Resources for Using Music for English Language Learners

The following articles were written before the age of smart phones and You Tube, and the Internet was just taking hold.  Even so, the steps described in 1994 would still work today. Now music permeates the Internet and can be used to enhance lessons.  You may not need to buy the song.  Many titles can be listened to on You Tube. You will want to find songs that better fit the age and interests of a tutor and student.

Using Songs to Introduce Poetry to ESL Students,
by Loretta Frances Kasper, The Journal of the Imagination in Language Learning and Teaching. Volume II - 1994

http://www.njcu.edu/cill/journal-index.html

This article describes how to use songs to learn how to speak and

read English and be introduced to poetry. It uses the song, At Seventeen, and contrasts it with the poem, Beautiful Old Age, by D.H. Lawrence. It walks you through the process step by step, using the four stages often used in any basic reading exercise; 1. The prereading stage, 2. the factual stage which includes listening to and reading the song or poem 3. The discussion and analysis stage on the themes and literary techniques and 4. Writing an essay around the theme, which, in this case is youth and old age. It includes a number of discussion questions.

Even though this is classroom based, it could be used in a small group or adapted to one on one.  The same steps would be appropriate for a basic reading student, with the exception that the student would know some of the words verbally, even if he or she could not write or read it. The song and poem would build a student’s vocabulary with the words like ravaged and charades. The full text of the song and poem are included in the article.

You can listen to a version of the Seventeen, song on You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7kc144yy8Y

Country Songs: Music, Language, and Life
by Judith Diamond and Elizabeth Minicz  The Journal of the Imagination in Language Learning and Teaching. Volume II, 1994

http://www.njcu.edu/cill/journal-index.html

Country music provides adult themes to build lessons around for English Language Learners.

This article provides steps and strategies, teachers and tutors can use.  Here one example from   the article for a small group to enhance listening skills. In "Look Heart No Hands," Randy Travis sings about taking chances. "No chains, no strings, no fences, no walls, no nets, no hands." The students listen for their word and hold up their picture when hearing it.

Songs for Teaching

http://www.songsforteaching.com/   At this commercial site, songs are organized around themes which could enhance lessons.  Snippets of the song can be listened too, along with the full words of the song. It is for all ages, not necessarily adult interest.

Here is an example of a song at the site about Idioms: http://www.songsforteaching.com/intellitunes/idioms.htm

 

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