The document outlines a workshop on using music in the classroom, providing examples of activities for using songs and classical music to aid language learning. These include gap-fill tasks, listening activities, and using song lyrics to spark creative writing. The presenter discusses principles for selecting music and rationale for how music can make language learning more engaging and aid memory through repetition in a low-anxiety environment.

1. Workshop:
Music in Action
Silvia Rovegno,MA
British Council Uruguay

2. Agenda
O Some common uses of song and music in the
classroom
O Using songs: hands-on activities
O My principles for using songs
O Using classical music: hands-one activities
O My principles for using classical music
O Conclusions
O Q and A
O https://silviarovegno.wordpress.com/

3. Over to you

4. Children Teenagers Adults
Fun for YL Music is a common form of
expression and inspiration
for teens
Activity regularly connected
to relaxation time and
entertainment
Anxiety-free learning environment
Make language easier to remember
Provide meaningful and relevant context for learning
Repetition aids learning
Singing is a community
building task
Aid classroom routines and
consolidation of classroom
language

5. Challenges

6. Some common uses of songs in
the classroom
O Gap-fill task
O Bingo!
O Order the lines
O Singing over
O Jigsaw listening
O Routines for YL
O Action songs: listen and do

8. Example 1: Starting over

9. Starting over
When starting over,..............
I feel____________________________________________________________
I need __________________________________________________________
I’m worried about _______________________________________________
I’m keen on ____________________________________________________
I look forward to_________________________________________________

11. Example 2: Going beyond the
lyrics

12. Going beyond the lyrics
(Phil Dexter)
O Good to use with well-known songs
O Different groups of students work on
different aspects of the song, visually
and/or with words
O Differentiating task according to sts’ profile

13. Example 3: Song lines

14. Song lines as homework
(Paul Seligson)
O Ask students to find lines (1 or given number) from songs with a
certain head word (eg, wish, do, if/unless, have been, make)
O In class, ask students to write the line(s) on strips of paper.
O Students stand up and paste strips around grouping them as they
see fit.
O Once grouped, ask students to teach the class the melody to the
lines.
O As a group, sing the new song.
O Then go over groupings, hypothesize on connections.
O Good for: revising grammatical structures, collocations, functional
language
O Alternative use: ask students to find between 10/15 lines from
songs with certain headword and prepare and crossword puzzle for
classmates.

15. Rationale for using song lines
O Use individual song lines / short extracts because .. ‘Doing’ the
whole song often ends up being:
O divisive: rare to find a song every teen or adult in class is
really into
O restrictive: can’t use many potentially great songs because
of ‘offensive bits’
O overlong: too much at once &/or lexically over-complicated
O less memorable: unless they learn whole song
O reading/lexis/grammar more than listening/pronunciation
Paul Seligson, Anglo Congress, 2014

16. My principles: why songs?
•Linguistic point of view
•Cognitive point of view
•Socio-affective point of view

17. My principles: How to choose
songs

18. Example 4: extract 1
O Listen to the music and write
down/draw/doodle:
O Where it is?
O When?
O What’s the weather like?
O What time of day is it?

19. Example 4: extract 2
O Listen on, write down/draw/doodle:
O Who is there?
O What does he/she look like?
O What is the person feeling?
O What is the person doing?

20. Example 4 : extract 3
O Listen on, write down/draw/doodle:
O Who is there?
O What does he/she look like?
O What is the person feeling?
O What is the person doing?

21. Example 4 : extract 4
O Listen on, write down/draw/doodle:
O Who is there?
O What does he/she look like?
O What is the person feeling?
O What is the person doing?

22. Example 4 : extract 5
O Listen on, write down/draw/doodle:
O Who is there?
O What does he/she look like?
O What is the person feeling?
O What is the person doing?

23. Example 4 : revising
O Go over the five pieces of information.
O Now share with partner and compare

24. Example 4 : Sharing time

25. Example 4: Rationale

26. My principles for classical
music
O Sparks creativity and imagination
O Removes the linguistic barrier for learners
with SEN
O Scaffolds writing and speaking
O Cultural background

27. Some tunes I’ve used
O Moonlight (Beethoven)
O The Four seasons (Vivaldi)
O The Swam Lake (Tchaikosvky)
O The Nutcracker (Tchaikosvky)

28. Recapping