I love using songs in ESL teaching. It’s a good practice for listening, writing, speaking, reading and vocabulary skills. There are endless ways to use songs to elicit language. Here are two examples I’d like to share with you.
YOU BELONG WITH ME by Taylor Swift
This is a perfect song for teens of intermediate to upper intermediate levels.
First, I would show the music video without music and ask questions like “What do you think is happening? What do you think the song is all about?”
Then, the students fill in the gaps of the song lyrics while listening to the audio version of the song, twice (gaps are verbs). Students then check their answers
Next, we talk about the meaning of the song using WH-questions.
After that, in pairs or small groups, the students look at the verbs (the filled-in gaps) and group them into their tenses – present simple, present continuous and present perfect.
Finally, we sing the song together with the audio music. Homework: Write a fan letter to Taylor Swift about the song.
BIG YELLOW TAXI by Counting Crows
This is a classic song about taking care of our environment. This is suitable for lower intermediate to intermediate levels, teen or adult classes.
First, show pictures of both clean and polluted environments to eliciit vocabulary. Ask quesitons like “What do you see in the picture?”, “What caused this problem?”, etc.
Next, the students are given the lyrics sheets and listen to the song twice.
Then, we talk about song by stanzas, responding to questions like “What does this line mean? Do you think this is happening now?”
After that, I will collect the lyric sheets and give them a fill-gap version.
Without listening to the song, the students guess the missing words from memory (invididually or by pairs or in small groups).
Then, I will play the song again and they check their answers. The one who gets perfect gets a reward. Finally, we sing the song together as a recap.
Homework: Write 6-10 sentences about how we can take care of our environment in their city.
Joiful Teaching 