Russell Stannard bursts into song.
If you like using songs in the classroom, the web is a great resource. There are many sites which specialise in song lyrics, and if you can’t find the ones you are looking for there, then go to the singer or band’s own personal websites. But there is so much more available on the web than just lyrics. Whole sites are dedicated to the teaching of songs in the classroom. The ones suggested here are only the tip of the iceberg.
1. Just searching for lyrics
Try some of these sites. You can normally do a search on them for the band or singer, or just type in the name of the song.
http://lyrics.astraweb.com/ Bands and singers on this site are organised alphabetically. It includes a search engine.
www.azlyrics.com/ At the top of the page you will see the alphabet. Just click on the initial of the name of the band or singer you are looking for.
www.lyrics.com/ This is a very well-known site which again provides you with a wide range of bands and singers. Ignore the advertising and just select from the alphabet at the top of the page.
www.sing365.com/ This very interesting site tends to deal mainly with very up-todate lyrics, but it also has biographies and lots of pictures of bands, etc. It is well worth looking at.
http://fab4lyrics.stonegauge.com/ I am including this site because the Beatles songs are great for language teaching and this site has an amazing collection.
http://towerofenglish.com/fpxdefpDisneyLyrics.html This is a good site to use for younger learners as it has the words to many Disney songs. The trouble is, of course, that you then need to find the music!
www.azlyrics.com/links.html If you still can’t find what you want, then try this site, which has links to many other lyrics sites.
2. Tips for using lyrics in class
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Ask what groups/songs the students want to learn about.
- The words of songs are often difficult to hear. Don’t be afraid to play the song three or four times.
- If you do exercises based on a song, try to vary them with each verse. The first verse might have a gap-fill, the second verse an ordering activity and the third a multiple choice.
- Put students in groups so that they can discuss answers and compare. This often creates a lot of discussion as they disagree on the words and ask to listen to the tape again.
- Don’t just teach the students a song. Try to give them some background information about the band and their albums.
- Songs can be used with all levels. If you are teaching a preintermediate class, then keep the exercises simple or use ordering activities and multiple-choice activities where students don’t need to understand individual words to do the task.
- Make sure that at some stage you play the song through from beginning to end. It can be frustrating to work on parts of a song but never actually hear the complete song at any point.
- It is a good idea to let the class decide how many times they listen to the song. In small classes I even let them operate the CD player and decide themselves when to play it. The only rule is that all the discussion must take place in English.
3. Ready-made activities
There are quite a few places on the web where you can find readymade worksheet activities based on songs. You just have to print these out and find a recording of the relevant song. Try these: www.eslgames.com/teachingsongs/edutainment1/ www.eslgames.com/teachingsongs/edutainment2/ www.eslgames.com/teachingsongs/depressionbuster/
All three sites contain worksheets based on familiar songs. There is not much variety in the activities, but they are good in high-level classes and can save you a lot of time.
www.maxpages.com/teachenglish/Songs_and_Music_in_EFL
There are some useful tips here on using songs in class. If you scroll down on the menu on the left you can also find a few preprepared worksheets. I find the one based on the song If I Had a Hammer very useful.
www.musicalenglishlessons.com/music-index.htm
This site has a list of groups and singers. Click on the one you want and this will take you to a list of songs. You can then click onto pre-prepared material that you can use in the classroom. I recently used the Elvis song In the Ghetto from here.
4. Using songs in the classroom
http://gs.fanshawec.on.ca/tlwm/ This website has a little of everything. You can download over 200 worksheets based on songs, read about using songs in the class and find links to many other sites with lyrics on them.
www.esl-lounge.com/songsab.shtml A mine of songs and tips for using songs in the classroom.
www.caslt.org/research/music.htm Yet another site dedicated to the use of music in ELT. This one has some very interesting links to information about using songs and lyrics with children. It includes chants as well as songs.
www.cal.org/ncle/digests/music.htm A well-written article on using songs in the ELT classroom.
www.anglik.net/teflsongs.htm Yet more tips and ideas.
Russell Stannard is a senior lecturer in ICT and course leader for MSc Multimedia at the University of Westminster, UK. He has an extensive publishing background in ELT and is currently working with BBC Worldwide on various CD-ROMs, and with Macmillan Hong Kong on a primary course. He also teaches English and Spanish at Sutton Adult Education College, UK.
This article first appeared in English Teaching Professional, Issue 33, 2004
