Oct 3, 2009

Using songs to teach English language in the Classroom

For so many years, we have heard much about using songs and stories to teach English as a second (ESL) or foreign (EFL) language. I am going to provide a song in a video section and the lyrics for you and it's up to you to think of suitable activities to motivate (your) students and to overcome the artificiality of the classroom environment.


You need to think of the following points while planning your lesson:
1- The unit ( in the student's book) where you will include this song.
2- The type of activities.
3- The purpose of the activities.
4- You can even make a whole lesson plan and include the song for a whole classroom session or even more.


What a Wonderful World ( by Louis Armstrong)


I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom, for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
I see skies of blue, and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces, of people going by
I see friends shaking hands, sayin' "how do you do?"
They're really sayin' "I love you"
I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow
They'll learn much more, than I'll ever know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself, what a wonderful world

Sorry, I couldn't download the song: you can see it by clicking on one of the following links:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=23463314797130084&ei=0JvHSqiMNpLW-Abf5KzqBg&q=Louis+armstrong+What+a+Wonderful+World&hl=en#

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1ysp1_louis-armstrongwhat-a-wonderful-wor_music

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1634259/louis_armstrong_what_a_wonderful_world_song_lyrics/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm2gLx18pC8