I was on a discussion group on Facebook the other day when a teacher came on and asked for ideas of ESL songs for children to use in her English class. This seemed like quite a normal question to me. I feel that using songs in class is something I do often and I find them highly effective for teaching children. Not everyone in the group felt like this however. It started a surprisingly heated discussion on why and how to use songs in EFL ESL Kids class.
Some teachers declared that songs are “useless”. Others said that the problem with teaching English to kids nowadays is that it’s all fun and no study and one teacher declared that he wasn’t being paid to be a “clown”. As you can imagine, I was quite surprised by this. I see every day that songs are a tool that really works and I am a firm believer that they are a great way to teach English to children.
So how to use songs in EFL ESL Kids class and why do they work as a learning tool?
Obviously, we all have our own teaching styles and this is in no way a criticism of different ways of teaching and learning. There are some things that we all have in common though when we are teaching children, particularly Early Years classes. I’ve been thinking about this since I read that discussion and these are some of my thoughts on why and how to use songs in EFL ESL Kids class.
Songs make a class fun
If you’re teaching children, you know that one of the most important challenges is to keep their attention and not let them get distracted. So your lesson needs to be interesting and fun. A funny song with lots of actions to get your class up and moving will interest most children. Even if they don’t particularly like singing, as some kids don’t, if there are movements to do or funny words and everyone else is enjoying themselves, they will probably join in. It’s a lot more fun than sitting behind a desk. If children are having fun, they will be learning without even realizing it.
You can make songs into a game
You don’t just have to sing the songs. Just one song can be used in a variety of ways. When you’re singing, stop sometimes and let the kids fill in the missing words. Or challenge them to make up some new words for the song using vocabulary you’ve been learning. Make the song a game and actively part of the learning process. Alternatively, you could learn the song together and then use it as though you were telling a story with each child taking responsibility for one line and its actions. You can use a song in so many ways to make your lesson richer and more effective.
Don’t just watch the video!
I think that this may be what some people in that Facebook discussion were thinking of when they described songs as useless. There is no point in just putting on a video of a song and sticking your class in front of it hoping they will learn something. They might pick something up from it eventually but it’s not a very effective way of using songs. You need to be actively teaching the song to your class to get any use out of it.
Once they’ve learned it and you’ve used it to play games or practice vocabulary, maybe then you could let them watch a video. Before that, it is just a passive activity and they will gain nothing from it. I normally sing songs with my class without any music at all to start with to make sure we’re concentrating on the words I want them to learn. We sometimes sing it later with music or with a video but not always.
It doesn’t matter if you can’t sing
Kids really don’t care if you’re the worst singer in the world. They normally find it funny if you make a mistake or sing badly. It really doesn’t matter. I’m sure we’re all used to making a bit of a fool of ourselves in front of our classes as we go into teacher mode. You don’t need to be a clown but just more fun with your class. This is just another way of doing that. You could always turn a song into a rap if you really don’t want to sing. Or teach it as a poem.
Singing is uplifting and enjoyable though and it’s a shame not to do it just because you’re a bit embarrassed. I actually think it’s good for kids to see adults doing things that they’re not amazing at but still enjoying themselves. We don’t need to be perfect and it’s fine to show that and not be ashamed.
Children remember songs
I don’t know about you but I can remember every word of thousands of songs. I can’t remember everything I learned at school and I can’t remember many of the books I’ve read. But if you ask me to sing a song that I listened to when I was a teenager or even younger, there’s a good chance that I can sing that song to you and remember a good 80% of the words. This works exactly the same in our English classes. Children learn songs incredibly quickly and they don’t forget them, especially if it’s a catchy tune or has funny actions to go with it.
So surely we should take advantage of this? If you’ve got something particularly complicated to teach, why not turn it into a song? Just make up a tune and sing it a few times with your class. I can guarantee that they will remember it a lot better than if they had had to write it down or just repeat it over and over.
How I use songs in my EFL ESL Kids class
I usually use songs like this: First, I choose the topic I’m going to be teaching. For example, weather. I look at how I want to teach this theme and what I want to concentrate on. Maybe I will look at the weather in summer. Then I start looking for materials. I normally choose 2 songs that can be used to talk about and practice this theme as well as any games or stories. So for the summer weather theme, I might choose the Mr Sun song and The Summer Song.
During the lesson, once we have learned the vocabulary needed, I teach the songs and any actions and we sing them, normally a couple of times. While we are doing any practical activities, like drawing at the end of the lesson, I put the song on for the kids to listen to and sing along with while they are doing their activity. Then, at the end of the lesson, we sing the song again with the actions. In this way, it is fresh in their minds when they leave the class.
How to use songs in your EFL ESL classes?
- That’s up to you. Find a way that you feel most comfortable using songs.
- Try not to just put on the song and listen to it. I know that’s hard if you’re not used to teaching songs or singing alone in front of a group of kids. You’ll get used to it though. Pretend you’re doing karaoke. You might even get to love it.
- Make sure the song is relevant to what you’re teaching in that class.
- Don’t try and use too many songs in each class. You won’t have a chance to teach them properly and the kids won’t remember them.
- Have fun. If you’re enjoying yourself and the song looks fun, the children are more likely to enjoy it too.
- Don’t forget actions and dancing.
If you want to see some of my favorite songs to use in my lessons, you can find them here. I hope this article has shown you a bit more about how to use songs in EFL ESL Kids class and why you should try it. It’s such a missed opportunity I think to completely disregard such an important tool. Obviously, it’s a tool that has to be used in the right way. But such a crucial and effective one if you can use it productively.
How do you use songs in your classes? What are your favorite songs? Please leave any ideas or tips in the comments. I would love to hear your opinions. To stay up to date with new posts and ideas, you can follow the GoogooEnglish Facebook page. Alternatively, sign up for email updates by filling in the form below.