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Songs for young learners. Using songs in the EFL classroom. Your trainer. Teacher, trainer, writer IATEFL’s YL SIG committee Young learner materials
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Songs for young learners Using songs in the EFL classroom
Your trainer • Teacher, trainer, writer • IATEFL’s YL SIG committee • Young learner materials • Real English & Early Start; Onestopenglish; Next Stop; Macmillan English Campus; Grammar for Young Learners (OUP 2009); Take Shape (Macmillan Mexico 2010); Supasongs (FracasEnglish) • Materials for teenagers, young adults and adults • Link-up (Klett); Tourism and Hospitality English (Garnet), New Outlook (Noordhoff)
Why are songs so suitable? • common, short words • written at about 5th grade level (US) • the language is conversational • time and place are usually imprecise • the lyrics are often sung at a slower rate than spoken words • there is repetition of words and grammar • it lowers the “affective filter” • (Murphy, 1992).
Do all learners like songs? • Gardner: “It’s not how intelligent you are, but how you are intelligent.” • In activities we develop with songs we can • listen and sing (aural/musical style) • dance and act (physical learning style) • read, draw and do puzzles (spatial intelligence) • tell stories, and write (verbal learning styles).
Why music? Why songs? • Social & emotional growth • Physical development • Cognitive training • Language learning • Cultural literacy
When? • Open a lesson – warming-up • Close a lesson – reward or consolidation • Illustrate words – reinforce sound • Underbuild a grammar point or practice functional chunks - internalisation • Add variety – auditory stimulus, TPR • Change of pace – slow down or speed up
What can you do with songs? Focus it Highlight it Stop it Lip-sync it
Focus it • What do you think the song is going to be about?
Highlight it Form 1 Circle verbs in red. Highlight nouns in green. Meaning 2 What do you think the story will be about? Tell the story. Vocabulary 3 Match the pictures to the words. • hear • ocean • sky • whisper • heart • lucky • love • waiting • goodbye • kiss • home • friend • sailing • island • music • flower • pretty • hold • someday • promise
Stop it! • Say stop when you hear these words. • ocean • sea • heart • hard • friend • again • air • hair • sea • meet
What can you do with songs? Strip it Question it Gap it Write it
Though the breezes through trees Strip it I'll put a flower in your hair You'll hear the music fill the air To an island where we'll meet And so I'm sailing through the sea Move so pretty, you're all I see As the world keeps spinning 'round You hold me right here, right now.
Question it True or false? • The boy and the girl are in a relationship. • The girl is in love with another boy. Answer the questions • Where is the island they sing about? • Are the boy and the girl always together?
Gap it Every nth word Do you hear me? _____ talking to you Across _____ water across the deep _____ ocean. Under the open sky, oh _____, baby I'm trying Specific word types Boy I _____you in my dreams I _____your whisper across the sea I _____you with me in my heart You _____ it easier when life gets hard
Write it Dear friend I heard your story and I just wanted to say I’m happy for you. Don’t give up! Being in love is wonderful! Best wishes Claire
Write it The next morning he woke up. She wasn’t there. He couldn’t find here. Where was she? What was going on? He got up and looked everywhere ...
What can you do with songs? Change it Draw it
Change it Boy I hear you in my dreams I feel your whisper across the sea I keep you with me in my heart You make it easier when life gets hard I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend Lucky to have been where I have been Lucky to be coming home again I can’t hear you in my dreams. I can’t see you anywhere. I keep looking in my heart It’s not so easy, you know it’s very hard. I want to be in love, but where are you? I want to see you now and be with you I want to be at home with you.
Conclusions We live in a world surrounded by music, it’s part of every learner’s life. Make sure it’s also part of their English life: include songs in your lessons as regularly as possible – there are so many good reasons for doing so!
Conclusions • It’s a social act and let’s learners involve their emotions • Movement stimulates and enhances memory • It develops spatial intelligence • It allows for repetition and develops automaticity (chunking) • It develops phonemic awareness • It reinforces stress, intonation, rhythm and pronunciation • It allows you to teach and learn new words and grammar in a fun way
Want to listen to good EFL music? • www.supasongs.com