I have always loved music. It gives you a chance to feel a range of your emotions, make memories and also learn something new. For us who are involved with languages, music is a way of learning real life everyday slang, trending topics and general insights into the culture of a language. It is also a good filler for those days when you´re on a topic which might not last a long time. Teens love them, but you do have to be careful to find a song that could suit their taste or genre preferences. Also, easy to do on a 1 to 1 online class or in a group.
So why do so many lessons focus just on learning through a textbook! Music is a wonderful way of teaching students how to really listen, which can be applied to students online or face to face. Plus, most songs are written at quite a low academic level, so it is suitable for all ages and levels, obviously depending on the song you choose. With youtube at our fingertips, there are songs for toddlers right up to adult learners. Everyone loves music in their own language, so use that knowledge of your student to find a song they can click with. Share your screen and you are ready to go.
There is a plethora of websites dedicated to gap filling exercises or giving you a song for whatever grammar point you want to teach or reinforce. I am a strong, passionate believer that music is good for the soul and a wonderful, yet underused tool, to really help engage our learners with English. Why wouldn´t you want to know the lyrics to the best song around?
