Thread: Singing in the classroom

I have been teaching my high school classes songs such as Country Roads and Blowing in the Wind. I can sing and play guitar and they enjoy singing along. My problem is that I don't know where to take the songs from just singing along. I print out the words for them so they can sing along and I have them read the song out loud line by line. Has anyone used music in class to teach more English? I do hear them singing Country Roads around campus so at least I know they remember what I taught them.

Firstly you should leave some blanks in the lyrics so that students can listen and then try to fill in the blanks.

Then make comprehension questions about the song, print out and have the students try to answer them after playing the song 2-3 times. After that get the students to make a list of key vocabulary and expressions in their notebooks, translate, write definitions and make sentences. Finally put them into groups, set up a speaking activity where students have to make conversation with each other using the language they've just learned. (You should be monitoring and correcting as you walk around).

Good luck.

Firstly don’t choose songs that you like…..choose songs that Thai kids are familiar with……ask them, or play some vids/cds until you have at least 4…..Sha la la, Zombie, etc…songs that are easy to learn (3 or 4 chords)….Have you tried rapping with them?….
Do you have access to instruments?....In our room we are lucky enough to have electric guitars,drums,keyboards….next year I have convinced them to get 4 acoustic guitars…much easier on the ear!….If you can play guitar try learning the Thai pin….
Thais love to dance….so if you can, do it!...
Can you write?.....If so, try writing a school song….I’ve just finished an Asean song which is being distributed in the schools within our project…PM me if you like and I’ll mail it to you….
"Cunty row…tay me hoe"….I like it.

We have a low tech school. Four walls, thousand year old desks and one tv in each room. I bought a kit to let me connect my computer to the TV which makes it a bit easier to present a song. The guitars are thanks to the kids letting me borrow their's. I will search for songs they listen to. We are in the upcountry and these kids don't seem to be as technically hip or connected as they are in the big cities.
I had a girl in one of my classes sing my song just about how you quoted it above and she is the loudest singer.
I am a bit of an old dog and don't know their songs but will do a bit of work to find them. Thank you.

I find the problem is that...

a) songs often use obscure, un-related vocab that is not really going to be helpful to the students
b) sung lyrics rarely match spoken lyrics... yessan hao mayne roads musta man wa-alk down

with young learners there are hundreds of songs that are written specifically to teach certain language points, but even those are usually rubbish.

---Update---

some songs that I like to use with my younger students are things like aiken drum, but with our own lyrics.

I normally use this part when I am teaching body parts or types of food. I draw an outline of a man on the board and getg the kids to make suggestions as to what the man's name is (3 syllables).

then we decide what his hair will be made from... spaghetti?? so we will sing the first verse "his hair was made of spaghetti, spaghetti, spaghetti... and his hair was made of spaghetti and they called him aiken drum.

it is good fun.

The students I have are mathayom 3 and 4 so they have fairly large vocabularies even though they don't believe it. They can read anything I write on the board even if they don't understand my spoken word. I wanted to connect them to words in a more meaningful way than the grammar books they use in the Thainglish classes they have. I did try presenting a song and then having them try to fill in blanks on lines I wrote on the board and it totally bombed. I will try with a song they are familiar with when I can figure out what that is.
I don't rap, btw. IMHO rapping is for poets that can't sing. I like singing. It reminds me of the beatnik poets of my San Francisco youth.
I have 14 classes and no strict direction from the school. This has allowed me to experiment until I get it right and then I bring it back to my first classes. Sometimes that works.

try role plays for more meaningful exchanges. How big are your classes? It is difficult for larger classes, but not impossible. Drill a dialogue with the whole class, however complex you think they can cope with. Get one of the brighter students to come up and help you demonstrate... shake their hand and spend maybe 30 seconds back and forth with the dialogue. Stress that this is a timed thing and after the 30 seconds.. "STOP!!!"

Let the class pick a partner next to them, shake hands and go. 30 seconds of mayhem, with you going around to encourage/correct.... "STOP"

pick random pairs to repeat the dialogue to the class.

The speed and chaotic, loud nature of it should keep them interested. Change some aspect of the dialogue, drill, rinse and repeat.

Originally Posted by Cal Roy

I will try with a song they are familiar with when I can figure out what that is.

And therein lies the problem....most ask...but ignore...No offence Cal, you sound decent enough....but....I'll say it again...for the age group you're with...Zombie is the way to go.....G,E,C,D...it don't get any easier than that......and the song's political....relevant to the way things have become here....give it a go...what have you got to lose...

on a plus side though... nobody really knows the lyrics, at least not from listening to it (do they??) so you can just make it up as you go along...

"another head rest pillow, monkeys slowly titter" or something like that??