A I love it. What do you think of it?
their presentation includes playing the song. B It’s terrible, I can’t stand it.
Students could also collate all of their information Write the dialogue on the board as an example.
into a class magazine, which is copied for each Tell students it is an example; they can change or
student. adapt it as they wish.
Note Wiki-based websites often have conflicting 6 Play the other tracks and get students to talk in
information about songs (Hey Jude is a good pairs about their own ideas and opinions about
example of this). If this is the case with any of the the music, using the model dialogue to help
songs you have chosen, encourage the students to them. Allow time between tracks for them to
decide for themselves which version they consider expand on the model dialogue, if they wish.
to be true, justify their decision, and include the
Note It’s important to prepare a varied selection of
conflicting information in their presentation. Having
music tracks so that students have the opportunity
a questioning attitude towards sources makes
to practise a wide range of the target language.
this mini-project more interesting and is good for
developing critical thinking skills. 6 Talent show
4 Singing the song Aim To provide an opportunity for free speaking
practice
Singing along to a song as a group is something that
1 Before the class, search YouTube for amateur cover
students of all ages can enjoy. Generally speaking, the
versions of a popular song. Select three cover
teacher plays the audio track and the students just sing
versions, preferably of a fairly similar standard.
along. However, you could also:
2 Tell the students that they are judges at a talent
• ask half the students to sing only the verses and the
show. They have to give feedback on each of the
other half to sing the chorus
performances, and select one of the versions.
• with the right kind of song, get the students to think
3 Play the first cover version. After the performance,
of gestures and actions that they can do while singing
pause to allow students to work in pairs to discuss
• ask the female students and the male students to sing
and make notes about their opinions of the
different parts of the song
performance.
• take advantage of any musical talent among
4 Put pairs of students together and ask them to
your students – guitarists could provide the
discuss their feedback with their new partners.
accompaniment instead of the audio track, good
5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 with the other two cover
singers could add harmonies around the main tune,
versions.
beatboxers could add percussion.
6 At the end of the activity, throw the discussion
5 Responding to music open to the whole class and ask them to decide
Aim To present and practise vocabulary for which performance was the best. If there is
expressing opinions about music no clear winner, students could vote for their
favourite.

Professional Development How to use songs and music in the classroom photocopiable © Oxford University Press 2
How to use songs and music in the classroom

Tip It will help to set the context and give students 4 Play the first audio track and signal the end of
ideas if you first show a video clip of a judge from the 10-, 20-, and 30-second periods. The first
an actual reality TV show giving feedback about a drawing goes in the first rectangle. At the end of
performance. Clips of this kind also provide plenty the minute, the students stop drawing, and the
of useful vocabulary for students when they do the sheet of paper is passed to the other student in
activity. each pair.
7 Make a cartoon 5 Repeat this process seven times, using the
remaining seven audio tracks and with the
Aims To encourage creativity; to provide an
students in each pair taking it in turns to draw a
opportunity for free speaking and writing practice
picture in each of the rectangles. There is no need
1 Before the class, prepare eight short audio tracks
for them to make a link between one drawing and
of one minute each. As far as possible they should
the next.
be very different from each other in style, e.g.
6 When all eight drawings have been finished,
classical, jazz, rock, folk music from different parts
each pair passes their sheet of paper to the pair
of the world, music from a horror film.
on their right. Students now work on converting
2 Put the students into pairs and give each pair
the eight pictures into a comic strip story, adding
a blank sheet of A3 paper. Tell the students to
speech bubbles, thought bubbles, and captions,
draw a grid of eight equal rectangles using the
as appropriate.
full sheet of paper, with one line right across the
7 When all the pairs have had enough time to finish
middle and three lines from top to bottom. They
their comic strips, get the students to pass all the
should then number each rectangle from one
comic strips around the class so that everyone can
to eight, in sequence, writing the number in the
enjoy each other’s work.
bottom left-hand corner of each rectangle.
Note This activity normally produces very original
3 Tell the students that they will hear a piece of
and often very funny results. Although students
music lasting for one minute. They will have 10
at first tend to be worried about having to draw
seconds to just listen to the music and then 20
something in just 30 seconds, they soon realize that
seconds to discuss what idea the music suggests
this challenge is what makes the activity interesting.
in their minds and how to draw that idea. For
example, if they hear some calypso music, they
might decide to draw two people dancing under
a palm tree on the beach. One of the pair will then
have 30 seconds to draw the picture, very quickly
and without worrying if it isn’t perfect.

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