I still remember almost everything I learned in my eighth grade Spanish class, and I’m pretty sure that is because my teacher used music to reinforce his lessons. He had a song for the alphabet, colors, numbers, and many other concepts, which we listened to often and could sing along to by the end of the semester.
I was reminded of that Spanish class when we received an email from a reader in México, asking for more information about using music to teach English. Just as there are so many music resources available to teachers of other languages (Spanish, French, German, and Chinese), the same is true for Teaching English to Non-Native Speakers.
Here are just a few of the English concepts that can be taught through music:
- Alphabet
- Grammar
- Greetings
- Punctuation
- Vocabulary
A common approach to incorporating music into the foreign language curriculum is to first present the concept or words, and then use the appropriate songs to reinforce the lesson. Play those songs often in class, and make copies on CDs for the students if possible. The more exposure to the music, the better, as the concept and words will be committed to memory through repetition.
You’ll also find that many Concept Songs for Young Children are often useful for teaching English vocabulary.
See SongsForTeaching’s
Songs for Teaching the English Language and Early Childhood Concept Songs
If you have any questions we can address on the Songs For Teaching Blog, please feel free to email them to "rachel at songsforteaching dot COM".