Lesson 11: Enhancing Learning with Engaging Activities and Materials: Songs, Music, and Stories

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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.