Songs are great for learning vocabulary, grammar, pronunication and listening.
I love using songs in my classroom. You can find so much natural vocabulary and learn how grammar is used in context. Students can listen to how words are pronounced and linked together. At the end of the class I ask my students to all stand up and sing together. First, they are quiet and scared but slowly you can see them gaining confidence and soon singing along together. It's an unforgetable experience for them and for me too.
When you are listening to a song at home, you can still learn without a teacher. Here is a guide to help you:
Choose a song you like.
Listen to the song once. What is it about? Is it a happy or sad song? Is it about love, family or friendship? How is the singer feeling? Who are they singing to?
Listen again and write down some of the words or phrases you hear or think you hear. You don't have to be correct. Listen for the third or fourth time if you need to.
Now find the lyrics of the song (search on the internet for ‘(name of song) + lyrics’.
Listen again to the song and follow the lyrics. Check to see if what you wrote is correct.
Read the lyrics carefully and use a dictionary to understand the words you don’t know. Cambridge or Oxford online dictionary are good websites for dictionaries. You can find a translation of the lyrics in your language.
Write down 5 new words and find the meaning from the dictionary.
Look at the grammar. What grammar do you see? Why did they use that grammar? Was it talking about the past, present or future? A Conditional?
Listen again. How does the singer say the words?
Finally sing the song! Copy the way the singer pronounces the words.
For easier songs, choose a slow song. Older songs from the 60s and 70s are usually better. Fast songs especially rap are much harder as they sing very quickly.
So...go, find a song and try it! Leave a comment to tell me how it went.
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