MUSICAL ENGLISH LESSONS

"Music is the universal language of mankind." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Songs have been part of the human experience for as long as we can remember. People sing at religious services, bars, in the shower, and listening to the car radio. Songs have become an integral part of our language experience, and if used in coordination with a language lesson they can be of great value. Fortunately, with the expanding prevalence of the Internet and specifically the World Wide Web into both the classrooms and lives of students, access to music and lyrics has been made easier. When students make a major breakthrough in learning, it is music to a teacher's ears. There is nothing more rewarding for a teacher, than seeing their students smile and laugh while they learn. The same can be said for students. Students who are taught in a fun and creative way, love coming to class. Using music in the classroom is a great way for teachers to achieve success with L2 learners. Oliver Wendall Holmes suggests taking a musical bath once a week, saying that music is "to the soul what water is to the body." Benefits of using Music Have you ever heard of anyone who doesn't like music? Some people may not like art, dancing, reading, or movies, but almost everyone likes one kind of music or another. Most people like many different kinds of music. Studies have shown that music...

improves concentration improves memory brings a sense of community to a group motivates learning relaxes people who are overwhelmed or stressed makes learning fun helps people absorb material

"Music stabilizes mental, physical and emotional rhythms to attain a state of deep concentration and focus in which large amounts of content information can be processed and learned." Chris Brewer, Music and Learning Techniques for Using Music with L2 Learners There are a variety of different ways to use music in the classroom. Some teachers prefer to use background music and others use music lyrics as the basis of a lesson. Music can be used to:

introduce a new theme or topic (Christmas/colours/feelings) break the ice in a class where students don't know each other or are having difficulty communicating change the mood (liven things up or calm things down) teach and build vocabulary and idioms review material (background music improves memory) teach pronunciation and intonation teach songs and rhymes about difficult grammar and spelling rules that need to be memorized ("i before e", irregular verbs, phrasal verbs) teach reading comprehension inspire a class discussion teach listening for details and gist

Grammar teaching has often been regarded as a structure based, formal activity. After the integration of several sources and techniques, which are mainly based on communicative activities, the teaching of grammar gained a new insight. In the teaching of grammar, technique-resource combinations are often modified to structure-discourse match and if well developed, they can be used effectively for all phases of a grammar lesson. In order to make a grammar lesson effective, beneficial, and interesting a teacher should use some well-developed and fascinating techniques in the classroom. In the following activity, part of a grammar lesson, I used integrated sources and techniques - songs, verse completion and problem solving exercises to analyse, learn and and practice the the Second Type Conditional.

Second Conditional

Type of activity: listening, speaking, writing Source: One of us, song by Joan Osborne Objective: students will be able to elicit the rules of the second conditional Means of interaction: individual and pair work Level: 10th Gade Time allotted: aprox. 30 Description of activity

1. Teacher asks students the following question asking them to use their imagination: What would you do if you were God?
(3). Students give different answers.

2. Teacher tells the students they are about to listen to a song in which the singer deals in her own way with the same
issue they have talked about so far. He/she gives them the handouts (tapescript of the song) and disscuses the unknown vocabulary (3).

3. Teacher tells students they have to fill in the missing words while listening to the song (twice if necessary). The students
work in pairs, completing the task (10).

4. 5.

Teacher checks if students have completed the missing words correctly (1).

Teacher writes on the board the following sentences from the handouts/song: If God had a name what would it be? If God had a face what would it look like?

Teacher asks students to identify the tenses used and then identify the pattern of the second conditional. He/she writes the pattern on the board and offers further clarifications of the concept. He/she checks students understanding by asking them to answer the questions on the board, using the given pattern of the second conditional (13). ONE OF US Singer: Joan Osborne If God (1) had a name what would it be? And would you call it to his face? If you (2) were faced with him In all his glory What would you ask if you (3) had just one question? *And yeah, yeah, God is great Yeah, yeah, God is good Yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah What if God (4) was one of us? Just a slob like one of us Just a stranger on the bus Trying to make his way home If God had a face what (5) would it look like? And (6) would you want to see If seeing meant that you would have to believe in things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints and all the prophets (*) Trying to make his way home Back up to heaven all alone Nobody calling on the phone except for the Pope maybe in Rome(*)

Just trying to make his way home Like a holy rolling stone Back up to heaven all alone Just trying to make his way home Nobody calling on the phone except for the Pope maybe in Rome

Bibliography : Saricoban ,Arif & Metin ,Esen. Songs, Verse and Games for Teaching Grammar http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Saricoban-Songs.html English Club. http://www.englishclub.com/teaching-tips/music-classroom.htm Schoepp, Kevin. Reasons for Using Songs in the ESL/EFL Classroom. http://iteslj.org/Articles/SchoeppSongs.html Osbourne, Joan. One of Us, 1995 Brewer, Chris. Music and Learning: Seven Ways to Use Music in the Classroom. Tequesta, Florida: LifeSounds, 1995