Bringing Melodies into the Classroom: Ideas on How to Use Songs as

Practice Materials
by Nurah Sak
nursahsak@gazi.edu.tr

Every matter related to language is equally and truly related to life itself. This is
one of the most important reasons why you often hear a teacher saying Oh, I
can make use of this funny video / popular song / advertisement / Internet
phenomenon / mobile application etc. for my lesson, this will probably work well.
If this sounds familiar to you, you are probably a teacher trying not to miss any
opportunity to bring realia into your classroom. At this point, it is impossible to
neglect music, especially nice examples of popular songs which, regardless of
age, have already become quite important in a learners life. Therefore, it is
certainly a great idea to make the most of the songs in various parts of teaching a
new language, as well as using them as a tool for motivation. In this article, I am
going to suggest ideas on how to choose and adapt popular songs into classroom
use for a better teaching and learning experience, mainly in young-adult groups.
Each classroom has a different spirit formed by the uniqueness of the students
and their teachers. This is to say that each student has their own way to learn.
Even though the idea of using songs in teaching English sounds to be suitable
only for the learners in Gardners musical-rhythmic category, the attention of
students with different learning styles can be easily drawn through tasks related
to listening songs. (Mol, 2009) For this reason, integrating songs into your lesson
plans will meet most of the needs of the students, as songs can be used to teach
skills and sub-skills and can be supported by drama, writing, drawing and storytelling activities. On the other hand, when we consider young adult learners, the
materials should keep up with the times up-to date and be based on the topics
they are interested in. Thus a teacher can keep the ongoing learning process
fresh by using the elements from popular culture, particularly by songs.
Regarding the level and age group of our students studying at Gazi University,
there may be a few points to think about when we want to utilize a song for a
specific topic or practice. To start with, a song to be used for ESL learning
purposes should have a clear sound with understandable lyrics. A fast song could
be used as an energizer for sure, but a comprehension exercise based on a song
which is too fast for the learner to catch on would be rather discouraging. Here,
the teacher should also be careful about the level of the song. Too many unknown
words and complex structures in a gap-filling song activity will create more
confusion in the learners mind than benefit. (Keagan, 2014) In addition, choosing
new and popular songs might be more attention-grabbing than old-fashioned
songs, because the learner is more likely to hear it around (on the radio, on
YouTube, in a shopping mall, etc.). This doesnt mean, of course, that we should
avoid the great popular all-time classics; on the contrary, such songs might give
hints about the culture of the target language if they are used in a suitable
context. To conclude about how to choose the song, it can be seen that the clarity

of the sound, the simplicity of lyrics, the pace of the song and the type of song
should be taken into consideration.
As the last step for preparation, after choosing the song, it is a good idea to adapt
the song into a suitable activity which can be enjoyable and fruitful for the learner
and the teacher. Pre-activities such as talking about unknown vocabulary or the
title of the song might make good starters for the main activities. Some
suggested main activities with songs are as follows:
1. Gap-filling activity: This is the most common activity to use a song for teaching,
and can be easily adapted for specific topics. This is preferable for teaching
grammar and vocabulary. A gap-filling activity can be performed as an info-gap
activity as well, omitting words and/or phrases for Student A and Student B in
different parts of the same song.
2. Sequencing: This activity can be fulfilled in two ways. The first one is to put the
lines of a song in a mixed order and ask students to give numbers from the
beginning to the end. The second way is to write the lines as a big table on a
paper, cut the lines and give the small papers to students so that they can put
them into order. In this way, the teacher can also cut up the stanzas instead of
lines to make the activity easier. Another method can be that the learners try to
arrange the lines or stanzas without listening first, and then listen and check,
which can be used for well-known songs.
3. Mistaken lyrics: In this activity, lyrics are provided with some words/phrases
changed beforehand. And the students try to spot and correct the mistakes.
4. Word-catching: The teacher chooses 10 words from the selected songs and
writes them on the board. Then the song is played. While listening, the students
stand up whenever they hear one of the words written on the board. This activity
also works well in groups. (Using songs in Class, 2011)
5. Translation: The students select a popular song in their mother tongue and try
to translate the song using their dictionaries. This can be more effective as a
group activity. As a follow-up for this main activity drawing pictures or acting can
be added.
6. Expanding the song: This can be used as a follow-up activity after listening. If
the song has rhymes and if the students can find them, they can write similar
lines to continue the song. And they can sing their own lyrics in the same melody.
(Mower, 2006)
As you can see, there are really imaginative methods to integrate songs as parts
of the target language, only a few of which are mentioned here. . These activities
can get more detailed or merged together where necessary, depending on
teachers purpose of using, the needs of the students, even the amount of fun the
class would like to have. Let the music play!
References:

Keagan, Ellie. (2014). Using Songs in English Teaching. [online] Retrieved from:
http://www.celta-course.com/songs.html [Accessed: 5 Mar 2014].
Mol, Hans. (2009) Using Songs in the English Classrooms. Humanising Laguage Teaching
Year 11; Issue
2; April 2009, ISSN 1755-9715. Retrieved from
http://www.hltmag.co.uk/apr09/less01.htm
Mower, David. (2006) Pop Songs in the Classroom. Opportunities Teachers Room.
Pearson &
Longman. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/grace6671/pop-songs-in-theenglish-class
Teaching with Music. (2014). [e-book] Pearson Education. pp. 1-9. Retrieved from
http://www.pearsonlongman.com/insync/Methodology/Using%20songs%20in
%20class.doc [Accessed: 5 Mar 2014].