TEFL Millry Alabama

Songs in the classroom (58) Paraphrasing Elvis Presley I can say that “we all keep singing a song”. When observing my students coming to school, passing by the teachers' room, doing their homework or just sitting and waiting for a lesson to start I noticed that they are always accompanied by music listening to their favorite songs via headphones or just chanting or humming a melody. Each person grows up with songs and develops the first language by them. Songs and rhymes are the first experienced parts of communication in the children's mother tongue. They listen to nursery rhymes, react to them and try to response with babbling; they go to sleep with lullabies sung by their parents. This may account for the fact that music is all around us and an integral part of our life. No doubt that using songs is an essential part of foreign language learning. Songs as an effective means of foreign language acquisition. Using appropriate songs as a background can be highly useful for setting a relaxed learning atmosphere, which is vital for making students feel at ease. Being a part of people's real life music is always an interesting topic for discussion and therefore a great way to attract students' attention, encourage students, get them involved and motivated. With the right kind of song it is possible to set the scene, introduce the topic, to vary the lesson's progress, change the dynamic of the lesson and students' mood. Chants and songs could be used to give a feeling for the rhythm of the spoken language, to practice and perfect intonation patterns. Using rhymes and rhythmic chants is a proven way to vary boring pronunciation learning. Another great thing about songs is that students can be exposed to a wide range of accents, which is especially important for training and developing listening skills. The phenomenon of the song-that-is-stuck-in-my-head, which we often complain about, is a great advantage for learning a foreign language. Repetitive character of singing contributes to better memorizing of words and expressions. Moreover, with the various kinds of songs it is easy to simulate repeated practicing and train the ‘automaticity' skill, which allows students to produce language fluently without pausing. Songs as a rich content of foreign language acquisition. Alongside with being a means of foreign language acquisition songs by themselves present a great content for learning. Songs are an invaluable source of “real” english. They contain an authentic, natural language in contrast to sometimes contrived language which may be found in students texts. Due to a great variety of slang, idioms and contemporary expressions songs contain they are indispensable for boosting students' vocabulary with useful phrases and up-to-date expressions. Songs can be used to teach, illustrate and practice vocabulary and grammar aspects. My students often claim: “There's so much ‘bad' grammar in modern songs! We'll memorize incorrect constructions!” I congratulate them in response and my congratulations turn out to be most baffling. I explain then: “Your grammar is quite ‘good' if you can pick then ‘bad' one out!” Hence even ‘bad' grammar of many songs can be helpful for teaching grammar material. Finally, songs are an important element of each culture. Using songs in learning process contributes to students' getting closer to a foreign culture as they provide students with a lot of information about native speakers' customs and traditions. This is a great contribution to developing students' open-mindedness. So, keep singing a song! And keep teaching with songs! Murphey, T. , Music and Song Hausarbeit (Hauptseminar), Songs and Rhymes in Teaching english at Primary Schools Mol, Hans, Using Songs in the english Classroom Lems, Kirsten, Using Music in the Adult esl Classroom