LESSON TIP: MUSIC IN ESL LESSONS

Throwback to two posts from autumn 2020: proof that even the most boring lesson turns fun with the right song.

Wind down your lesson with some music

With younger students, it's essential to know what to do if things get boring, if the class gets a little too excited, or if you simply want to wind down your lesson with music in a classy way. Here's a quick tip:

Lyrics Training/LingClip is a website that can bring a bit of sparkle into your lesson — it works well as a reward at the end of a demanding lesson, or as a chance for a shy but talented singer to show what they can do. You choose a song and select a difficulty level: the number of missing words increases with each level. Then it's just a matter of getting ready to type and listening to the song. The track pauses every time a word is missing, waits for you to type your answer, and — once you guess correctly — repeats the line so you can hear it in full. At the end, you're given a score based on your speed and accuracy.

You can play it in class in teams, letting them compete at the same level, or ask students to complete the same song individually and turn it into a class competition. Once a song is finished, you could round things off with a quick karaoke session, ending your lesson in a memorable way.

Spice up your ESL lessons with songs

Songs in ESL lessons are an evergreen possibility to lead into a new topic or introduce a new grammatical structure, they can be an excellent exercise to wind down a lesson and even in between two exercises (filler), they are good for making students relax, teach grammar and/or vocabulary through listening or just prepare for the next task. In this post, I would like to show you some interactive worksheets to do while listening to some great classics and also some newer hits - with embedded YouTube videos. 

Level A1:

OTHER SINGERS AND SONGS:

• Roy Orbison: Pretty woman (Fill in 10 given verbs)
• The Bangles: Eternal Flame (Reorganize the lines)
• Boyzone: No Matter What (Choose the missing personal pronounce)
• Doris Day: Dream a Little Dream of Me (10 missing verbs related to feelings)
• Frank Sinatra: The way you look tonight (Fill in the missing adjectives)
• The Cure: Friday I'm in Love (Pick the right day)

Level A2:

OTHER SINGERS AND SONGS:

• Nicole Kidman: One Day I'll Fly Away (Decide if the highlighted word is verb or a noun here)
• Neil Young: Oh, lonesome me (Answer to questions and complete the lyrics with the expressions from these questions)

Level B1:

OTHER SINGERS AND SONGS:

• Eric Clapton: Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out (Fill in simple past forms and 6 idiomatic expressions, Topic: Money and Friendship)
• Christina Aguilera: The Right Man (12 prepositions, like upon, through, down, behind, etc., removed from the lyrics)
• Led Zeppelin: Going to California (Match 10 idiomatic expressions to their meanings)

Level B1+:

OTHER SINGERS AND SONGS:

• Sting: When we dance (will/won't or would what you hear? - mind: the song also shows 'incorrect' first and second conditional uses)
• Anastacia: Left Outside Alone (Complete the end of the lines with one missing word - rhyme building)
• Eric Clapton: Running on Faith (Complete the lyrics with 10 verbs in different tenses and conditional forms)
• Guns'n Roses: November Rain (Decide which article is missing: a/an, the or 'zero article)

Level B2:

OTHER SINGERS AND SONGS:

• Mary J. Blige & U2: One (Recognise idiomatic expressions and match them to their meanings)
• Sting: It's probably me (Choose an adequate interpretation for each verse)

For alternative warm-up or wind-down activities, check out these ESL classroom games: