



Hi..thanks Seema for this wonderful video..I am totally convinced with teaching this way..but actually I have no resource to get songs how can I get songs especially I am teaching 8 - 10 years old students.Thanks again 

Hi Reem!Most often I just use YouTube because there are SO MANY videos on there! Check out They have great animation and good music production. Most songs that I use I have composed, found my accident, or are the ones I grew up singing. I'm careful with nursery rhymes though since some of their language is archaic and can be confusing for EFL learners. Hope this helps! :)

I like listening to songs to improve my EN

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I really enjoyed watching this video. Thanks for sharing!There is a book, called 'Music and Song' by Tim Murphey, which is very useful for listening and singing activities. Teachers can adapt some ideas from that book and use them during their lessons.

Lots of great ideas and suggestions here in response to Seema's inspiring video. Here are some links to songs and teaching ideas for young learner and adult classes:There are lots of lovely songs for children on LearnEnglish Kids: More kids' songs on Youtube: on using traditional songs with children: ways to use songs with adults:

Thanks, Sally!I'd just like to add the importance of tapping into students' own worlds and learning more about their exposure to popular culture in the foreign language. If it weren't for my students, I doubt I'd have ever listened (or sung along) to songs like 'Lovestory' by Taylor Swift, 'Baby' by Justin Beiber, and 'The show' by Lenka (which you saw on this video). This gives a lot more shared background between teachers and learners and can be quite an eye-opener!Seema.

When working with teens and adults, I try to choose familiar songs which they can relate to. Here are some fun exercises:Go around the room and have each person read one word of the song in sequence. A great way to keep everyone's attention.Have someone or several people do a dramatic reading of the song.Stage a video clip of the song.Write an additional verse to the song.Many non-native speakers sing along with the radio but mispronounce many words. This is an opportunity to improve their listening and pronunciation skills.And back to young learners, when one of them tries to remember a word, very often I remind them of a song with a word in it and that helps them remember it. 

I often use songs with young ones myself. I've also "invented" mixtures of "loopty loo" and "hokey pokey" with a vaudville style ending. Something young 6 year olds find fun is a cheer: 2,4,6,8 let's do the body shake, hands up, hands down, clap your hands and turn around. Let's do the shake, yeah, let's do the shake.With older students (8-10 years) I enjoy working with rock songs. I've found old "Police" and "Sting" songs of great help. For example, Message in the Bottle, An Englishman in New York (which usually follows some lessons about American colonisation and the differences in American and British English). I am now thinking about "Walk like an Egyptian" (Bangles) for a class of 9 year olds who are being introduced to the Egyptian period in History. I've also tried "Queen" with pieces of "We will Rock you" and "We are the Champions".I find they have lots of fun and begin to realize what they are actually singing when and English language song is playing on the radio. It arouses their curiosity and they don't even realize that they're "studying", because they enjoy it so much.Of course, this goes side to side with traditional textbooks.  


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