Using Songs in the Classroom

Como eu já havia publicado  um post sobre músicas que podem ser usadas para certos tópicos gramaticais, resolvi postar hoje sobre que atividades podem ser desenvolvidas com essas músicas.

Se vocês tiverem alguma outra ideia que não foi publicada aqui, por favor, deixem no cometário. Dessa forma, todos os visitantes do blog podem usufruir das informações aqui postadas.

Segue abaixo uma lista de sugestões.

Using songs:

• Classic gap-fill: Take out all the words in one group, such as prepositions or verbs, and tell students what they should be listening out for. Another option is to take out rhyming words. Don’t be tempted to take out too many words, eight or ten is normally enough.  To make the task easier you could provide the missing words in a box at the side for the students to select, or you could number the gaps and provide clues for each number.
• Spot the mistakes: Change some of the words in the lyrics and as students listen they have to spot and correct the mistakes. As with the gap-fill limit the mistakes to a maximum of eight or ten and if possible choose a word set. You could make all the adjectives opposites for example. Another example of this for higher levels is to show the students the real lyrics and you correct the English and make it proper! E.g. ‘gonna’ change to ‘going to’ ‘we was’ change to ‘we were’ etc. This is a good way to focus on song language.
• Comic strip: Songs that tell stories are great for students to make comic strips out of. You have to choose your song carefully and spend time looking at the lyrics with the students and making sure they have understood the main ideas. Lower levels may need guidance as to how to divide up the song into suitable chucks that can be represented pictorially. Avril Lavigne’s Skater Boy song from last year was a good one for this activity.  
• Order the verses: With low levels this is a very simple activity. Chop up the lyrics of the song by verse and give a small group of students the jumbled verses. As they listen they put them in order.
• Discussion: Certain songs lend themselves to discussions and you can use the song as a nice lead in to the topic and a way to pre-teach some of the vocabulary. One I used recently was ‘Where is the love?’ by the Black Eyed Peas to lead in to a discussion about war.
• Translation: Although some teachers oppose all use of the mother tongue in the language classroom, some students really enjoy translating lyrics into their own language. If you do ask students to do this ensure the lyrics are worth translating!
• Write the next verse: Higher levels can write a new verse to add to a song. Focus on the patterns and rhyme of the song as a group and then let students be creative. If they are successful, the new verses can be sung over the top of the original! Norah Jones’ Sunrise was a good one for this. 
•  Dictation: Wall dictation, Self-dictation (whole song blanked), Part Dictation
• Jigsaw-listening: Groups listen to different songs with the same (Luka/Behind the Wall) or different themes (Easy Street/Money for Nothing) and peer teach vocabulary, compare.
• Rerlaxation:  Celtic , classic or just instrumental musi on test days can hel Students to relax and fell more comfortable during the tests.
• Guided Fantasy: Prepare a text, very imaginative, something that can take many different points of view, and read out loud while the song's being played. Students have their eyes closed and I ask them to imagine exactly what I'm reading  and let their imagination flows along with the song. This is very relaxing.