Read these suggestions to choose the right music to teach languages:
- The language used in song should be casual and actually usable. The lyrics should neither be too easy nor too hard considering the proficiency level of learners and their musical preferences.
- It is better if the song tells a story. Children’s songs may be preferred for real beginner.
- Videos may help understand what the song is about, making it easy to relate words with images
- Selecting the songs based on genres and artists the students prefer in their native language
- Lyrics should be clear in the song
- It is better to select the song which the teacher loves or feels comfortable singing
- Keep songs short, simple and appealing to make them easy to learn and remember.
- Song should be selected based on the purpose the song will be used for
- Songs that have soft music with quite easy words and simple content (e.g. country songs and love songs)
- For grammar, select a song that contains several examples of the grammatical items being taught
- For listening comprehension, choose song with good, clear pronunciation of the lyrics and not too many new vocabulary items or grammatical structures
- For speaking skills, choose a song that has a number of commonly used phrases or structures
- To teach target culture, choose a song which is popular in the target culture