I spent part of the day with my Second language singer playlist playing in the background as I walked along and worked at my treadmill desk. My favorite group and by far the best representation of a multinational group singing in English is Outlandish. So inspiring to our students!
Outlandish
The group consist of a Moroccan, a Pakistani, a Honduran, all singing in English while based out of Denmark. A plus is that their songs are about global issues, issues people around the world face. They get my vote by far! The greatest Second Language Singing Group (SLSG) ever. Here’s a short interview with them.
Checkout the others I recommend and the songbook for teaching on the Second Language Singer page. Enjoy this fine example from Outlandish!
This presentation has always been a fav. of teachers. Here, I add a voiceover and summarizing some of the main points (ever so quickly). Click on the presention to listen and use the slideshow underneath to go to resources highlighting each point (by clicking on the photos). Additionally, the “song” tag gives post gives with more information about using song in our classrooms.
I just spent an hour or two tagging all the songs on EFL Classroom that have lyric sheets. Wow! Didn’t know we had so many. Find them here. Look below the video for links, many with ppts too. Plus, see our International Second Language Singers collection for many more. Also, many in our lyric sheet resources.
To celebrate this “new” or rather, “renewed” resource, I’ve made a nice lyric sheet and worksheet to go with one of the most popular songs for teaching – Mr. Morton is the subject of the Sentence. Get more Schoolhouse Rock songs HERE.
I already got creative with it. It teaches verbs connected to technology so well! (and verbs are the flypaper of language – have a lot of verbs and lots of language will stick). See the lesson idea/material below. Pretty basic – students link up the verbs with technology nouns. You can probably even get into the song and have the students chanting, each group taking one part. That’d be fun! Technology vocabulary
I’m a big fan of always exciting students with “possibility”. By that I mean, designing a lesson so that they can change and interact with the content in creative, personal ways. They can be touched by possibility – much like we are when online and using Web 2.0 tools.
One easy way to do this is to use music/song. A “change the lyrics” activity.
Basically there are 3 steps involved.
1. Teach the song in any way you see fit. It could be the typical listening cloze, Lastonestanding, karaoke or many other ways.
2. Have prepared on the board the chorus or one main part of the song. In front of the students rub out some main content words. Ask students to put in their own words for the song. Have fun!
3. Challenge students to do the same and then share.
Here are two already prepared examples. The first, very simple for the gospel classic, “This little light of mine”. The second more lengthy for “What a wonderful World”.
Whatever you do, have fun adapting a song – I know your students will!
** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1.
Last One Standing
This game is fantastic! I’ve done it in countless teacher training sessions and with students. It’s gotten so that other teachers when they see another teacher doing this with their students – tell me they know they must have been to one of my training sessions!
It’s easy to do. Select some vocabulary from a song your student’s enjoy (select words that repeat a lot). Then, ask them to choose and write in large letters, one of those words/phrases. Divide the students into groups. The students stand up showing everyone their word and holding it high.
Play the song and students must sit down when they hear their word. Stand up again when they hear it again. Last one standing wins and the group with the most standing wins too!
Lots of variations, students can decide to begin sitting or standing and that gives an element of chance.
See many examples in ppt HERE. Or go to the video examples HERE.
Here is my list of top 10 songs for Young Learners and suggested teaching points. Please comment and add any other suggestions.
Most are found on our Kid’s Karaoke page or by searching in our videos…. ) Not surprising that many of these songs are also chants! This one, is my personal fav. but it didn’t make my Top 10.
1. Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes – body parts
2. If you’re happy and you know it – possibility, commands
3. Old MacDonald Had a Farm – animals / animal sounds
4. He’s got the whole world in his hands. ‘s got / to have
5. 5 in the bed / 10 little Monkeys – counting and numbers
6. The Wheels on the Bus – actions
7. B-I-N-G-O – spelling, pronunciation and rhythm
8. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom – alphabet / letters
9. Do The Hokey Pokey – directions / prep of movement
10. There was an old lady who swallowed a fly – animals
[special mentions to One of these things is not like the other / There’s a hole in the bucket / Skinnermarink / Rubber Ducky and Barney’s – I Love You songs….
Doodle songs/videos are a great activity you can do with your class! They really promote contextualized learning and motivate students because you have a final product and of course – there is music! They are the perfect example of SCC or Student Created Content.
I was asked by a member for some info. about creating one – so in the name of education, here is my simple guide. A few short steps and tips.
First, what is a doodle video? Well, it is simply drawings that support the lyrics of the song. Students make the drawings and then they are each photographed and put together with the music to make a video. See all the doodle videos we have HERE. I also recommend the doodle video folder in our A/V player – some great songs there. Project Peace actually is a doodle video of a sort too, see examples there.
This is probably the most popular doodle video on EFL Classroom 2.0.
So, how to make one?
1. Choose a song.
This isn’t such an easy thing! Find out what your students like/want and balance that with a song that has repetition (for learning) and also isn’t so fast. A fast song doesn’t work too well because the images/words flash by so so fast. “I gotta feeling” works because it follows these few simple selection rules.
2. Learn the Song.
Also important, don’t get ahead of yourself! Students should learn the song with a song sheet or if you are ambitious, make a karaoke or find a “subbed” version on youtube. The students should be familiar with the song. Then, show them a doodle video and tell your class, you are going to turn the song into a doodle!
3. Get organized – Get drawing!
A good tip here is to pair students up. Number each line of the song and put the number and the lyric line, on the back of each piece of A4 paper (so you can keep track- Very Important!). Give each pair or student, a line of the song and ask them to draw a picture to help show the meaning of the line.
Another tip. Get the students to fold the bottom of the piece of paper and write their lyric line there, nice and big, in clear print. The picture goes above. This will save you from having to put subtitles on when you make the video. It will save you time – BIG time and also make a more attractive video.
Monitor, encourage and get the doodle pictures done!
4. Camera and Production time!
After you have all the pictures finished in order (and note, lines that repeat mean the picture could have on the back and represent line 6,7,8 – for example) – take out your camera and take a photo of each. Put the doodle on a nice clear background and make sure the lighting is good. Even get a student to do this for you! I’m a clutz with a camera and my students do a much better job. Even get them making the video if possible!
Yes, now that you have the photos – upload them to your computer. Now, it is time to make the video.
a) Open up Windows Movie Maker – a free program on every PC computer. Click START and then select this little icon. If you have Windows 7, WMM won’t automatically be on your computer – you’ll have to download and install it yourself. Go HERE. Microsoft has a great tutorial site for using WMM and also visit the WMM forum for tips.
b) Now you will have to put the photos into WMM, add the mp3 file of the song and then “sync” or “time” them both together. Finally, “Produce” as a movie. Produce as an mp4 or Avi, these are the better quality and most sharable formats. This process isn’t as hard as you think. In the name of brevity – watch this tutorial video on how to do this in WMM or get a colleague to help. As mentioned, get your students making the video if possible! It is their creation and they probably have skills way beyond the teacher (many do).
5. Watch, Share, Enjoy!
Put it up here on EFL Classroom 2.0 and your school’s website. Get many students watching it. They will learn English as they enjoy it.
To end – here is probably the video that started the whole “doodle” craze. If you haven’t seen it previously, enjoy!
I really believe in using the students’ own cultural knowledge and “aspect” when teaching English. I’ve elaborated on this notion of CSC (Culturally Specific Content) on a number of occasions. There can be no more powerful cultural component than traditional song and music.
Arirang is the most famous Korean traditional song. It has countless variations across the nation, north and south. It also has countless translations. Here is one I made for use in class.
See the video below for a full explanation as to the meaning of the song. It basically is a song of “longing” and sadness. Not only of love but on many levels.
One great idea for your students would be to get them to make their own “Arirang” lyrics. Use this cool modern version of the song to get them inspired. They just fit the lines to the music! I’ve included some audio files of the song for your use in any lesson about “Arirang”.
What is the traditional song in the part of the world where you teach?
아리랑
아리랑, 아리랑, 아라리요…
아리랑 고개로 넘어간다.
나를 버리고 가시는 님은
십리도 못가서 발병난다.
아리랑, 아리랑, 아라리요…
아리랑 고개로 넘어간다.
청청하늘엔 청 별도 많고
우리네 가슴
This is a lovely music video of a fabulous and “quirky” Canadian singer, Jane Siberry. Just beautiful and slow – perfect for language learning. I’m also celebrating her because in the spirit of art and knowledge and love – she has just recently made her whole 16 album music collection FREE for downloading. Talk about progressive and a soulmate! Thank you Jane, my soul reaches out to you….
I fell in love with it (it is very recent, from March in the outback of Australia) and wanted to share it with students. Find below a nice organizer for getting students to brainstorm the qualities of “an angel”. Who might they consider an angel in their own life? Also, do some origami and get making some angels!
However, I’d like to discuss and share my ideas for subtitling with Windows Movie Maker. It is a tool that I use often, whenever I need to add text support and support my instruction for learners. Let me take you through the steps I took to make this video.
1. I downloaded the video in FLV high quality by using http://keepvid.com . Just enter the url of the youtube video and you will be provided with links to different qualities of the same video to download. If just downloading – use mp4, it is the most stable. If downloading to subtitle, download a high quality .flv.
2. Next, I used NCH’s videopad. It is free and this Australian company has the best suite of tools for working with audio and video available (also see their free wavepad for working with audio). Videopad is only free for 30 days but after that you still can use to convert to avi and .wmv. Both perfect for subtitling! Download and open the .flv in Videopad. Drag it to the editing area below and press “convert” . Select .avi format. Now, you’ve easily converted it to a format you can use with WMM.
3. Now you have an .avi video file. Next, if you have a windows based computer, click the “START” button and go into programs. Select “Windows Movie Maker”. It is standard and comes with all windows based. operating systems. In the case of the newer Windows 7 – you’ll have to download it HERE through Windows live.
4. Next add subtitles using WMM. Here is a nice tutorial. I think WMM has horrible subtitling options so I also get my own add ons by creating a special file and adding it to the WMM AddOnTFX folder (if not existing, just make your own). For the above video, I needed subtitles on the right and also lower. So I followed these instructions to add my own subtitling option into WMM by creating a nice .xml file. You can download these “different” and additional subtitling files to add to your program’s Movie Maker file HERE. The Movie Maker forum has loads of advice on using WMM. Check out the Titles area in particular. For example I downloaded THIS ONE long ago and made a TV inlay for a “LOVE TRAIN” video. (the animation will be another post )
5. After you have your subtitles on the video in WMM – click “file” and “save as movie”. Choose your format and make the movie! You are ready to upload onto your favorite video sharing site or just to use on your own computer and share with students.
Hope this helped somewhere but nonetheless – I hope you enjoyed this very special video. There are still angels out there!
Music is a wonderful way to get students learning English and producing language. See all our resources about music HERE. Also, see Rachel’s lovely post on the same topic, only using music videos!
This lesson is very teacher friendly and can be used with guidance, for multiple levels.
1. Listen to a song together. Tell the students to relax and enjoy. Play a selected portion.
2. Ask the whole class the questions on the worksheet. As a class, brainstorm the answers and record on the board.
3. Distribute the worksheet. In pairs or individually, students listen to 4 songs (chosen by the teacher or recommended by students) and as they listen fill in the chart.
4. After the song, students in groups, discuss and compare. Time permitting, share answers as a class.
This is a great lesson to compare songs within a genre (pop, country, rock, jazz, classical) or to compare songs in different musical genres.
I’m really proud of the karaoke on EFL Classroom! We have so many options for teachers – see this post for how to get these and set up the player and make your own karaoke.
However, often not mentioned, is a cool alternative, Go Sing.
Go Sing is a traditional karaoke player that is in the public realm. You can’t edit and it just has a standard karaoke background music. So it is different from the Karafun player here. Yet it does have its strengths.
You can get many songs on the Go Sing site but if you want to avoid a lot of time downloading all of them individually, just Go HERE and download. Thousands of songs to save you time! Install the player and right click the screen. You can change the main picture – a picture of your class/school works wonders! Using the arrow keys, you can scroll your library and even fast forward through parts of the song. See the screencast below for a nice visual run through of what to do….
Go Sing is a great tool for learners, especially for parties and less formal learning environments. Give it a try! (also, make sure you get a microphone for your class!).
I spent a good bottle of red wine and some time (and whatever you are told, don’t believe ‘em – time is cheap) watching 60 Minutes and this gem about how classical music and the spirit of Gustavo Dudamel is trying to bring ” the system” to America and make despair into hope.
I’d like to say how this relates to education but first a confession, a coming clean. I love my parents but have always resented that I didn’t learn a musical instrument while young. Nietzsche declared that, “without music, life would be a mistake”. I totally agree. If I had to chose between music and love, music would be it. But I’m clueless about creating music other than through words, words that too often are mistranslated and mangled. You see, there’s the rub and why we should learn a musical instrument – music doesn’t lie. It just is and we all know what it says……. but enough about me and also semiotics. Let’s talk education.
I find this video clip so fascinating not just because music can help children find hope and see the worth of working towards something and being disciplined. I find it fascinating because it is this same model we should bring towards “knowing”. Why do we kill the spirit and hunger of children, rip out their desire to know? This is the biggest question we have to answer in our day and age.
Music can uplift but I think we can build schools and communities of knowledge in the same way that “the system” of Gustavo does. People who care, nurturing the young in the spirit of inquiry. That’s what it is all about. Creating community and fostering the young. Paying back. And creating “HUNGER”.
As I look out on my own students, as I reflect on my own former classes — I remember so little hunger. The younger they were, the hungrier they were. But somewhere, the fire was quenched and nobody cared enough to keep it aflame.
I think the concept of school needs a whole rethink, just like classical music education. School should be for those who “want”. Without hunger, it is plodding and pedantic (for both student and teacher). We need to localize and begin by deregulating the teaching profession and using all the wonderful teachers in our communities who are left at the side (I’m thinking the elderly, the disabled, the early retired, the estranged). Where is the love people? And let me say, just like Gustavo is doing by buying musical instruments — we have to begin to “pay” students tangibly. It is this that is lacking in our educational (babysitting) culture.
If ever there was another musical maestro of Gustavo’s ilk, it is Benjamin Zander. He gets it too – it is all about motivation — view his TED Talk for the lecture of the century.
I hope we can do for education what Gustavo is doing for musical education. Let’s open the doors to student desire and open schools to the wider public……
PS. Thank you Ellen Pham for getting me to watch this – I previously saw the 60 min. episode about “the system” in Venezuela and thought it was the same. Happily not.
This video is just brilliant! Teachers that see it at my workshops always are stunned and amazed. The creativity, the “togetherness” that this video must have brought to their class. It has so much!
If you like this – see the video that inspired it, the Lemon Tree animation – also powerful for language teaching.
We have LOADS of karaoke for use in the classroom here. See the links assembled below.
Karaoke is a great tool for any language teacher. It really helps with phonetic recognition (connecting text to speech – reading) and highly motivational. It also is adaptable and you can vary the speed, the context (pictures) , the presentation and even have students record.
Visit this discussion to get Gosing – where you can instantly have a very basic, traditional Karaoke player in your classroom.
The Karafun player is superb. Download it free HERE. Once installed, you have both A PLAYER and an EDITOR. Use the player to play files (.kfn) and the editor to make files. See this presentation and watch how I make a file with; A) an mp3 B) a transcript/lyrics C) a photo (s) . It really isn’t difficult! If it helps, here is a short How to make a Karafun Karaoke file (short).docand a long How to make a Karaoke using Karafun.doc
If you are concerned about royalty free images and don’t want to “google” – use Pics4Learning
On EFL Classroom’s Karaoke page, you can download hundreds of pre-made karaoke files. Also see resources on my institutes site where I have a Making a Karaoke page.
Also, there are many more places to get karaoke videos and learn about karaoke:
** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1.
That’s The Way Uh huh, Uh huh, I like it.
I”ve been teaching and hawking the use of songs in education/esl/efl/even hell, for longer than I can even remember (farthest back I does remember is Ostrov nad Labem, 1993, cassette player that ate my tape in the middle of a workshop!).
During all this time, I was constantly confronted with the question to kill all wish of an answer, questions — what’s the best song for the EFL / ESL classroom?
Well I won’t hold you in suspense any longer. I’ve finally arrived at a definitive decision. A song that has stood the test of time, teacher’s incompetencies, student distraction and the comings and goings of various musical genres…. it is without a doubt – That’s the Way I like It by K.C. and the Sunshine Band.
This song has it all. A groove that you can’t forget, young or old. A simple language point – saying “I understand” by Uh Huh, Uh Huh… It also moves your hips! Further, it is suitable for singing in a group. Divide the class into 3 and then rock on! 1) That’s the way 2) Uh huh, uh huh 3) I like it Keep them going in sequence with the swing of your microphone….
This song is the ultimate earworm. You will NEVER get it out of your head. So teachers beware but at least students will have achieved something – a few lasting phrases…..
Michael Jackson will never die! I truly believe that and when we commit to excellence, no matter what else our manner, a part of us will live forever. Michael Jackson touched eternity and we will enjoy his genius forever and anon.
I’ve traveled and taught English around the world. Wherever I was, I could count on one thing — being able to talk about the music of Michael Jackson. He truly was an idol, an icon everywhere and everyone, no matter their language knew a smattering of Michael’s songs. He brought us together and was truly an international “teacher” of English.
In his honor and to maybe get your students to “taste his music”, I’ve created a few nice Mix Tube playlists. If you missed it on “Websites of the Day” – here they are again.
Mixtube is a really simple way for teachers to make a list of their favorite Youtube videos You simply put in the url/address of the video and it will be added to your list. You can “borrow” a list of others and use it as the foundation to build your own. (just go to the bottom of the list and select – “create your own playlist based on this”. It is really simple! VeeWow is another option but Mixtube is even more user friendly.
The music industry is making it VERY hard for teachers to use music in their classrooms. They are the “Nazi’s ” of the Net. Mix Tube came about as a solution to the trials of Muxtape – a great site that now is limited and on Vimeo (a great place to find new artists/bands). Also, we know well what happened to our beloved MixWit! (see an example here – our past contest winner Justinnoxxi , we preserved this one!)
Here’s a huge one of great songs for the EFL classroom that have subtitles. No need to scour youtube for this anymore. Just go there and practice. You can also just use it for background music and shuffle it……. (Also see our Dizzler or Jukebox for the same thing!) If you want to add subtitled music videos, please do so and submit the new url to me! I’ll update for us! Can you help us build this great playlist? Let’s go!
** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1.
This game is fantastic! I’ve done it in countless teacher training sessions and with students. It’s gotten so that other teachers when they see another teacher doing this with their students – tell me they know they must have been to one of my training sessions! 
Doodle songs/videos are a great activity you can do with your class! They really promote contextualized learning and motivate students because you have a final product and of course – there is music! They are the perfect example of SCC or 
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I’m really proud of the karaoke on EFL Classroom! We have so many options for teachers – 
