Teach English in Xiangtan Zhen - Bazhong Shi

Songs in the classroom Songs rock! Never underestimate the power of music in the class room. Nowadays most people are fans of some kind of music, young or old, male or female; they open a place for listening to music in certain times. So if you as a teacher include music in your classroom it will be a great motivation for language learners to build their interest in English language. Here are some advantages of playing songs in the classroom: - It serves as a teaching aid and let the teacher spend some time with students out of course book frame work - Since it is a popular hobby among different ages and different sexes nearly most of the class will enjoy it - It motivates students to listen to English songs instead of songs in their native language even outside the classroom - Songs can be chosen according to the class level of language (ranging from short pop songs to long rap songs) - Appropriate use of songs in classroom will boost different skills (listening, speaking, pronunciation, etc.) How to choose a song Songs can be chosen based on students' favorite genres, although it is recommended for beginner levels to start with some easy, short songs in pop genres and in slow mode. Heavy metal, rap, jazz, etc. can be picked up for advanced levels because the speed is higher, the accent is heavier, and more complicated words are used. Try to know about students' favorite genres, songs, and singers and bring them to class from time to time to show them you care about their interest and this way have their full attention. How to use a song in the classroom Playing songs can be considered as an extra activity to strengthen students' skills in English or the teacher can choose it according to lessons' content in the course book (vocabulary or grammar). Either way teacher must have a plan how to start, how to continue, and how to end it. Here is an example of suggested strategies about the process of teaching songs in the class: - Play the song once without any pause - Talk with students about the song and elicit some new vocabulary - Give students the lyrics with some gaps in the text to fill - Play the song once more for them to check their answers as they sing along with song This way all three stages of engagement, study, and activate are included. How songs improve language skills Although songs are mostly regarded as tools for improving listening and vocabulary learning, they can be useful for other skills too. Murphy in his book music and song introduces some useful ways to use songs in order to improve students' skills in language; some of them are listed below plus the appropriateness of each one for a single skill: How to use songs to teach vocabulary One of the most popular teaching aid plans for teaching vocabulary is using songs. Especially if students are music lovers and enthusiastic in understanding the son Use cloze or gap fill but make sure not to cloze three or more in a row. For lower levels give the first letter, miss out word endings, give dashes for letters, or give a glossary. You can also ask students to guess the form of certain words (adj., adv., etc.) or include some wrong dictation and ask students to find and correct them. If there is any collocation in the text two options can be given to students to put in the blank and complete the collocation. How to use songs as a reading task When you give the students the lyrics of the songs and they have it in front of them, whether they listen to the music at the same time or not, you have given them a reading task. Here you can Use mixed up activities; have the lines of the song on separate strips of paper and ask students to put them in order. Mix some false information with true information to practice True/False activity. How to use songs for writing Some teachers ask students to write whatever they hear (to transcribe it) instead of giving them the written text. After they played certain amount of time they pause and give students time to write what they remember, they can take notes while listening too. Another interesting activity is to Put random words from the song on the board and ask the students write the story of the song. You can give them some verses and ask them to add the other verse themselves. Students can also paraphrase the song. How to use songs to improve listening Listening is one of the most important skills in learning languages. Understanding new language will become possible via a lot of repetition and exposure to language. It does not matter how much students know about grammar or vocabulary of a language they would not be able to understand others correctly if their listening skill is poor. You can give the students a list of words or phrases in the song you play for them and ask them to number them in order they hear them. Sound discrimination would be a good idea too, e.g. tempted/tended. How to use songs to get a native-like pronunciation and thus improve speaking As children make a lot of mistake during language acquisition stage, it is normal for language learners to have a lot of difficulty with a new language especially in pronunciation. Again as children become fluent in using language by listening to it continuously and try to imitate and copy language learners can also try to copy the exact sound, intonation, and accent. Recording students' voice while singing with the song and replay it for them can be a big help for finding probable mistakes and practice on them. Give the student random-chosen verses and ask them to start a conversation with that and check for correct pronunciation.