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Lesson 11: Enhancing Learning with
Engaging Activities and Materials:
Songs, Music, and Stories
THE POWER OF SONGS: FUN AND EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING
5
Songs are a great source of ‘real-life’
language and you can use music to
practise lots of different language skills.
Most of all, songs are a fun way to learn
English!
Choosing good songs for learning
The best learning happens when we have
fun. So it’s really important to choose
music that your child likes. The best
songs for learning English are:
•
not too long (1–3 verses)
•
not too fast (easy to sing along)
•
in everyday English (not too many new
or difficult words)
•
clear (you can easily hear all the words).
Learning tip for 5–12 year olds
Choose songs with lots of rhyming words
and rhythms that repeat. This makes it
easier for children to learn new words and
start singing along.
5
Retrieved from: Cambridge Assessment English. (n.d.). Learn English through songs | Cambridge
English. https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/learning-english/parents-and-children/your-childs-
interests/learn-english-through-songs/
The Sing
and
Learn videos
from
Cambridge English are an ideal way to
learn, remember and use new language.
Your child could also try singing along
to nursery rhymes. They can practise lots
of different vocabulary. For example:
numbers (‘
Ten in the bed
’), animals (‘
Old
MacDonald had a farm
’), colours (‘
I can
sing a rainbow
’), weather (‘
Incy wincy
spider
’), vehicles (‘
The wheels on the bus
’),
left and right (‘
You put your right mitten
in
’), actions (‘
If you’re happy and you know
it’
), materials (‘
This is the way we lay the
bricks
’).
Learning tip for 13–18 year olds
For teenagers, learning through songs is a
great opportunity to combine their
interests and learning the language. If
your child is interested in a song, they will
be determined to understand it.
Remind your child that pop songs
sometimes use informal, everyday
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language. It’s important to understand
that English is used differently in different
situations. For example, the English in
pop songs probably wouldn’t be right in
formal writing.
English learning activities – practising
speaking and pronunciation
Singing is great for learning the rhythm of
a language. It helps us learn how words
are linked together in connected speech.
Singing along can be challenging, even
for native speakers. So help your child
with these easy steps:
1.
Find the song lyrics online, or find a
music video with subtitles. For
example, Sing and Learn is great for
younger children.
2.
Read the song lyrics out loud. Look up
any unknown words in a dictionary.
3.
Listen to the song and read the lyrics at
the same time. Encourage your child to
sing along.
4.
When they’re ready, try singing along
without looking at the lyrics.
5.
Remember, they don’t have to get it
perfect straight away! It’s actually more
effective to repeat regularly.
Some children find it hard to speak
English because they are shy or lack
confidence. Singing with other people
can help. It creates a safe space for
children
to
practise
expressing
themselves aloud. Ask other family
members to join in when your child sings
at home. They don’t have to be musical.
They simply need to be enthusiastic!
Improving English pronunciation
When you learn a new language, there
are lots of unusual sounds your mouth
isn’t used to making. Singing helps our
mouths to form the right shapes and
make these sounds loudly and clearly.
Singing also helps us learn how stronger
and weaker sounds are pronounced
differently in English.
Learning tip for 5–12 year olds
Sing along to phonic songs. This is a good
way to practise the different sounds of the
English language.
•
Practise pronouncing one-letter sounds
(for example, a, b, c). Go to YouTube
and search for:
phonic songs english
language
.
•
Practise pronouncing two-letter sounds
(for example, ou, ue, ch, th). Go to
YouTube and search for:
phase 3 phonics
digraphs
.
Learning tip for 13–18 year olds
Print out the lyrics of your child’s
favourite song. Underline some of the
words. Guess the number of syllables in
each underlined word. Listen to the song
and check how many you got right. Is one
of the syllables pronounced more
strongly? Now try singing along.
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For a more difficult challenge, ask your
child to clap along with just the strongly
pronounced syllables.
English learning activities – practising
reading, writing and listening skills
Any chance to hear English is helpful.
Even if it’s just putting on background
music during mealtimes, playtimes or
when you’re travelling. But to really
improve their English, your child will
need to listen carefully. Make some time
to understand the song lyrics and think
about what they mean.
Learning tip
Writing activity:
•
Songs can be a great inspiration for
creative writing. Listen to a song. After
10–20 seconds, pause the music. Ask
your child to draw whatever comes
into their head. Play another 10–-20
seconds, pause and draw again. Keep
doing this until the song finishes. Your
child should have several drawings.
Ask your child to write a short story to
go with their pictures.
Reading activities:
•
Print out some song lyrics. Cut up the
lyrics into separate lines or verses. Ask
your child to guess the correct order.
Now listen to the song to check if it’s
right.
•
To prepare for Cambridge English
Qualifications,
children
should
practise thinking about the main ideas
and messages in a text. You can use
song lyrics to practise this type of
reading skill. Encourage your child to
think about the meaning and emotions
of a song. What would they put in the
music video for this song? You could
film your child performing their video.
Then watch the official music video.
Are the ideas the same or different?
Listening activities:
•
Play some fun games to help your child
practise listening carefully. Choose 10
words from a song. Then choose two or
three extra words that aren’t in the song.
Write the words in a random order and
give the list to your child. Play the song
and ask them to tick the words they hear.
•
Print out some song lyrics. Change 5–10
words. Then listen to the song. Ask your
child to ‘spot the differences’. For
example, in the Cambridge English
song Going into town, Part 1 you could
change some of the nouns (‘
town
’ to
‘
village
’, ‘
bus
’ to ‘
train
’, ‘
friends
’ to ‘
family
’,
‘
film
’ to ‘
movie
’, ‘
pool
’ to ‘
sea
’).
•
Ask your child to listen to a song and
invent an action for each line or verse.
Then ask them to teach the dance to you.
Did you know that actions can help
children to understand and remember
new words? Research shows that dancing
increases memory, concentration and
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understanding at all ages – so get the
whole family to join in!
•
Younger children can also try doing the
actions to the Sing and Learn songs.
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