Using English Videos And Music In English Foreign Language Classrooms
By Kisito Futonge
By Kisito Futonge
a) Music:
English songs can be used for a wide variety of ESL learning and
teaching activities. They can start discussions on a topic or even become the
centre of debate. This is especially true of songs that develop a particular
theme. Songs are also great for teaching listening. One of my favorite
exercises with music is completing the blanks as students listen or listening
and choosing the correct words from two words than rhyme, for example cry and
try. You can teach grammar with songs in many ways. Most English songs
sometimes sacrifice grammar for smooth rhyme. This makes them very good grammar
teaching tools. You can ask students to find the mistakes or ask them how we
would normally say it. Most songs reflect the background of the singer, why not
do activities on something like varieties of modern English; or simply by
comparing two songs ask students to figure out where the speaker is from and
why. This is especially good for lessons that show the differences between
British and American English. Of course you can teach new vocabulary with songs
and students would understand them better within the context of the song. These
are just a few of many ideas for using songs in ESL/EFL teaching. See the
section on using music in ESL classrooms and download sample worksheets.
b) Videos:
Like English songs English videos can be used for an assorted
variety of language teaching and learning. The main difference lies in the fact
that you see and hear. Television is however a lazy medium, providing little
challenges for the mind, by spoon-feeding the mind with sounds and sights,
thereby providing little room for one’s imagination to thrive. So how do we
make this lazy medium a useful classroom tool? Lots of ideas come to mind. How
about turning of sound and asking students to create the dialogue from a scene?
Or how about, getting one part of the class to watch and describe to the
others? Yes! How about simply using a freeze frame technique where you watch
and pause when it gets very interesting, then ask your students a number of
questions about what happens next? View some worksheets on how to use videos.
One video I often use is MR. BEAN. It is great for prompting students to
describe what they just saw.
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