edConference presentation by an EFL teacher from Poland Magda Dygala.

1. Magdalena Dygała
University of Technology and
Humanities in Radom, Poland
TEACHING ENGLISH THROUGH
MUSIC AND SONGS

2. ‘MUSIC PRODUCES A KIND OF
PLEASURE WHICH HUMAN NATURE
CANNOT DO WITHOUT.’

3. MUSIC AND LEARNING
Music stabilizes mental, physical and emotional
rhythms to attain a state of deep concentration
and focus in which large amounts of content
information can be processed and learned’
Chris Brewer, Music and Learning

4. - improves concentration
- stimulates students’ brains
- helps students absorb the material
- motivates learning
- brings sense of community to a group
- brings lots of joy
STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT MUSIC:

5. BEFORE YOU PLAY ANY MUSIC:
• Start with a survey to find out
students’ favourite types of music
• choose a well known song
• with children try to use songs with
repetitive verses
• pre-teach new vocabulary

6. MUSIC AS A NICE LEAD-IN TO THE LESSON
• use, for example Michael Jackson’s ‘Earth song’
to provoke students to discuss some issues of
natural disasters

7. TECHNIQUES FOR USING MUSIC
• use music to affect your students’ mood
• guess the title
• show some pictures connected with the
song
• make students guess the name of the band
or the title of the song

8. ’ENGLISHMAN IN NEW YORK’ BY STING
• before listening to the song, you can show some
pictures of a man with Big Ben in the
background and another photo presenting the
Statue of Liberty and make them guess the title
of the song.

9. TEACH GRAMMAR THROUGH SONGS
• ask your students to look through the
lyrics and find some examples of a
grammar structure
• if you practice, for instance the
Present Perfect tense, take out the
verbs and ask students to fill in the
gaps
• the example of the song: ‘I still
haven’t found what I’m looking for’ by
U2.

10. LET’S ROCK GRAMMAR – SECOND CONDITIONAL
Use music while introducing new grammar structures to
your students (00:00–4:00)
Divide students into groups and make them compete
with each other (9:57- 15:05)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaydrAQhjUU
ENJOY WATCHING 

11. ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHING NEW VOCABULARY:
• play some soft classical music and ask the students to
write down the adjectives that come to their mind, next
students share the words with the rest of the class
• you can ask them to discuss the difference in meaning
between some of the words
• play some different type of music like reggae, rock etc.
and elicit some other words from students

12. ‘MUSIC IS THE SHORTHAND OF EMOTIONS’ LEO TOLSTOY
• Music serves as a great source of inspiration for your
students, evoking wonderful memories and emotions
• ACTIVITY: play, for example, ‘Over the rainbow’ by
Israel Kamakawiwo’Ole and ask your students to close
their eyes and imagine the best day in their life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fahr069-fzE
• Next students can draw a picture of what they’ve just
imagined, share it with their partner and write a story.

13. MAKE STUDENTS SPEAK
• after listening to a song by a well-known singer
or group, ask your students to work in groups
and prepare an interview with the singer or band
members
• students role play the dialogues in front of the
class.

14. … AND MOST IMPORTANTLY …
Make your students ENJOY
MUSIC AND SONGS 

15. THANK YOU 
Magdalena Dygała
mdygala@gmail.com

16. RESOURCES:
• Super Simple Songs
• Music and learning by Chris Brewer
• Reasons for using songs by Kevin Schoepp
• Etpedia by John Hughes
• Oxford Learner’s Pocket Verbs and Tenses by
Jon Hird (Let’s Rock Grammar lesson)
• Songs resources / downloads