10 ESL Activities That Will Bring Music to Your Ears

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15+ Free Classroom Music Activities and Lesson Plans for the Classroom

These are 15 amazing resources for teaching classroom music, suitable for use by specialist and non-specialist teachers.

Poison Rhythm Game

This is a fun aural clapping game for just about any age group. The teacher claps a series of patterns, and the students echo. Then the teacher claps the “poison rhythm” which the students have learned in advance. If they clap, they’re out! Its loads of fun and educational at the same time.

classroom music activity posion rhythm

Musical Pizza

A music composition lesson plan where students will create their own rhythms. They will use the concept of word association. Pizza ingredients put together terrific rhythm patterns!

Musical Tic-Tac-Toe

This is a flexible idea which is usable in many different grade levels. The concept is simple. The teacher writes a tic-tac-toe board on the screen. Then a students needs. to “earn” the right to place a O or X on the board. They do this by identifying whatever musical symbol or concept the class is working on!

Classroom Music Activity 1 - Poison rhythm game

The Importance of Aural Training

While most teachers know of echo clapping to be a standard “attention grabber”, music teachers can extend this simple habit into an amazingly effective way of getting students to listen better while teaching the aural/ listening component to any music curriculum.

Grade One Composing Lesson

A composition lesson with simple questions and answers suitable for early grades.

Homework and Hotdogs Rhythm Activity

A fantastic little rhythm piece which is great fun for percussion instruments.

Classroom music resources using tuned percussion

Moving from Singing into Playing

Learn how students can quickly move from singing a song through to learning some simple tuned percussion parts in grade two in a few easy steps.

Fun Action Song for Grade One

Learn this wonderful fun action song called “Kye Kye Kule” to inspire grade one students to sing and play their first classroom instruments.

Grade Three Tuned Percussion Lesson

A fun way to introduce xylophones, glockenspiels and how to play simple repetitive patterns called ostinati.

Classroom music worksheets

Treasure Island Music Theory Quizzes

These Treasure island quiz games will get your students to test their music theory knowledge while they find clues to answer the trivia treasure question at the end.

Emergency Pack Worksheets

This Fun Music ebook provides crosswords and find-a-word puzzles to leave in the classroom for a substitute lesson or a quick five minute filler.

Listening activities for the classroom

Musical Who Am I?

A fun beginning idea for grade three students to get into learning about some early rock and roll artists.

Stravinsky Listening activity

A fun music appreciation activity for junior high school students learning about some amazing music from Igor Stravinksy.

Grade Four Listening Lesson

A music listening and appreciation lesson based on “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong. It’s a lesson designed to teach more than just the music.

Classroom music resources using boomwhackers

Mystery Boomwhacker Game

A fun listening game for Boomwhacker tubes, suitable for grades Kindergarten to Grade 4

A Video Lesson for Boomwhackers

If you’ve ever wanted to teach or play Boomwhackers, but don’t know where to start,  this video is an online play-along resource.

Boomwhacker Piece for Primary or Elementary

In a few minutes, your young students will be having fun playing this fun warm up tune called “Elephants Walk, Monkeys Run” on Boomwhackers.

Technology and software resource

Using the GarageBand Beat Sequencer

We show you how to get students started in Garageband on iPads then move onto using the beats Sequencer tool within a few easy steps in this blog video post . 

Lesson Plan for GarageBand Manual Drums

A complete lesson for GarageBand using iPads where students learn to create their own drum pattern using a function of the GarageBand software called the “manual drums”.  

Ukulele resources

Ukulele Playing Exercises

if you’ve ever wanted to get your students started with playing melody and chord patterns on their ukuleles, you can do it in minutes with these three fun beginning activities!

Equipment you will need

Many of these activities will need little or no equipment. Some may need a classroom whiteboard or display screen. You will also need a sound system, such as a high quality Bluetooth speaker so all of the instruments can be clearly heard.

Looking for more?

Checkout our four outstanding music teaching ideas for more inspiration!

More classroom music resources: 

If you’re serious about teaching the K-6 Music Curriculum to its full potential and learn more about how all these smaller teaching ideas build into a full music curriculum, you might want to join one of our signature  programs called the Fun Music Curriculum . It’s all laid out step by step and you don’t even have to do any extra preparation to get it started with your classes. You can learn more by watching this video:

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11 Comments

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Great resources here for utilizing music in an educational setting.

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Yeah I’m a teacher and this has been really helpful

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I’m a teacher and this has made things easier

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Hey, I have considered purchasing the software program DubTurbo Beatmaker and was hoping anybody could give me an actual genuine review of the application. Almost all of the online resources that supply experiences are in fact affiliate marketers endorsing the software program so I doubt that the product reviews are trustworthy. Thank you in advance for just about any insight any individual can provide.

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Hi Giselle,

DubTurbo Beatmaker is not a software program we are familiar with, so can’t really provide much of an insight. We will have a look and see if we can do an independent review. I agree that most of the ‘reviews’ one finds for most software programs are in fact affiliate links, so can’t be considered ‘independent’ at all

[…] http://funmusicco.com/music-lesson-plans/15-free-music-activities-and-lesson-plans-for-the-classroom … […]

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accidentally stumbled on this great thing..m a music teacher from india..i will start using this..thank u..any other great sites available please do suggest..

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Any help you can provide will be appreciated! New Music Teacher here.

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i, would you be kind to email me some musical lesson for gr 9 to 12. am new in teaching music.

Hi Ben, I suggest you begin by checking out our resource archive of lessons – https://funmusicco.com/resource-archive/ to see if any of these ideas might suit your students.

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British Council

How to use songs in the english language classroom, by adam j. simpson, 04 march 2015 - 01:48.

'A good old-fashioned CD can often be a useful backup.'

Michael Hicks licensed under  CC-BY- 2.0  and adapted from the  original .

What makes for a successful song-based lesson? Adam Simpson, second-time winner of the British Council’s Teaching English blog award for his post on conditionals (written with Paul Mains), explains.

One of the big problems we all face, whether teaching English to children or adults, is maintaining learners’ interest throughout our lessons. Consequently, we often have to be very creative in the techniques we use. What makes music such a great teaching tool is its universal appeal, connecting all cultures and languages. This makes it one of the best and most motivating resources in the classroom, regardless of the age or background of the learner.

Planning for the use of songs in class

The process of selecting a song is one of the most difficult aspects of using music in a lesson. Here are some things you probably need to think about to ensure you get the right song.

Carefully examine what it is you want your class to learn in the lesson

Is this going to be a lesson focusing on vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, or a particular topic? I once used ‘You’re so vain’ by Carly Simon to introduce a text that looked at vain people. In another lesson, I used ‘In the air tonight’ as it uses the present perfect continuous tense. Whatever your focus, remember that this doesn’t necessarily place a limit on what you can do with the song. For instance, you might wish to use the song in question to exemplify a particular verb tense, and structure your lesson accordingly, but you might at the same time wish to take the opportunity to look at those interesting idioms in the lyrics!

Think about the language level of your class

The language level of your class will determine not only which songs you can use, but also what other activities – such as games or written exercises – you will use to develop the lesson. Lower levels will become extremely frustrated with fast-delivered lyrics, for instance, while simple repetitive lyrics might not be interesting for more advanced-level learners.

How old are your learners?

If you’re a teacher of young learners, you will probably want to use songs that are repetitive and very easy to understand. For teenagers, however, use contemporary or fairly recent pop and rock songs. My advice: it’s often best to ask them ‘what’s cool’. Alternatively, for adult learners, who will probably have a more open approach to classes, use songs that are interesting to their age group.

Are there any specific cultural issues regarding the make-up of your class?

What kinds of things are generally unacceptable in the culture in which you teach? Whatever you do, don’t use music solely based on your own cultural norms. Consider the audience and their sensibilities; even better, let them choose the songs that you use.

What kind of access do you have to the song?

Let’s face it, this is the age of YouTube and you can find practically any song on this website. Nevertheless, an mp3, which doesn’t require a connection, or even a good old-fashioned CD, can often be a useful backup.

Six steps for making a song the focus of your class

My intention here is to provide a basic outline you can use with any song. Remember, these are just suggestions so make sure to keep the profile of your learners in mind.

1.  Listen to the song

That’s it – start things off by just listening. It’s important to remember that this is supposed to be a fun activity; don’t make it too serious or boring.

As an alternative, you can show a video clip if you have one – in fact, I strongly recommend it, as it will cater to more learners’ learning preferences.

Ask learners if they’ve heard it before, and don’t overload them with tasks at this point; simply let them enjoy the music.

2.  Ask some questions about the title

Here are a couple of examples of the types of questions you can ask:

For John Lennon’s wonderful ‘Jealous Guy’:

  • ‘What is a ‘jealous guy’?’
  • ‘What are three things a jealous guy might do?’
  • ‘What kinds of jealousy are there?’

For Queen’s classic ‘We are the champions’:

  • ‘What is a champion?’
  • ‘What kinds of champions are there in the world?’
  • ‘What activities have champions?’

Such questions tend to work really well as conversation starters, so group three or four learners together and then get feedback from each group on their thoughts. If you think it would help, make this your first step, i.e., before the initial listening.

Alternatively, prior to having listened to the song you can teach a couple of words and give a simple task for the first listening. My favourite strategy is to give three or four words from the song and ask to them to listen out for the words that rhyme with them. You could also brainstorm possible rhymes before listening.

3.  Listen to the song again, this time with lyrics

This time, you should give learners the chance to read the lyrics to the song. At this point you might do one or more of the following activities:

  • Learners can just read the lyrics while they listen. They can possibly highlight unknown words for later discussion.
  • You can make a lyric worksheet as a gap fill; learners fill in the gaps as they listen.
  • You can make cut-out strips of selected missing words and again make a lyric worksheet as a gap fill; this time learners match the word strips to the gaps as they listen.

4.  Focus on a particular verb tense or aspect of grammar

Virtually every song centres on a particular verb tense. This is too good an opportunity to pass up in terms of uncovering the grammar. My suggestion is to start with questions such as these:

  • How many examples can you find of the past simple in the lyrics?
  • Why did the writer of this song choose this verb tense?

This acts as a springboard for discussing the function of a specific tense, as well as examining its form. Furthermore, it often tends to raise awareness of grammatical flexibility and ‘poetic licence’ in the construction of song lyrics. Students often expect songs to obey the grammatical rules that have been drummed into them. In a surprisingly large number of cases, this can lead to the enlightening discovery that rules can be broken!

5.  Focus on vocabulary, idioms and expressions

We’ve noted that many songs bend the rules of grammar. It’s also useful to focus on the creative and artistic use of vocabulary we encounter in lyrics. Start with questions like these (again, for Queen’s classic song ‘We are the champions’):

  • What does ‘I’ve paid my dues’ mean?
  • What does ‘my share of’ mean?
  • What does ‘I’ve taken my bows’ mean?

Go through the meanings, illustrating with other examples if necessary. Songs often serve as really good contexts for phrases and idioms, but it’s good to make sure that the meaning is clear. As with grammar, years of misunderstanding can come to light in this way!

6.  Round things off with some creativity

Creativity is an important part of maintaining motivation but it shouldn’t be limited to the teaching approach. Depending on the factors highlighted in the first part of this post (age, language level, cultural specifics, etc.), you might want to try finishing things off with an activity that stimulates creative thought. Here are a few examples of things you can do to get the creative juices flowing:

  • Write another verse of lyrics, maintaining the same mood and style as the original. This can be done individually or in groups. These new lyrics can be presented to the rest of the class. Perhaps several groups can work on this to come up with a completely new set of lyrics for the whole song.
  • A song tends to give you the perspective of the singer. Write a response (this can be a paragraph, i.e., not necessarily in lyric form) from the point of view of the person the song is being sung about, or any other protagonist.
  • Have the learners plan a music video for the song. In groups they decide the location, the characters, and what happens. Then each group explains their idea to the rest of the class and the learners vote on the best one. The results can be surprising, as they frequently come up with an interpretation that hadn’t even occurred to you!
  • Write a diary entry for a character in the song. Get learners to examine the thoughts and feelings that inspired the story being played out in the lyrics.

Visit our  award-winning website  for more tips and activities for the English language classroom.

You might also be interested in:

  • How to help learners of English understand prepositions
  • How to sing your way to language success
  • How teachers can help children enjoy singing

View the discussion thread.

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8 Ways to Use Music in the Language Arts Classroom

music project english class

I think when we talk about using music or art or theater in the Core classes, there is still this persistent suspicion that a teacher who plays music in the classroom must be too "soft" or "granola-y." Don't get angry; I'm just stating an observation of perception, not a fact of truth. I would push back, however, that using the arts in the core subject-area classes is far from fluffy.

What I do understand, however, is that not everyone is a musicologist. Not everyone has in depth knowledge of this composer or that artist, and that can serve as a gatekeeper to incorporating the arts. However, I believe, a more casual everyday use of music can have as much power as explicitly teaching music as it relates to one's subject matter.

One doesn't need Bach in the background to qualify as having used music. There are many ways to trigger the benefits of music in, say, a Language Arts class, that doesn't require too much knowledge of music in general.

Why Use Music?

Music can be used to help control a classroom environment or to support the content within that class. It can be used to signal different transitions within the class as well as to serve as a writing prompt itself.

Music is also a way to build community and to share yourself as a teacher. After all, if the students don't have a sense of who you are as a human, they will inevitably lose respect for you as a teacher. Music is a way in with students, a way for them to learn about you and for you to learn about them. And we know that reciprocal learning in a classroom, whether to build subject matter competency or community, is key in pulling out the best academic results from those students.

The week after I saw The Lego Movie, every period that walked into my middle school classroom was greeted with "Everything is AWESOME!" Haven't heard it? I dare you to be asleep or disinterested in anything for at least a full hour after hearing that 2:43 song. As an a cappella geek, I have been known to play a song from the a cappella group, Pentatonix, every now and then as well. The beat boxing in some of their YouTube videos is slamming every which way you look, and they take on multiple genres with their beautifully blended voices.

Reciprocally, I never thought I'd actually appreciate K-pop until my students shared it (sort of in thanks for me turning them onto some Danny Elfman scores).

Music helps create a classroom environment of creativity, but I would also add that it helps make the brain more receptive to deeper critical thinking. Music opens up neurons, opens doors in your brain that create a kind of loft space receptive to learning.

The Activities

But what do you do if you don't have a lot of knowledge about music? Feeling like you have to bring in another content area can be daunting, but adding music as a learning layer isn't like that, and there are many options you can use to keep those students awake and more receptive to absorbing your content. Here are eight ways to use music for this:

#1 Songs to Teach Academic Vocabulary

Using music as an aid in memorization is just plain smart. Add in songs that are focused in your content area, and they're gold. That's why history teachers still use "Elbow Room" from Schoolhouse Rock fame to introduce the concept of exploration. As a Language Arts middle school teacher, I love the Princeton Review Vocab Minute podcast. You can look through the list of short minute-long songs that teach concepts from word origins to synonyms.

#2 Lyrics as Poetry

I love looking at lyrics through a poetic lens. Clearly I'm not alone because my own second-grader's teacher sent him home with the printed out lyrics to Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive." My son had circled the nouns and underlined action verbs. In my own classroom, I have even had students create a web trying to trace the logic from Willie Nelson's version of "I Am My Own Grandpa."

#3 Songs as Writing Prompts

#4 music to aid in role-playing, #5 developing playlists to teach narrative, #6 jingles to teach persuasive.

Commercials jingles are a great way to show that people are writing persuasively in many genres and in many modalities. Have students analyze a jingle as you might analyze an article or review. Better yet, have them write one.

#7 Reviews as Literary Analysis

Music reviews are persuasive, sure, but they are also a form of literary analysis. Look at Amazon reviews or Rolling Stone reviews for elements of analysis. Have students listen to the music they are referring to. Did the reviewer miss the boat? Do they agree with the review and what evidence can they bring to the table to prove their analyses?

ESL Worksheets for Teachers

Check out our selection of worksheets filed under topic: sound and music. use the search filters on the left to refine your search..

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Worksheet type

music project english class

Upper-intermediate (B2-C1)

Students work with the theme of trends in an IELTS Writing Task 1. They discuss different types of music formats and examine a task with a line graph and a model answer before preparing to write a response to a similar question. Exam tips and marking frameworks are provided. There is also an optional extension task which provides practice in answering some discussion questions for part 3 of the speaking exam related to the topic of media formats and access. This lesson is part of one unit in the IELTS preparation course plan which provides practice in listening/speaking, reading and writing for the IELTS exam. The full lesson plan takes a minimum of 60 minutes. 

by Stephanie Hirschman

music project english class

Intermediate (B1-B2)

The topic of this lesson is music. Students will read a blog about the importance of listening to an album rather than just an individual song from an artist. Students learn level appropriate vocabulary to talk about music. They will listen to four teenagers talking about their favourite albums and artists and practise dealing with vocabulary in context.

by Richard Moon

music project english class

A breaking news lesson about ABBA’s new album release, with a news report about the album announcement and an article about the band’s achievements and cultural impact. Students will learn related vocabulary, practise reading and listening skills and reinforce their new vocabulary while doing the speaking task.

by David J. Marriott

music project english class

This worksheet presents a list of questions designed to get your students talking at length about music. The lesson plan includes a self-study preparation task, in which students have the option to learn key words by heart before the lesson using Expemo. 

music project english class

This lesson focuses on a video called "Why should you listen to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons ?". The lesson looks at vocabulary related to the video and music, multi-word phrases and comprehension.  Note : before the lesson, teachers should ideally ensure they are able to play some of the music to the class. It is freely available on many music-sharing platforms.

by Joe Wilson

Linguahouse.com is in no way affiliated with, authorized, maintained, sponsored or endorsed by TED Conferences LLC.

music project english class

Elementary (A1-A2)

Students define vocabulary relating to the music industry and are introduced to the form, spelling and pronunciation of regular past simple verbs. The lesson gives practice in listening, reading, writing and speaking and there is a short optional extension activity related to music collocations with the verb play .

music project english class

In this lesson, students read an article on our love-hate relationship with Christmas music. The worksheet focuses on vocabulary, reading and speaking.

music project english class

Mixed levels

In this lesson plan, students read about the life and death of Aretha Franklin. The activities focus on understanding the text and studying key vocabulary. Students discuss the article at the end of the lesson. The upper-intermediate+ version of the worksheet is available for full members only. Photo of Aretha Franklin from Wikipedia, published in Billboard magazine, 17th of February 1968. Published before 1978 without a copyright notice.

music project english class

In this lesson, students learn and practise vocabulary related to music, including types of music and musical instruments. There is also a listening activity for students to describe six samples of music, plus a speaking activity on how we listen to music in the modern age.

music project english class

In this lesson, students watch a talk about how inventions often happen as a result of people playing and experimenting. Worksheet activities focus on listening and speaking, adverbs and key vocabulary from the talk.

music project english class

In this lesson, students watch a talk by a sound expert about how people can listen better. The worksheet focuses on vocabulary, watching/listening and speaking.

GRAPHIC CONTENT ADVISORY: The TED Conferences LLC video may contain graphic imagery not appropriate for all audiences. Please use discretion to determine if this is suitable for your students.

music project english class

This worksheet covers vocabulary related to music , including English words for musical instruments , adjectives and expressions for describing music as well as common idioms related to music . The lesson plan includes speaking activities as well as a listening exercise in which the students describe six music samples.

music project english class

Vocabulary for describing sounds and noises is often overlooked in traditional courses. In this lesson, students learn how to describe sounds using a variety of nouns and adjectives. There is a listening activity in which particular sounds are associated with various adjectives.

music project english class

  • Teaching Tips

45 Free ESL Songs for Teaching English (+ Activities!)

Quincy Smith

  • February 28, 2021
  • One Comment

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What a wonderful teacher music is!   If you’re one of the gifted and talented teachers that can hold a tune and strum the guitar, your gifts will shine through in a classroom.   However, if you’re like the rest of us who dare only sing in private or at karaoke night, fret not – you can still incorporate ESL listening activities into just about any lesson plan.

With each concept, grammar rule, vocab list or societal custom you chose to teach, you should always leave a little room for something light and creative.   Keeping your students happy keeps them interested, engaged, and will result in them actually learning to speak and understand English. 

In this article, we will provide you with links to ESL song lyrics, videos, and activities you can use with students of any age.   And the best part is—you don’t have to be a great and talented singer to do this.   You just need a bit of creativity and a passion for fun!

Looking for more ESL resources?  Check out our list of free ESL Lesson plans and ESL Worksheets ! 

General ESL Songs

Playing songs in the classroom is a sneaky way to get your students to do ESL worksheets and practice their reading and writing skills.   You can get as creative with the activities as you like.

You can start with simple activities such as gap-fill worksheets, where students must listen to the song and on their worksheet, fill in the missing lyrics.

Another fun activity you can do is have students create their own bingo cards using words from the song.   You can use songs like the popular hit by U2, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” for this activity, link below, as an example.   Students will be allowed to create their own bingo boards from the set of given words to choose from on the worksheet.

Songs are an excellent way to introduce new vocabulary.   If you play a song for your class that either contains vocab words you’ve been teaching or want to teach, you can create more activities for your students after playing the song.   You can create crossword puzzles or word searches .   After the students have familiarized themselves with the vocab words, you can always play a vocabulary themed classroom game such as these !

  • Man in the Mirror
  • You Belong with Me
  • Constellations
  • The Scientist
  • We Used to Wait
  • Stand by Me
  • I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
  • We Are the Champions

ESL Songs for Adults

While ESL sing-a-long songs are fun for the younger learners, they may not be met with the same enthusiasm by teens or adults.   Fortunately, music can still be incorporated into your lesson plans with just as much enthusiasm for a much-needed break from lectures, reading or worksheets.

With just about any grammar subject or lesson, you can find a song out there that uses that same grammar rule in the lyrics.   Verb tenses are an easy place to start using songs, as it isn’t too difficult to find a song that takes place in the past tense, present tense, or future tense.   For example, if you are teaching past tense, play “House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals.   If you are teaching future tense, play “I Mua” by Nahko and Medicine for the People (a bonus here is that a beautiful and peaceful music video accompanies the song, found on YouTube, and this opens up plenty of discussion about Hawaii, travel or vacation).   For teaching possessives, play “Midnight Train to Georgia” by Gladys Knight and the Pips: Her world is his , his and hers alone, as well as “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz. 

“I Am a Rock” by Simon and Garfunkel is a great way to introduce your students to the concept of metaphors.   The songs by Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Adele provide insight into common idioms used in the English language.

Before playing any song for your class, make sure you carefully evaluate the fluency level of your students and discuss any words that your students might not understand the meaning of.   It might be a good idea to give your students the print-outs and lyrics before playing the song and allow them to read it through and give them the opportunity to ask about any words they don’t understand.

  • The House of the Rising Sun
  • I Am a Rock
  • Midnight Train to Georgia
  • If I Were a Boy
  • Young at Heart
  • I’m Yours
  • You Can’t Judge a Book by Its Cover
  • Water Under the Bridge

ESL Christmas Songs (and Other Holidays!)

When you think of ESL songs for the holidays, most people will immediately think of Christmas carols.   And while those are a popular component of the English language, there are plenty of other times throughout the year you can bust out a good song to liven up the lesson plan.

Teaching the classic “happy birthday song” is an obvious one to use whenever someone has a birthday.   You can sing this one for any age class, not just the youngsters.   Halloween time also provides an opportunity to listen to some spooky tunes and accompanying worksheets and activities.   As with all the other categories of songs, songs around the holidays will inevitably open the door for more discussion about holiday customs and personal stories. 

  • O Christmas Tree
  • Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
  • Frosty the Snowman
  • 12 Days of Christmas
  • Jingle Bells
  • Jingle Bell Rock
  • Happy Birthday
  • Do You Want to Build a Snowman?
  • This is Halloween

ESL Songs for Beginners & Kids

Initially, this article may have led you to believe that if you don’t have a beautiful singing voice that you never have to sing in the classroom.   The exception to that rule is with kids.   But, the wonderful thing about kids is that they really don’t care if you’re wildly off key and tone deaf.   So, if you’re looking for some entertaining activities to do with your younger group of learners, teaching them simple little songs can actually be a very useful and powerful teaching tool.  

For example, let’s say you have a very energetic group of youngsters that can sometimes be a bit difficult to calm down and get them to listen once they’re all riled up.   Teaching them a simple song that you sing when you’re trying to get the class to focus can be very helpful.   Take the Dinosaur song for example.   It introduces new vocab words that rhyme (jaws, claws, etc.) and simple commands, “Sit back down!”   It’s a short and simple song so it won’t be too hard or require too much time to get the students to memorize it.   So now when the class starts to get out of hand, start singing!

Singing as a group forces the students to participate in the same activity, and it redirects their attention to something positive and productive.

ESL songs that have a physical action such as the Hokey Pokey will help students follow directions in a fun and simple way.   It also elicits responses, and even though it may seem very rudimentary, it can have a profound impact on their comprehension levels.

Just as with using songs in the adult ESL classroom, ESL songs for children can increase vocabulary and provide an excellent segue into discussions about related topics.

  • I’m a Little Teapot
  • Dinosaur Dinosaur
  • A Color Chorus
  • What Color Are You Wearing?
  • Hokey Pokey
  • You’re Welcome
  • Everything at Once
  • We All Stand Together
  • One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

Want more?  Here are some of the best online resources we found for ESL Songs:

  • Busy Teacher
  • Teaching Mama

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Teaching English with Music: 4 Effective Ways to Use Music in the ESL Classroom

Do you have a CD player in your ESL classroom?

Or how about any other music-playing device?

All right, those of you who answered yes: Could you ever see yourself getting rid of your music player?

I hope you screamed no!

Most ESL teachers find music CDs and songs such an indispensable part of their classroom that they often buy their own—rather than depend on the school’s.

CD players and music have become a vital part of most modern classrooms.

With that being said, there are times when the use of music in the classroom is inappropriate or perhaps even harmful. One of my earliest memories of teaching students was having to correct a young high school student who, with good pronunciation, proceeded to tell me—in a vulgar and crude way that would require far too many expletives and asterisks to write out—what he was going to do over the weekend.

When I asked him where he had learned such language, he revealed that he was a big fan of the Wu-Tang Clan. In fact, the young man owned every single Wu-Tang family CD ever released. While the music had taught him a vast amount of vocabulary , and his pronunciation was very New York-esque, his inappropriate usage and understanding of the meaning of some of the words was a large drawback.

While the above is an extreme example, most teachers who have been working with music and English for a long time can think of their own cringeworthy moments involving music, foreign language and students. Whether it be overly contrived corny songs, inappropriate maturity levels (both high and low) or songs that leave students feeling shy and self-conscious, the stories are endless.

The first hint for any teacher regarding  the use of music is that it is a tool , not a panacea. Just like any other tool, it can be used appropriately for great benefit, or if used inappropriately it could be useless or perhaps even harmful. Just as a carpenter wouldn’t use a power saw to drive a nail, don’t use music where it shouldn’t be used.

So, where should it be used? Here are four effective ways to incorporate music into your ESL lessons .

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

4 Effective Ways to Use Music in the ESL Classroom

1. use music as an esl warm-up.

This tactic is especially useful when you have students who are coming in from a very static period, a boring period or one that was very stressful. For example, I had one class that I would consistently teach immediately following Japanese calligraphy class. For those who are familiar with Japanese calligraphy, the motions are supposed to be very exact, and the students spend the whole time sitting at their desks working on nothing but getting one particular figure or phrase perfect.

When you combine that with a teacher who required silence during this period, you can see the situation my students were in. They had been kept seated statically for the past hour—almost silently—and needed a change of pace before being able to do anything useful in terms of English.

In warm-up situations, keep in mind the mood you want to set for your period. Since I tend to prefer a class that is active but not frantic, I use lots of music that has a “rock” edge to it. When working with students that are already overly frantic, I choose slower, more mellow music. Either way, I choose the music to bring the students into the mood that I want them to be for that class period.

When choosing a song for warm-up, while the mood of the music is paramount, do not forget about lyrics. Students need a few minutes at least to switch their minds from their native language to English. Try to find something with a decent “hook” or chorus that students can at least repeat consistently without feeling stressed. Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” comes to mind, and while it may have very fast verses (many native speakers cannot even keep up, especially if you have a few beers in you), the iconic “we will, we will rock you,” combined with the backbeat make it a fun song.

Group singing is perhaps the easiest way to implement music as a warm-up . Remember, you want something that is quick, easy to understand and can be explained in just a few minutes at most. If you have to spend five minutes explaining how, you’re going to miss your window of opportunity. If you have a lower-level class, just having them sing the “hook”/chorus is perfectly fine.

I prefer to let students move around as they like with this; a little dance or a little jive is great to set the proper mood. For lyrics, choose music that you have previously introduced, or something so simple that they can pick it up on the fly. Remember, we’re trying to get your students’ heads out of their books and papers in this instance—not having them read lyrics sheets.

Personal Favorite ESL Warm-up Songs:

  • Queen – “We Will Rock You”
  • Naughty By Nature – “Hip Hop Hooray” (Note: There are adult lyrics at points, but even native speakers never know what these guys are saying until the famous “Hey, ho” chorus.)
  • The Beatles – “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah”

ESL Warm-up Songs for Younger Children :

  • “Mary Had a Little Lamb”
  • “Five In the Bed”

2. Teach Natural Speed and Flow of English Speaking with Music

Once students have a basic grasp of your target language or the structure that you want to practice , a perfect way to work on speed and delivery of English is to use music. In this instance, I think using the numerous ESL-targeted music CDs is ideal.

While to a native speaker these songs can sometimes come off as a bit hokey or contrived, with a bit of gusto they can readily be used to get students repeating target structures and grammar in a faster, more flowing manner. Make sure you try to pick CDs that are marketed towards the age group you are working with, to minimize the “hokiness.”

When you use music to teach speed and flow, keep your body movements to a minimum . While sitting in their desks or standing in choral rows isn’t helpful, if students are spending as much brain power worrying about movements and dancing as they are about singing, something is going to get lost. This happens even for professional singers in their native language. When you add in the foreign language aspect, students will often let the unfamiliar language slip in order to embrace the somewhat more familiar physical movement. This is especially true when talking about large groups, where students will try to hide in the anonymity of the crowd.

After trying a new song through group practice, there are tons of variations you can do. Songs with multiple parts can be reviewed by breaking up the class into groups, or you could even try a full-on choir style of singing if you have experience. I’ve also used it as a game with younger children, pausing the CD at random points and having them fill in the blanks by singing the next phrase of the song.

Personal Favorite ESL Songs for Natural Speech:

  • Matsuka Phonics EFL CDs

3. Review Previously Learned ESL Vocabulary and Grammar Using Music

This is great for all ages, from children through adults. Recently, anyone who’s been anywhere near a child can listen to them singing Disney’s “Let It Go,” a runaway hit song that has been recorded in 42 different languages. Thanks to this song’s popularity—at least in Japan—there are now millions of children who can sing at least bits of the English version, as well as the Japanese version.

FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language lessons.

When using music in this way, it’s so important to pick music that fits the temperament of the class or the student . Again, ESL CDs can be useful, but familiar children’s songs, holiday tunes  (at that time of year) or even popular music can also be used. As a caveat, try to use selective editing when it comes to language. While adult or older students may be able to “handle” adult language, keep the lyrics clean to safely avoid cultural problems or potential future faux pas.

Personal Favorite ESL Music for Vocabulary Review:

  • Disney Songs – These songs are familiar in most countries and enjoyed by all ages. Also, the song lyrics are invariably safe. “Toy Story,” “Tarzan,” “Winnie The Pooh” and others have spawned dozens of great songs to use.

 4. Increase Cultural Understanding with Music

Communication is as much about language as it is about culture. Often times, miscommunication occurs not because of the words said, but because of cultural assumptions by the parties on all sides that conflict or are not understood. Music stands as the one nearly universal cultural expression. Every culture through history has had music in some form or another.

By breaking down and analyzing the lyrics and the message of a song, students can gain a greater understanding of foreign culture . This application is best used with older or more advanced students, but even middle school students can gain understanding if they have guided help with the translation. When this is your goal, a word-for-word translation is sometimes the best idea, although this is not always possible. If a word-for-word translation is not possible, explaining the meaning of the phrase is best .

First and foremost, for this type of lesson activity make sure to be flexible. The discussion can often go in unexpected directions, and sometimes these tangents can bear great fruit. Again, as with activity type #3, try to pick songs that are an appropriate maturity level for your class. Second of all, be willing to devote the entire class period to the activity if necessary. Between listening , reading , discussing and then trying to perhaps sing, you can easily fill an hour long class or more.

Personal Favorite Songs for ESL Cultural Understanding:

  • Leonard Cohen – “Hallelujah” (Note: This song is recommended only for adult students, as the meanings behind the lyrics can be rather racy, but the slow delivery is helpful.)
  • Pink Floyd – “Another Brick in the Wall”
  • Dire Straits – “Working for a Living”

Music can both bridge gaps and help educate. Songs have been a part of human expression since our caveman days, and there’s no doubt that they help us learn.

Add that to its global impact, and it’s clear music is a key tool for any ESL instructor.

So whether you regularly use music in the classroom, or have only ventured there once in a while, try using music in any of these four ways—and enjoy the results!

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Nine Teaching Ideas for Using Music to Inspire Student Writing

music project english class

By Natalie Proulx

  • May 10, 2018

Some of the greatest written works of our time have been inspired by music. Walt Whitman conceived of and wrote “Leaves of Grass” while listening to opera . Alice Walker, Langston Hughes, Ntozake Shange and Ralph Ellison were all moved by spirituals, jazz and blues . And Lin-Manuel Miranda’s rap musical “Hamilton” was born of his love of hip-hop . These writers understood what many educational researchers know — that music opens up pathways to creative thinking, sharpens our ability to listen and helps us weave together disparate ideas .

In this teaching resource, we suggest nine exercises to use music to inspire student writing — from creating annotated playlists and critical reviews to music-inspired poetry and personal narratives. Each idea pulls from Times reporting, Opinion pieces and multimedia on music to give students a place to start. The activities are categorized according to three genres: creative and narrative writing; informative and explanatory writing; and persuasive and argumentative writing.

How do you use music in your classroom? Let us know in the comments.

Creative and Narrative Writing

Exercise #1: Write a story or poem inspired by music.

One way you might let your students be inspired by music is to have them describe in words what they hear, a method Jean-Michel Basquiat employed in his poetry and paintings.

In “ Bowie, Bach and Bebop: How Music Powered Basquiat ,” Ekow Eshun writes:

In 1979, at 19, the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat moved into an abandoned apartment on East 12th Street in Manhattan with his girlfriend at the time, Alexis Adler. The home, a sixth-floor walk-up, was run-down and sparsely furnished. Basquiat, broke and unable to afford canvases, painted with abandon on the walls and floor, even on Ms. Adler’s clothes. The one item that remained undisturbed was Ms. Adler’s stereo, which had pride of place on a shelf scavenged from the street. “The main thing for us was having big speakers and a blasting stereo. That was the only furniture I purchased myself,” said Ms. Adler, who still lives in the apartment. When Basquiat was around, she recalled, “music was playing all the time.” On Thursday, the exhibition “Basquiat: Boom for Real” opened at the Barbican Center in London. The show focuses on the artist’s relationship to music, text, film and television. But it is jazz — the musical style that made up the bulk of Basquiat’s huge record collection — that looms largest as a source of personal inspiration to him and as a subject matter.

Invite your students to read the article and then listen to the Times-curated Spotify playlist “ The eclectic taste of Jean-Michel Basquiat ” as they view his art and read his poetry . Discuss what they notice about the musical influence in Basquiat’s work. How do the content, colors, textures and shapes in his paintings resemble the sounds they hear? How are these reflected in the words, phrases, mood and rhythm of his poems?

Next, have students listen to a song or playlist (perhaps one they created, one you created or one of these Times-curated ones) and, like Basquiat, let them write what they hear:

• describe the images that come to mind; • name the feelings and thoughts triggered by the imagery and sounds in the music; • mimic the pacing and rhythm through word choice, sentence structure and line breaks; • borrow the words, phrases or lines that resonate most; • or build on a theme or message.

Here’s an example of what one composer wrote as he listened to his own classical piece, “Become Desert”:

From the stillness around you a high glassy sound descends, like first light. Each new sound seems to breathe — emerging from and receding back into the stillness — and the glint of bells, like desert plants, here and there. Almost imperceptibly the music swells and continues falling in pitch. From somewhere above — like a gleam of metal, like sunlight emerging from behind a ridgeline — comes the sound of flutes. You are in a strange landscape. You don’t know how to read the weather or the light. You are unsure how long you will be here, or how challenging the journey may be.

To take this exercise a step further, students might use what they wrote while listening to music to develop a short story or poem. They might share their writing and song choices with the class so their classmates can analyze how music inspired their writing.

Exercise #2: Pen your own song or rap.

Invite students to write their own music about topics, events or themes you are studying in class. How can they summarize in song the role of the mitochondria , the main themes of “Romeo and Juliet” or the events that led to the Civil War?

Here’s an example from Julien Turner , 20, who produced this music video called “ XY Cell Life ” for a college biology class:

For inspiration, students might check out the Times “ Diary of a Song ” video series to see how songwriters and musicians like Zedd , Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber make hits. What stands out to them about these songs? What are the artists’ processes for making music? How do they write lyrics and sounds that resonate with an audience? How do they communicate content and emotion?

You might have students simply write lyrics — like these students who wrote “Hamilton” hip-hop verses and these young people who summed up the year’s news in our annual “Year in Rap” challenge .

Or, invite them to make their own music videos or recorded songs. In this case, you might refer to use our lesson plan “ Project Audio: Teaching Students How to Produce Their Own Podcasts ,” which has a helpful section on audio editing and advice for gathering non copyrighted sound effects and music.

Exercise #3: Share what music means to you.

What role does music play in your students’ lives?

What are they listening to right now? What musicians and bands mean the most to them? What music inspires them? What song lyrics do they consider literature? Which artists do they believe are the future? Which do they think will stand the test of time?

We have published over 1,000 writing prompts for students , including many, like the questions above, dedicated to personal and narrative writing about music. You might have your students choose a question that speaks to them and read the related Times article. Then invite them to share their thoughts, stories, opinions and experiences in writing.

You can search “music” to find our newest music-related writing prompts here , which are open for comment indefinitely.

Informative and Explanatory Writing

Exercise #4: Connect songs to current events.

Music has always been a reflection of and window into society, culture and history — and the current era is no different. Hip-hop, folk, classical and even opera music draw on current events and politics for source material.

What connections can your students make between the music they listen to and current events? How does learning more about the context in which a song was written help them better understand it?

You might start by having students read and analyze how journalists make connections between music and current events every day. Take Childish Gamino’s latest video, “ This Is America ,” for instance. In a roundup of the best writing about this music video, Judy Berman writes:

But Glover’s graceful moves aren’t exactly the point. There’s plenty of messaging about race, violence and the entertainment industry in the song and video — which helps explain why fans and critics have devoted so much time to dissecting its references and debating its meaning.

And Doreen St. Félix from The New Yorker relates the video to the present day:

The video has already been rapturously described as a powerful rally cry against gun violence, a powerful portrait of black-American existentialism, a powerful indictment of a culture that circulates videos of black children dying as easily as it does videos of black children dancing in parking lots.

You might have students read the roundup or one of the articles it excerpts, or let them choose another topic or genre that interests them, such as:

Beethoven’s 200-Year-Old ‘Fidelio’ Enters Today’s Prisons Mouse on Mars at M.I.T.: A Symposium Becomes a Dance Party Eminem Lashes Out at Trump in Freestyle Rap Video New ‘Hamilton Mixtape’ Video Takes Aim at Immigration Celebrating Women’s Rights, ‘That Most American of Operas’ Watch 5 Moments When Classical Music Met Politics Can North Korea Handle a K-Pop Invasion? Review: Beyoncé Is Bigger Than Coachella

For whichever article they choose, students should consider: What current events does the music they read about reference? How do these allusions contribute to the artist’s message? What other themes in the music can they relate to what is happening in the world?

Then, challenge students to pair a song of their choosing with one or more Times articles and write an essay that explains the relationship between the song and the current or historical events.

Students might start by annotating song lyrics themselves or referring to Genius to find explicit connections and discover underlying themes that in some way relate to society, culture, history and politics. Students may also choose to research the artist to find out more about his or her background, beliefs and politics.

For help in writing the essay, what we call a text-to-text pairing , we also have a whole lesson plan that guides classes through the process of generating and writing about relevant connections between their studies and the world today, as well as dozens of example essays written by teenagers .

Exercise #5: Create an annotated playlist of songs related to a topic.

Every Friday, The Times publishes “ The Playlist ,” a weekly tour of notable new music and videos. Times pop music critics choose about a dozen of the week’s most popular or intriguing songs and music videos and write a short commentary for each. They even create a Spotify playlist of the songs each week.

You can use “The Playlist” as a model for students to compile their own annotated playlists — playlists with explanatory text or commentary for each song — related to a topic you are studying in class. It might be straightforward, such as songs that reference historical or current events, use a particular literary device or exhibit a specific musical technique. Or, the playlist could be more symbolic, like pieces that tell a story when played together, demonstrate a theme from a novel or capture the essence of a time period or setting. (You might use one of these as an example of a theme-oriented playlist.) Playlists could even be autobiographical, with students selecting songs that express aspects of their own identities.

Students can read through several of the past columns and listen to the playlists to determine what makes for compelling commentary. For example, on Billie Eilish’s and Khalid’s “Lovely,” Jon Pareles writes:

“Lovely” is the song of someone inextricably attached or trapped: “I hope someday I’ll make it out of here,” Billie Eilish sings with Khalid — not in dialogue or counterpoint, but in unison, as if they’re each others’ partner and burden. “Wanna feel alive outside/I can fight my fear.” The backdrop is piano and strings lingering on two chords; the melancholy never lifts, and at the end Khalid and Ms. Eilish share a chilling greeting: “Hello-welcome home.” J.P.

And on First Aid Kit’s “Fireworks,” Mr. Pareles writes:

First Aid Kit, a duo of sisters from Sweden who usually favor a folky, countryish approach — they’ve got a song named “Emmylou,” after Ms. Harris — turn to a gauzy retro sound in “Fireworks,” a song always about ending up lonely: “Why do I do this to myself every time/I know the way it ends even before it’s begun.” With a 1950s slow-dance beat and echoey guitars, it’s already nostalgic for the next failed romance. J.P.

Ask students: What do they notice about h ow the commentary is written? What does the writer include and why? How is it organized? What makes it interesting (or not)?

After students have curated their own playlists, they are ready to write song annotations. Some ingredients they should include in their writing are: a claim explaining how the song relates to the topic or theme; evidence from the song (e.g., lyrics, instruments, rhythm or melodies) illustrating their claim; and analysis that explains the significance of these aspects of the song.

Students can share their final playlists on Spotify so that everyone in the class can listen to and comment on them.

Exercise #6: Profile an artist in an imagined interview.

The Times Music section regularly profiles artists from different genres, time periods and corners of the globe. Students can use these articles and interviews as mentor texts before doing research and writing their own mini-biographies of a music figure they admire.

In an “imagined interview,” students, working individually or in pairs, play the part of both interviewer and interviewee. They do background research on an artist they select, come up with a list of questions and answers for the interview, and then write a profile on their subject.

To start, have students read one of these interviews with musicians:

Khalid, the Teenager With 5 Grammy Nominations: ‘They Got It Right This Year’ Jay-Z and Dean Baquet, in Conversation John Mayer Has More to Say: The Outtakes Bruce Springsteen on Broadway: The Boss on His ‘First Real Job’ Adele on ‘25’: Song by Song In Hip-Hop, Inspiration Arrived by Way of Kirk Franklin Gwen Stefani on Spirituality, Insecurity, Pharrell and ‘Truth’

Ask students: What types of questions did the interviewer ask? What subjects did the two discuss? What questions were missing from the interview that you wish were asked?

If you plan on having students write narratives based on their imagined interviews, they should also read at least one example of how Times writers write narratives based on interviews. Here are a few:

The 5 ‘Handsome Girls’ Trying to Be China’s Biggest Boy Band ‘I Could Barely Sing a High C’: Pretty Yende Finally Conquers Lucia For Milford Graves, Jazz Innovation Is Only Part of the Alchemy Dua Lipa Was Raised on Pop Bangers. Now She Writes Them. Valee, Kanye West’s New Signee, Is a Rapper Who Just Might Build You a Koi Pond Rafiq Bhatia Is Writing His Own Musical Language Ashley McBryde Takes Nashville, No Gimmicks Required

While reading, they should consider the following: What information did the reporter include and why do you think they made these choices? How did they effectively weave in biographical details to tell a story about the artist and the music?

Next, assign students to choose their own musical artist to interview and profile. The following steps can guide students through the process:

1. Do Your Research : To learn more about the artist you selected to interview, do an in-depth study of several song lyrics or an album, read published interviews with the artist, watch a video or listen to radio interviews to see how the artist speaks.

2. Prepare Your Questions : Consider this artist’s particular music and biography. What more do you want to know about the artist and his or her music? What in the songs or videos you studied struck you that you would like to ask about? For more inspiration, our lesson plan “ Beyond Question: Learning the Art of the Interview ” provides additional advice on how to conduct good interviews.

3. Conduct Your Imagined Interview : Based on your research of artists — their background, their music and the way they speak — imagine how they might respond to your questions. Be creative, but try to stay true to who the artist is. Alternatively, you could role-play the interview in partners, where one person is the interviewer and the other is the artist. It might be helpful to record the interview and take notes.

4. Write Your Article : You may choose to write your interview in a question and answer format , or create a narrative .

5. Share the Final Product : Share your imagined interviews with your classmates and reflect on the activity. Was your writing convincing to readers? What did you learn about writing artist profiles?

Persuasive and Argumentative Writing

Exercise #7: Review an artist, album or song.

Which artists, albums and songs can your students not stop talking about — either because they love them or hate them? Channel that energy into an argumentative essay using our culture review-writing lesson plan . In this lesson, students read Times reviews and heed advice from Times critics to write their own. They practice developing a clear claim, citing evidence and writing with a strong voice.

You might allow students to choose one of their favorite (or least favorite) artists or songs to practice writing passionately and knowledgeably about a subject. Or, challenge them to explore a genre of music they might not normally listen to and see what they can learn.

Consider having your students submit their finished pieces to our annual student review contest . They can read winning reviews from past years here .

Exercise #8: Weigh in on the latest criticisms, trends and news in music.

Music today incites opinions not just about the artists and albums themselves, but also about universal themes, like the music industry , social media , morality , the human condition , culture , the past and the future. “ Popcast ” is The Times’s podcast dedicated to discussing these very criticisms, trends and news in music.

You can invite students to weigh in on the music-related topics they care about most in a group writing activity that mimics the conversational style of this podcast. Here, they learn how to make a claim, develop it with evidence, write counterclaims and respond directly to one another in an informal and fun way.

First, you might start by having students listen to one full episode or excerpts from “ Popcast ” to analyze how the discussion unfolds. What background information is provided? How do the critics talk to and respond to one another? How do they open and close each episode?

Popcast Poster

Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar Break Boundaries

Or, you might have students examine what a conversation like this looks like in writing. “ Kendrick Lamar Shakes Up the Pulitzer Game: Let’s Discuss ” by Times music editors provides a good example. The conversation begins:

JON PARELES To me, this prize is as overdue as it was unexpected. When I look at the Pulitzers across the board, what I overwhelmingly see rewarded are journalistic virtues: fact-gathering, vivid detail, storytelling, topicality, verbal dexterity and, often, real-world impact after publication. It’s an award for hard-won persuasiveness. Well hello, hip-hop. ZACHARY WOOLFE … But there is also wariness, which I join, about an opening of the prize — not to hip-hop, per se, but to music that has achieved blockbuster commercial success. This is now officially one fewer guaranteed platform — which, yes, should be open to many genres — for noncommercial work, which scrapes by on grants, fellowships, commissions and, yes, awards. PARELES That response is similar to many publishing-world reactions when Bob Dylan got the Nobel Prize in Literature — that a promotional opportunity was being lost for something worthy but more obscure, preferably between hard covers. A literary figure who had changed the way an entire generation looked at words and ideas was supposed to forgo the award because, well, he’d reached too many people? Do we really want to put a sales ceiling on what should get an award? The New York Times and The New Yorker already have a lot of subscribers … uh-oh.

Then, in small groups, have students come up with their own music topics worthy of debate. For inspiration, they might browse some of the past “Popcast” episodes.

You might then have them brainstorm some initial ideas and conduct research in the Times Music section to deepen and broaden their knowledge about the subject.

Next, invite them into a written conversation about their chosen topic. One student initiates the conversation and then each person in the group takes a turn responding to what each other writes — acknowledging their classmates’ remarks, voicing their own opinions, making connections and citing evidence to support or disagree with others.

Exercise #9: Write an editorial on a music-related topic.

Many musicians and music aficionados also contribute Opinion pieces to The Times, where they write passionately and persuasively about music’s influence in their lives, culture and society.

What music-related topics do your students care about? Do they believe music should be a required subject in school? What do they think today’s artists say about the world they live in? Can and should musicians’ work be separated from their personal lives?

Have your students write an editorial on a music-related topic that matters to them. We’ve written several lesson plans on teaching argumentative writing, including “ For the Sake of Argument: Writing Persuasively to Craft Short, Evidence-Based Editorials ,” “ I Don’t Think So: Writing Effective Counterarguments ” and “ 10 Ways to Teach Argument-Writing With The New York Times .”

You can pair any one of these lessons with music editorials as mentor texts, like the ones below:

A Note to the Classically Insecure The Real Song of the Summer Three Cheers for Cultural Appropriation The Heartbreak of Kanye West Is Music the Key to Success? Graceland, at Last The Songs That Bind

Students can also search for their own examples in the Music or Opinion sections. Or, refer to the many music-themed argumentative writing prompts we have published.

They might consider entering their finished editorials into our annual student editorial contest . And they can read essays from past winners here .

Other Music-Related Resources from The Learning Network

Lesson Plan | The Ten-Dollar Founding Father Without a Father: Teaching and Learning With ‘Hamilton’

Lesson Plan | Teaching With Protest Music

Teaching Close Reading and Compelling Writing With the ‘New Sentences’ Column

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15 Songs to Use in ELA

Using music in the secondary classroom is a great way to engage students, so here are some songs to use in ELA, and some ways to use them. (Blog post)

Want to expose students to new songs, or make them think about old songs in a completely new way? Using music in the classroom is a great way to engage students, so here are some songs to use in ELA, and some ways to use them.

Using music in the secondary classroom is a great way to engage students, so here are some songs to use in ELA, and some ways to use them. (Blog post)

I’m going to link to the YouTube videos of these songs for your convenience, but please know that I do not always show music videos in my class. Most of the time, students just listen to the music. Music videos can be distracting, and sometimes inappropriate. Does it go without saying to always preview songs & their videos for content before sharing them? (Just covering myself here, folks!)

Also, if you are looking for ways to lessons to help students analyze short texts, like songs, short films, and more, our 15 Pop Culture Analysis Activities resource has got you covered!

Update: Thanks everyone for all the comments and shares! Since this subject resonated so much with y’all I made a sequel post, 15 More Songs to Use in ELA , check it out after you read this one 🙂

Songs to Use in ELA

1. “the house that built me” by miranda lambert.

“I thought if I could touch this place or feel it This brokenness inside me might start healing.”

With imagery like “handprints on the front steps”, the lyrics to this song evoke a strong feeling of nostalgia. In literature, ‘home’ is often more than a physical place, it’s a metaphor. Students could explore that idea by reading the lyrics to this song along with some classic poetry such as, “ The Self-Unseeing ” by Thomas Hardy, “ Home is so Sad ” by Philip Larkin, or “ The Props assist the House ” by Emily Dickinson. This is great practice of CCSS.RL.9-10.7, comparing the development of a theme in two mediums.

Looking for ways to support your students as they analyze lyrics? Look no further, my friend.

2. “Cat’s Cradle” (Harry Chapin)

“ And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon Little boy blue and the man in the moon When you coming home, dad? I don’t know when, But we’ll get together then. You know we’ll have a good time then.”

I introduce this song in our Short Stories Unit also, and students analyze it for literary devices. It’s a great song to look at for mood, allusion, and irony . You can also pause this song midway and ask students what their expectations are for the ending – this song is upbeat and jovial at the start, so student expectations are often subverted.

Need something else?   You can find ALL my recommendation lists for inclusive classroom materials here. Poems, novels, TED talks, short stories, and so much more!

3. “Buffalo Soldier” by Bob Marley

One reason I love this song is that Marley purposefully reminds the listener of how these men came to be soldiers:

“Stolen from Africa, brought to America. Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival”.

This song would pair well with a nonfiction article about the Buffalo Soldiers. Many historians are quick to praise the Buffalo Soldiers for their bravery and their accomplishments, but it’s vital to understand the context of their enlistment. According to this article from Smithsonian Mag, “African Americans could only serve west of the Mississippi River, because many whites didn’t want to see armed Black soldiers in or near their communities.” Furthermore, they “often faced extreme racial prejudice from the Army establishment”.

Pair this song selection with Doja Cat and Elvis Presley to teach students about cultural appropriation!

4. “The Lighthouse’s Tale” (Nickel Creek)

“I am a lighthouse, worn by the weather and the waves. I keep my lamp lit, to warn the sailors on their way. I’ll tell a story, paint you a picture from my past. I was so happy, but joy in this life seldom lasts.”

This is another song my students tackle during the song analysis lesson in our Short Stories Unit. This sad song is sung from the perspective of a lighthouse, and you can pretty much tell from these first few lines that it’s going to be a downer. This is a great song to analyze for perspective, foreshadowing, conflict, and mood.

5. “Pray for Me” by The Weeknd feat. Kendrick Lamar

“Tell me, who’s gon’ save me from myself, when this life is all I know? Tell me who’s gon’ save me from this hell? Without you, I’m all alone.”

This song presents a conflicted hero: someone who worries about losing himself in his responsibilities. And yet, the protagonist finds the power within himself (and his community) to rise up. This song accompanies the powerful trailer for Marvel’s Black Panther, and so you could do a combined song and video analysis. I love discussing superheroes as literature , and this song is the perfect inner monologue of a hero. Students can dig deep in examining his motivations and hesitations.

Read about more ways to use pop culture in ELA!

6. “Handlebars” (Flobots)

“Look at me, look at me Hands in the air like it’s good to be Alive! And I’m a famous rapper Even when the paths are all crookedy I can show you how to do-si-do I can show you how to scratch a record I can take apart the remote control And I can almost put it back together”

Okay, so this is one of my all-time favorite songs and if you haven’t heard it, you should go listen to it right now. In all honesty, I discovered this song set to a fan video about the 10th Doctor (David Tennant) in Doctor Who , and it has stuck with me ever since. This song follows two friends full of bravado and derring-do (they ride their bikes with no handlebars, after all), and then the song takes a major turn and becomes quite epic. (The original Flobots video is a must-watch) Great song to discuss conflict, foreshadowing, and tone.

Speaking of people who are full of bravado…need song pairings for  The Odyssey ? Ask and you shall receive!

7. “My Shot” from Hamilton by Lin Manuel-Miranda

“Hey yo, I’m just like my country: I’m young, scrappy and hungry And I’m not throwing away my shot.”

If you’re not already using Hamilton in your classroom, what are you waiting for?! Lin Manuel-Miranda’s ‘revolutionary’ (get it?) approach to the founding fathers can spark a lot of genuine interest and excitement in students. Use this song to illustrate so many poetic devices: rhyme, meter, rhythm, simile, metaphor, repetition, etc. Students could match the lyric snippet with the device. Or students could do a ‘scavenger hunt’ for the poetic devices. If you’d like to do a more focused study of a device, you could talk about the dramatic irony in this song – we the listener know that Hamilton dies in a famous duel by “throwing away his shot”.

Caution: This song has a few instances of potentially objectionable language.

8. “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” (from Mulan )

“Let’s get down to business, to defeat the Huns Did they send me daughters, when I asked for sons? You’re the saddest bunch I ever met But you can bet before we’re through Mister, I’ll make a man out of you.”

This is one of my favorite songs to use in ELA. Mulan is my favorite Disney movie, so of course I bust out this song when we get to our irony lesson. This song is a great example of dramatic irony , since the audience knows that Mulan is a woman, and Li-Shang doesn’t. But this song could get more mileage if you were so inclined — there’s a strong message about determination and bravery, even in the face of doubters (Sorry, Li-Shang, but you’re a doubter, bud.).

9. “Times They Are a Changin’” by Bob Dylan

Written over fifty years ago, this song remains one of the most powerful anthems to come out of the folk revival of the 1960s. It encapsulates the zeitgeist of that era, but it’s resonating with listeners today. when many Young people like the then 22-year-old Dylan felt misunderstood by their parents generation:

“Come mothers and fathers throughout the land And don’t criticize what you can’t understand. Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command. Your old road is rapidly agin’.”

And unheard/unserved by their elected officials, more interested in protecting the status quo than enacting change:

“Come senators, congressmen, Please heed the call: Don’t stand in the doorway; Don’t block up the hall.”

Dylan wrote this song to inspire action . It’s important for our students (future voters!) to feel like they can affect change. What issues are your students passionate about? Have them write a letter to the elected official of their choice. Provide a list at the local or national level and let students choose 🙂

10. “ The Girl in a Country Song ” (Maddie & Tae)

“Bein’ the girl in a country song How in the world did it go so wrong? Like all we’re good for Is looking good for you and your friends on the weekend Nothing more”

This song is an amazing lampshade of country music’s inclination to two-dimensionalize women. It’s also funny and full of heart, and a great way to introduce tropes to your students. This would be a great intro to students discussing tropes they see in other genres, and could even lead to a larger analysis of when genre standards become trope-y.

Find resources for student-created songs in ELA.

11. “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix’s iconic 1969 performance of The Star-Spangled Banner at the Woodstock Music Festival has been the subject of many critical evaluations, and, at the time, a lot of hate mail! Woodstock was a culmination of counterculture and anti-war movements of the 60s, and its performers and attendees were judged harshly by many in the mainstream. Many viewed Hendrix’s performance as anti-American or an insult to the military. It should be noted that Hendrix enlisted in the Army in 1961 and trained as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division. Shortly after Woodstock, Hendrix appeared on the Dick Cavett Show and was asked about the meaning behind his performance. He said, “I’m an American, so I played it… I thought it was beautiful.”

Playing the video of his performance would be a unique opportunity for students to analyze the tone , meaning , and purpose of his performance. It could also be a chance for students to learn about the racist origins of The Star-Spangled Banner .

12. “Go to Sleep You Little Baby” ( O Brother, Where Art Thou? )

“Go to sleep you little baby Go to sleep you little baby Come lay your bones on the alabaster stone and be my ever loving baby.”

You don’t have to teach The Odyssey to work this song into your ELA classroom. Although this is O Brother, Where Art Thou ’s version of the Siren Song, your students can still appreciate how haunting it is without connecting it to the original text. This song was based on a traditional lullaby, but really subverts our expectations and becomes sinister by the end. This is a great song to use to discuss tone and suspense .

13. “Conversations with My 13-Year-Old Self” by P!ink

“Come over here and let me hold your hand and hug you darling. I promise you that it won’t always feel this bad. There are so many things I want to say to you. You’re the girl I used to be, You little heartbroken thirteen-year-old me.”

In this heartfelt ballad, P!nk offers some wisdom and encouragement to her past self. Although your students aren’t *much* older than 13, they can still reflect on their lives. Use this song to introduce an activity where your students could write a letter to their past self, at any age. Self-reflection, and self-empathy are important parts of maturing and learning to make better choices. Plus, exercises like this can help students build executive functioning skills.

If you’re teaching Romeo & Juliet, this might be beneficial for young folks with big emotions. Here are other song pairings for Romeo & Juliet !

14. “After We Shot the Grizzly” (The Handsome Family)

“After we shot the grizzly After the airship crashed After we lost the compass After the radio went dead…”

Okay, so I’m probably a little weird for adding this to the list, but it’s a deeply macabre song that’s also really hilarious. I haven’t tried this in my classroom yet, but I fully believe that my students will appreciate this gallows humor. That’s really all I have to say about this – use it with a horror unit (like Edgar Allan Poe) or use it to discuss how comedy can be derived from terrible circumstances, and how masters of the craft accomplish that. You can also talk about tone and suspense , since it’s so jovial, but so dark.

Theme in Songs Portfolio: use songs to study theme.

15. “We Become Silhouettes” (The Postal Service)

“I’ve got a cupboard with cans of food, filtered water, And pictures of you and I’m not coming out Until this is all over.”

This is a surprisingly jaunty fallout shelter song. The vibe is strong dystopian and you can easily talk about setting and conflict , but a metaphor crystallizes as the song continues and it’s possible to read this as a breakup song.

Check out these songs, and let me know what you think!

I also wrote about using music in the ELA classroom on The Secondary English Coffee Shop, so be sure to follow that blog for more ideas 🙂

Using music in the secondary classroom is a great way to engage students, so here are some songs to use in ELA, and some ways to use them. (Blog post)

What are your favorite songs to use in ELA? I’d love to hear from you in comments. 🙂 And if you liked this post, don’t forget to check out the sequel, 15 MORE Songs to Use in ELA .

Further Reading...

A dark blue background with cartoonish images of joystick and Nintento style video game controllers. There is a pink box in the center of the image with white text saying "10 Video Games for Secondary ELA"

10 Video Games to Use in Secondary ELA

A photo of the Globe Theatre, a large Elizabethan style building. There is a white border at the top of the photo with pink text that reads "ESL Approaches to Teaching Shakespeare"

Teaching Shakespeare to ESL Students

teaching about cultural appropriation using Elvis

A Dynamic Exploration of Cultural Appropriation Through Literature and Pop Culture

14 comments.

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Thanks so much for this. Totally adding Ursula to my persuasion unit!

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Jody Andriano

My very favorite is “Walk Tall” by John Mellencamp. I use it to teach satire along with the novel Huck Finn.

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Danielle Hall

Amazing idea, Jody! Thanks so much for sharing!

15 TV Episodes to Use in ELA - Nouvelle ELA Teaching Resources

[…] Do you love lists? Check out 15 Songs to Use in ELA! […]

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These are excellent. I teach high school English and am excited about sharing and using these!!

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I love using Love Story! Great list -thank you so much! 🙂

Teaching Photo Analysis to Build Text Connections - Nouvelle ELA Teaching Resources

[…] advocate for integrating even more types of text into your curriculum! While we’re here, here are 15 Songs and 15 TV Episodes to Use in […]

Teaching Short Stories: Innovate & Engage - Nouvelle ELA Teaching Resources

[…] During my Short Stories Unit, I also mix in some short films and songs to use as mentor texts. Check out my list of favorite songs for ELA here. […]

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I LOVE using “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from Mulan to reinforce Figurative Language as well. It’s full of hyperbole, metpahors, similes, idioms, and personification.

15 MORE Songs for the ELA Classroom - TeachNouvelle.com

[…] and you shall receive! My other post, 15 Songs to Use in ELA has gotten so much positive feedback that I decided to make a sequel 🙂 Like before I am linking […]

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Penelope Mann

Thank you! It is my first year teaching 9th grade English. We are in our short story unit and I thought it would be fun to break it up by analyzing songs. Thank you for the suggestions!

10 Halloween Activities for Secondary ELA - Nouvelle ELA Teaching Resources

[…] etc.) or have students connect it to other texts they’ve read or watched. Check out these other songs to use in ELA, year […]

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Jenni Weston

I love to use “Angel in my House “ by The Story (Jonatha Brooke). This song enhances Virginia Woolf’s idea of every woman’s struggle to “kill the angel” that suppresses their free will and wild heart.

“My mother moved the furniture, when she no longer moved the man…”

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Dream of me Man2sky

I always used to read article in news papers but now as I am a user of net therefore from now I am using net for posts, thanks to web.

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Unreliable Narrators in YA Lit

Grading interactive notebooks.

music project english class

Music Listening Activities: Cover Song Comparison

Printable music listening activities. Have your students compare cover songs to their originals by analyzing musical elements.

Rhythm dice for rhythm games

5 Rhythm Games for your Elementary Music Classroom

Are your elementary school music students struggling with rhythm reading? The best way to make your lesson plans engaging is always to make them fun – which is why these 5 rhythm games make great teaching tools!

music project english class

Setting Expectations When Teaching Ukulele

Before teaching students how to play the ukulele, it is important to first establish clear expectations and routines to help maximize their success. Learning to play the ukulele can engage a lot of excitement in the classroom, so you want to ensure that your music students have clear instructions to be attentive and respectful.

An image of ukuleles organized and numbered in magazine cardboard holders

Organizing Ukuleles in Your Music Classroom

Organizing Ukuleles in Your Music Classroom Just starting to teach ukulele? You’ll quickly realize that organizing your ukuleles in your music classroom can be a

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25 Invigorating Music Activities for Middle School

June 20, 2023 //  by  Eileen Zajac

Middle school music can be quite the class! Middle schoolers are going through a lot of change and for some of them, confidence in the singing department just isn’t it. Finding games and activities that everyone in your middle school class will feel comfortable playing can be challenging.

Thankfully, the veteran music teachers at Teaching Expertise have put together a list of 25 unique and overall, very engaging activities for your middle school music classroom.

So if you’ve been tirelessly searching for activities, we can ensure you’ll find something if not multiple things on this list to bring into your classroom.

1. Music Mind Map

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Mind maps are a great way for students to show everything they know about a topic or subject. Using Mind Maps throughout the year or as an informal assessment will help to develop your music students’ understanding.

Learn More: Pinterest

2. Music Creator Task Cards

These task cards can be used in any music classroom. It’s a popular music activity in the middle school music classroom. In the early days of the school year be sure to have a demonstration in a class of exactly to use these task cards. That way, students can be independent throughout the year.

Learn More: That Music Teacher (Instagram)

3. Learn Clef Notation

If your middle schoolers love card games, then this is the perfect way to teach the Clef Note. Sometimes difficult concepts can be rigorous to teach, but not through a fun game like this. Download the game for more detailed instructions!

Learn More: Musical Interactions (Instagram)

4. Music is Art

Taking time to create art in the music classroom may hold more benefits for children than we’re aware of. Having students create their own music charts around the classroom will not only get them to practice the shapes of different notes but will also make the classroom more inviting overall.

Learn More: Colorfully Playing the Piano (Instagram)

5. Music Dice

Bring some dice games into your music education! As a middle school music teacher, it can often be challenging to find engaging aspects of music. Thankfully, these music dice will be a great way to practice 3-8 notes.

Learn More: Rivian Creative (Instagram)

6. Let Them Play!

If your school doesn’t necessarily have a large selection of musical instruments, that’s okay! Work with students to come up with some creative ideas to improvise different musical instruments. See what sounds they can come up with and what notes they can actually follow.

Learn More: Bourne Ms. Music (Instagram)

7. Music Twister

Music twister probably works best in small groups. Incorporate this game into some of your music lessons. Students will love getting all twisted up and you’ll love that they know exactly where to play their hands and feet!

Learn More: Baroque Music Teacher (Instagram)

8. Rhythm Dice

Have students make rhythm patterns using these dice. The dice are simple enough to make – just purchase a bag of blank dice, like these , and draw different notes on them. Have students roll the dice and make a rhythm! These can be used in small groups or with the entire class.

9. Close Listening

Help your students boost their musical skills by boosting their listening skills. You can create different close listening graphic organizers for various genres of music. Integrate them into your classroom for performance or for a performance found on Youtube! Your students will love it.

Learn More: Cathy’s Choir Class (Instagram)

10. Music Books

Even your oldest students will appreciate listening to a story. Whether you’re in a digital classroom or a real classroom these books are a great intro to building a strong and positive classroom environment.

Learn More: 23 Music Books for Kids to Get Them Rocking to the Beat!

11. Musical Artist Research

As funny as middle schools may be, researching is an important part of the overall education for children. Bringing it into the music classroom has many advantages for children. One of them simply being, understanding the history of music.

Learn More: Singing Along with Mrs. P. (Instagram)

12. Musician of the Month

Introducing your pupils to different musicians throughout history is an important part of middle school music education. With this in mind, why not dedicate a wall solely to this? Hang a few ready-made posters or rope your pupils in by having them craft their own!

Learn More: PinIMG

13. Creative Classroom

Bringing all of your student’s creative sides out might just be one of the most rewarding feelings. Give your students a project they’ll be excited about, like coloring and decorating these music notes!

Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers

14. Melody Match

Help your students show their knowledge with this melody match activity. Students will love that they can show off everything they’ve learned throughout the unit. This will also help you to know and understand exactly where students are in their knowledge.

Learn More: St. Benedict Preparatory School

15. Rumble Ball

Rumble ball is one of those cool music activities that students will be constantly asking to play. Although in the video, Rumble Ball is played with certain instruments, it can easily be modified to fit the equipment that you have in your middle school music classroom.

Learn More: World Drum Club

16. Pass the Beat

This game is definitely challenging, but in a way that students will love. If your students enjoy battle music activities this might be a good one for transitions or if there’s a bit of time left at the end of class.

Learn More: Joel Copeland

17. Rhythm Cups

Middle schoolers went absolutely crazy for the “cup song” a few years back, who am I kidding, they’re still obsessed with that rhythm. Spice up your music classroom by giving different groups, different rhythm cups to learn! These rhythms are pretty easy to learn and even easier to perform.

Learn More: Music Room UK

18. One Hit Wonders Lesson

Teaching your students about One Hit Wonders is so much fun! Have students create their own One Hit Wonder books. This project will include research and bring out your student’s creative side!

Learn More: The Fun Music Company

19. Rhythm 4 Corners

Four corners is a game that all grade levels look forward to playing. Your older students will have found different ways to be more and more stealthy throughout the game. Making it that much more challenging.

Learn More: Becca’s Music Room

20. Draw to Music

Play some music and have your students comprehend what they’re hearing into a beautiful drawing. Switch the music to intensely different songs to get a lot of variety in the artwork. It will be beneficial to students to listen and be able to comprehend what they hear in a drawing. It will also be super interesting and exciting to compare student interpretations.

Learn More: Kerri Bevis

21. Music Discussion

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If you have a music classroom that doesn’t have many materials, creating lessons can be invigorating at times. In this case, it’s important to just get your kiddos to chat about music. Use these cards to initiate musically revolved conversations.

Learn More: Word Wall

22. Music Elements

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Help your students with understanding their music elements with this fun and engaging online game. Students can complete this independently, in small groups, as homework, or as a whole class.

23. Extra Beat Take a Seat

This game is so much fun! It’s especially fun for middle school classrooms that are tricky to get engaged in. Have students follow along with the video and have fun! Make it challenging or make it a competition within the classroom.

24. Music Class Escape Room

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Escape rooms have seriously become more and more exciting for students. Bring an escape room into your classroom for a fun music game that will both aid students in their understanding of different musical terms and also help them to be a little more engaged.

Learn More: Midnight Music

25. Music Note Yahtzee

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This is where those white dice  will come in handy yet again! Make your dice with different music notes on them. Have students roll the dice and play an all-time favorite class game – Yahtzee. This game is both easy to learn and even easier to play, perfect for the middle school classroom.

Learn More: Mrs. B Music Room

  • Professional development
  • Planning lessons and courses

Project work with teenagers

Project work is becoming an increasingly popular feature within the ELT classroom. Common projects are class magazines, group wall displays about students' countries and designs for cities of the future.

Project work with teenagers - methodology article

A project involves students in deciding together what they want to do to complete a project whilst the teacher plays a more supporting role.

  • Some advantages

Planning the project

  • Some possible drawbacks
  • Example projects

Some advantages of project work are:

  • Increased motivation - learners become personally involved in the project.
  • All four skills, reading, writing, listening and speaking are integrated.
  • Autonomous learning is promoted as learners become more responsible for their own learning.
  • There are learning outcomes -learners have an end product.
  • Authentic tasks and therefore the language input are more authentic.
  • Interpersonal relations are developed through working as a group.
  • Content and methodology can be decided between the learners and the teacher and within the group themselves so it is more learner centred.
  • Learners often get help from parents for project work thus involving the parent more in the child's learning. If the project is also displayed parents can see it at open days or when they pick the child up from the school.
  • A break from routine and the chance to do something different.
  • A context is established which balances the need for fluency and accuracy. Haines (1989)
  • Opening To give learners an idea of what projects are and what they should be aiming to produce, it is good to have examples of past projects: a photocopy of a previous group newspaper or a photograph of a wall display.
  • What they want to include in the project
  • What form it will take
  • Who will be responsible for what
  • An idea of the time it will take to produce each part of the project
  • Any material or resources they might need
  • Time Allocate an agreed amount of time for the project. For a summer 60 hour course of 3 hours a day I would dedicate 5 hours to project work so approx. 6 sessions of 45 minutes each with a round up session at the end. I would also have the sessions on the same day each week - Wednesday, and Friday, for example, so learners know to bring materials to class on that day.
  • Space Show the learners the space they will have for the project, it could be wall space or a corner of the classroom, so they have some idea how much material they should produce and can plan the layout.
  • Materials and resources Provide the learners with materials they might need: card, scissors glue, paper etc. It is fairly common now for learners to want to use the Internet to find information for their projects. Encourage a keen student with Internet to do this at home! If there is time and Internet available in the school make sure the students have informed you of exactly what they're looking for - photos- or that they have prepared a list of information they want to find. Simply giving the learners time on the computers can lead to them aimlessly surfing the net. If the facility is available learners often like to write finished drafts of their work on the computer.
  • Presentation Projects need to be seen, read and admired so schedule the last project session as a presentation. Ask the group to prepare a task for the others in the class to do connected to the project: it could be a quiz with questions for a wall display, a crossword using vocabulary for the project or comprehension questions for a video that learners have made.
  • Evaluation As with any piece of work a project needs to be acknowledged and evaluated. It's not enough to just say 'that's great' after all the work learners have put in. I use a simple project evaluation report, which comments on aspects of the project such as content, design, language work and also evaluates the oral presentation stage of the project.

Some possible drawbacks to project work

  • Learners using their own language If the class are monolingual they may use their L1 a lot (it often happens anyway in YL classes) so you should decide whether the benefits of doing project work outweigh this factor.
  • Some learners doing nothing By giving more freedom to the learners you may also be giving them the freedom to do nothing! If the project is planned carefully and roles decided at the proposal stage this is less likely to happen.
  • Groups working at different speeds One group may have 'finished' the project after a couple of hours and say they have nothing to do. Remind them it is their responsibility to fill the time allocated to project work and discuss ways they could extend the work they have already completed.

Examples of project work

  • First I chose 4 different readers that had also been made into films - The Full Monty, The Client, Dracula, Mosquito Coast. Each group were given copies of their reader.
  • The learners were then given free rein to do whatever they liked as long as it was somehow connected to the reader.
  • Summaries of the story.
  • Crosswords / word searches of vocabulary from the story.
  • Reviews of the book.
  • Information found about the history of Dracula.
  • Filmed scene from the book.
  • Presentation of a clip from the film of the book compared to a scene in the book.
  • Biographies and photos of actors from the film.
  • Make a CD Cover.
  • Invent the band and the names and biographies of the band members.
  • Video an interview with the band.
  • Record a song. (Students often borrowed the music and wrote their own lyrics)
  • Write gig reviews.
  • Photo shoot of the band.
  • Design a poster advertising gigs.

There are also many other ideas but I hope this shows the variety of work which can be produced. References Haines S (1989) Projects for the EFL classroom London: Nelson

Further Reading Phillips D, S Burwood & H Dunford (1999) Projects with Young Learners Oxford: OUP Fried-Booth D (1986) Project Work Oxford: OUP Wicks. M (2000) Imaginative Projects : CUP Lynn Gallacher, British Council, Spain

support and guide students during projects

Working on projects with teenagers, we can observe their learning during class. It is convenient to support and guide them at all times.

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NORSE MYTHOLOGY

I have just started a project about Norse mythology, Students must choose a god and describe routines, clothing, and essential facts, and they will create a comic strip using any tale about the god. Finally, they will present to other groups what they did during the project.

Great post! I applied it…

Great post! I applied it with my students, and the outcome was astonshing

Project presentation

Great post, very useful. I applied one with my students and this will help me to improve my prject presentation next time.

Very old bibliography

Please, can you provide with more updated bibliography?

Project work resources

Thanks for your comment. We work to try to keep all of our resources updated but as we are a small team this is not always possible. However, we do have more articles, lesson plans and webinars on project work in the secondary classroom, which you might find interesting - see these links:

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/teachers/planning-lessons-and-courses/articles/short-projects-get-them

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/teachers/integrating-ict/articles/video-exchange-project

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/community/magazine/how-design-projects-sustainability-focus-efl-classroom

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/news-and-events/webinars/webinars-teachers/project-work-secondary-classroom

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/community/magazine/how-can-i-include-community-projects-my-classroom

Hope you find these useful,

Cath TeachingEnglish team

Highlight Projects and Project-Based Learning Activities.

As a teacher, it can be hard to fit every teaching objective into a day.

Quite often, science and social studies get sent to the back burner.

What I’ve loved to do is to make my science and social studies blocks project-based with projects that last up to a month.

Here’s another positive . . .

When you begin your report card comments for social studies and science, you can focus on these projects.

While doing these projects, you’ll cover lots of learning objectives and have more than enough material to use for your science/social studies report card comments.

An added bonus?

Parents love reading about project-based learning activities their kids are doing in class!

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Here you’ll find a wide range of EFL / ESL project ideas for all ages and abilities. Plus you can filter by student level, or a specific grammar or vocabulary topic you’re teaching.

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Tags: advanced , beginner , business , entertainment , intermediate , kids , music , past simple , politics , present perfect simple , present simple , science

In the Biography ESL project, students research the life of a famous person, then write about them and/or present to the class.

Tags: beginner , body parts , kids

The Body Collage ESL project is formed by combining body parts cut-out from magazines.

Tags: beginner , future simple , intermediate , kids , technology

In the City Of The Future ESL project, students create an annotated picture to illustrate what they think the city of the future might look like.

Tags: beginner , comparatives , intermediate , kids , superlatives

In the Create A Comic ESL project students create a comic strip about superheroes, including dialogue and narration.

Tags: advanced , business , intermediate , jobs , kids

The Create A Company ESL project requires students to create their own new businesses, describing what they do and the employees they will need.

Tags: beginner , geography , intermediate , kids , modal verbs (advice) , modal verbs (obligation) , modal verbs (permission) , nature , passive , present simple , there is/are

Students do the Create A Country ESL project in pairs or small groups, then present their country to the class.

Tags: beginner , holidays , intermediate , kids , passive , present simple

In the Create A Festival ESL project, students invent their own celebration and present it to the class.

Tags: adjectives , beginner , food , intermediate , kids

In the Create A Menu ESL project, students invent (and describe) the dishes on offer at a restaurant.

Tags: beginner , body parts , have/have got , kids , numbers

In the Create A Monster ESL project, kids have to draw and describe the appearance of their own monster.

Tags: beginner , can/can't , describing people , kids

In the Create A Superhero ESL project students describe their own superheroes and their powers.

Tags: beginner , home , kids , there is/are

In the Dream House ESL project students design their perfect house and present it to the class.

Tags: beginner , family , kids

The Family Tree ESL project is a well-known activity in which students create their own family tree and present it to the class.

Tags: beginner , future simple , home , intermediate , kids , technology

In the Home Of The Future ESL project, students make predictions for the home of the future, and design one of their own.

Tags: intermediate , irregular verbs , kids , present perfect simple

In the Irregular Verbs Rap ESL project, students create and perform a rap that incorporates all forms of different irregular verbs.

Tags: advanced , intermediate , kids , past simple , present perfect simple , reported speech

In the News Program ESL project, students create a TV news program and present it to the class.

Tags: beginner , kids , past simple , pronunciation

In the Past Simple Rap ESL project, students create a rap using regular past tense verbs with different ‘-ed’ pronunciations.

Tags: intermediate , kids , phrasal verbs

Great for kids (and the young at heart) the Phrasal Verbs Rap ESL project is a fun way to review the meaning of different phrasal verbs.

Tags: future (going to) , intermediate , kids , places in the city , sequence adverbs , travel

In the Plan A Tour ESL project students create an itinerary for a visit to a city.

Tags: adjectives , beginner , comparatives , home , intermediate , kids , superlatives

In the Real Estate Listing ESL project, students create a poster to advertise an invented property.

Tags: advanced , business , intermediate , third conditional

In the Share Portfolio ESL project students make, track, and review the performance of hypothetical investments.

Warmer Of The Day

Tags: advanced , crime , intermediate , modal verbs (past possibility) , narrative tenses , warmer

In the Crime Scene Investigation ESL activity, students speculate on the story behind objects found at a crime scene.

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Music projects

Preview of 36 Weeks of Art Bellwork / Art Bell Ringers worksheets for grades 6-12

36 Weeks of Art Bellwork / Art Bell Ringers worksheets for grades 6-12

music project english class

Early Finishers Art Activities - 50 Pages of Fun Art Printables

Preview of African American Composers - Boomwhacker Play Along Video and Sheet Music Bundle

African American Composers - Boomwhacker Play Along Video and Sheet Music Bundle

music project english class

A Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare Bulletin Board Poster

music project english class

Video Game Music Composition Project

music project english class

Music Escape Room #1 (Teams use music theory clues to solve codes)

music project english class

Movie Music Composition Project

Preview of Music Composition Worksheet Set

Music Composition Worksheet Set

Preview of Genres of Music - Intro Lesson and Digital Project for Distance Learning

Genres of Music - Intro Lesson and Digital Project for Distance Learning

music project english class

  • Google Apps™

Preview of Chrome Music Lab: Song Maker Remixes (Great for No Prep/ Asynchronous/ Sub Plan)

Chrome Music Lab: Song Maker Remixes (Great for No Prep/ Asynchronous/ Sub Plan)

music project english class

MY PERSONAL PLAYLIST a Middle and High School Music Project for Google Slides™

music project english class

  • Google Drive™ folder

Preview of Genres of Music Research Project for Google Slides™ | Distance Learning

Genres of Music Research Project for Google Slides™ | Distance Learning

music project english class

How to Write a Rap Unit - Song Form, Figurative Language, Imagery, Poetry, Music

music project english class

MUSIC SUB PLANS a Growing Bundle for Middle School General Music

Preview of Middle School Music Project BUNDLE

Middle School Music Project BUNDLE

Preview of Music Project BUNDLE for Middle School and High School Music Appreciation

Music Project BUNDLE for Middle School and High School Music Appreciation

music project english class

Soundtrack of My Life Writing Project (Digital & In-Person friendly)

music project english class

Famous Musician Research Project for Google Slides™ | Distance Learning

Preview of Sound STEM Challenge Musical Instrument Engineering Design STEAM Activity Unit

Sound STEM Challenge Musical Instrument Engineering Design STEAM Activity Unit

music project english class

  • Easel Activity

Preview of Write a Music Parody Project | Grade 4 and up

Write a Music Parody Project | Grade 4 and up

music project english class

Broadway Musical Group Research Project

music project english class

Theatre Substitute Lesson Plans Create Your Own Musical

music project english class

Genres of Music BUNDLE

Preview of Middle School Music Project MEGA BUNDLE

Middle School Music Project MEGA BUNDLE

Preview of Music Research Project Bundle for Google Slides™ | Distance Learning

Music Research Project Bundle for Google Slides™ | Distance Learning

Preview of Jazz Musicians Research Pages

Jazz Musicians Research Pages

music project english class

Music Technology Curriculum: 12 Project Ideas | Year-long Bundle | Saves HOURS!

music project english class

MUSICIAN BIOGRAPHY Project a Middle School General Music Research Project

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If you’re looking for a fun group project for 4 or more kids, wacky abstract word art activity is just the ticket. Offering  writing practice  and grammar review, this isn’t your average art project.

Kids practice building sentences with different parts of speech, then create paintings of the silly mad-lib sentences they come up with. In an unexpected fun twist, at the end they get to rip up their paintings and arrange them into wild and unique abstract collages.

Autobiographies

In this fun project, you ask the students to detail their life history in an interesting tone. To avoid monotone, ask them to only include those events in life which they consider adventurous or unforgettable. 

Ask them to highlight emotions rather than timeline. 

You can add a twist to the exercise by asking them to write their ideal future life in an epilogue.

This project will focus on verbal communication skills. 

Ask the students to select a book or excerpt from a book to read. You can assign a genre to keep the communication streamlined. 

Students can take turns to give a short review of their reading together with their viewpoints about it. They can talk about the moral values of the characters or change endings or events to discuss if the plot becomes more entertaining with these changes. 

Check out these ideas on how to run a successful Book Club !

Class Magazine

classroom newsletter

This is a perfect project for all classes in middle and high school. You can take it to the next level by asking the whole school to start a competition for the best class magazine. 

You can ask your class to select a theme of environmental, health, literary, or societal topic. 

Then ask them to gather all skills; idea-generation, writing, design, and presentation. You will get the most benefits if you make it mandatory for every student to produce content for one page of the magazine. (You can include the advertisement activity within the activity of class magazine.)

Comic Strip 

This is another extensive project that will not only win the hearts of your students but also allow you to assess their creative capabilities. 

Ask them to illustrate interesting events from their lives, or imagination, in the form of comic strips. 

ALSO READ: SPEAKING ACTIVITIES FOR ANY LANGUAGE CLASS

This activity is similar to the comic activity given above. The only difference is the increased detail that is required in drama writing. An absence of images adds the obligation on the students to describe scenes and expressions. 

Again, students can describe any life event from their reality or imagination. 

You can later ask the students to act on the best dramas to improve their verbal and non-verbal communication. 

Paper Mache Activity

music project english class

In this messy yet super fun project, students make paper mache futuristic Earths or other imaginary planets as described in science fiction.

This was my cross-curricular activity based off of our Literature reading of  Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?  and a unit topic in English about the environment and recycling. Of course, you can do paper mache for any lesson or unit that you have!

This article gives you the step-by-step instruction on how to do paper mache in the classroom!

Editorial/ Fan Letter

Editorial is one of English project ideas most suitable for high-schoolers while fan letters work for learners from all English expertise levels. 

Ask your high-schoolers to analyze a societal issue that is close to their heart. Next, they need to define the problem from the viewpoint of aggrieved parties. Ask them to write out the problem and get it published in a local or national newspaper. 

(Be ready to proofread and edit the piece before they send it to relevant personnel.)

Younger students can write fan letters to their best actors, authors, and singers. 

This is another English project which will combine societal, and practical, understanding with English learning. In this project, the students will learn problem-solving skills. 

Ask them to understand a societal or scientific problem. Once they have understood and defined this issue, they have to provide a solution to this problem. 

In the end, they have to present their solution together with the need which gave rise to it in front of the class. (You may want them to include a video presentation with visual effects .)

diorama project

This activity is one of my students’ favorite s not only because it’s fun but also because it facilitates their learning. I tried this project on two literature readings I had before (The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain and Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe) and both achieved the same fantastic end.

In this project, students are tasked to illustrate the setting or a specific part of the book in the form of a three-dimensional miniature scene. Students will pick a favorite scene from the story they are reading and decide how they want to represent it using the materials given (above) and a variety of design strategies.

This writing exercise contains the most fun among all the given projects. You will excite their creativity as well as their inner critic.

Start by inquiring about the literary work which fascinates or inspires them most. 

Ask them if they can add humor to that piece. Let them edit a single character or scene or if they want they can give a humorous outlook to the whole plot. 

Fables 

This open-ended English writing project will ask the students to select one event in their life. This event should be intriguing as well as contain a life lesson. 

Then, they have to retell this piece in third person pronoun. Ask them to keep the tone conversational as well as engaging. 

In the end, ask them to write a conclusive moral of the story. 

POPULAR: 5 Project-based Learning for High School English

Self-Portrait Project

self-portrait project ideas

These self-portrait ideas were part of a short project that went really with my middle school ESL class so I thought I’d share them with you.

My students were able to come up with three products in one activity: a mind map, a self-portrait and an essay. The unit topic was about “Identity” or “Personality” but I guess this will work for general descriptive adjectives lesson as well. 

Charts 

If you want to include futuristic touch to your English lessons, include a thing or two from STEM subjects. One great way is to ask them to explain or detail a mathematical chart. (You can come up with variations in this original plan. For example, you can ask future businessmen to interpret graphics related to market studies.)

See, if they have enough vocabulary and concepts to comprehend and convey the message to their fellows. 

Fictional Pen-Pals

Just like fan letters, this activity asks the students to write letters to their favorite characters in fictional and non-fictional worlds. 

Ask them to pinpoint the era, region, settings they like most in a given novel or historical account. Next, they would show interest in one of its characters and the reason for this interest. 

In the end, they need to write a letter to this character praising or advising him/her regarding his/her role in the piece. (You can reply on behalf of that character if you think the point made by the student inspires further dialogue.) 

Book Trailer Project

book trailer project

Book Trailer Project  is a digital storytelling activity for middle school or high school students after they finish reading a book. Students need to take the key idea from the book to create a short video that persuades people to check out a book they have read.

Doing the book trailer project requires students to summarize, synthesize and analyze the book and put that analysis in their trailer. Furthermore, having students create book trailers is a great way to incorporate  technology in the classroom  and encourage reading. Thus, book trailer project is a great alternative to boring book report assignments, and can easily be done individually or in groups.

So these are some of creative English project ideas you can use in your English class to prompt your students to express their creativity and language skills. These are fun, practical, and learning-inducing. 

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creative English project ideas for middle school and high school

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  3. Middle School Music Project Bundle in 2021

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  4. English worksheets: Bilingual Music Project

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  6. A band project

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  1. Music Production Class #9: Let's Make New Ideas

  2. song practice in music class

  3. FINAL ENGLISH CLASS PROJECT

  4. Workshop The Song of songs standard 8th english

  5. peaceful music with daily vocabulary..#englishgrammar #english vocabulary #spokenenglish #viral

  6. Online music class

COMMENTS

  1. 10 ESL Activities That Will Bring Music to Your Ears

    YouTube is a good resource for finding music on line if you have internet access in your classroom. Otherwise, ask your students to share from a portable music device. 2. A discussion of favorite music will naturally lead into the topic of genre. Explain to your students what the word genre means, and then as a class brainstorm a list of ...

  2. 10 ESL Song Activities to Liven Up Your English Classroom

    1. Active listening and writing 2. Readalong Vocabulary and Grammar 3. Fill in the blank 4. Slang practice Pronunciation 5. Phrase practice 6. Singalong Culture 7. Summarize the song 8. Rewrite the lyrics Games 9. Lyric challenge 10. Song skits Great Song Choices for ESL Activities Beginner Intermediate

  3. Fun Ways to Use Music in the English Classroom

    1. Musical Review Game - I have areas in my room numbered already (I use centers sometimes for test prep), so I'm going to utilize these by playing a musical review game for when students need to get up and moving. It's kind of like musical chairs without the chairs. As you play a song, students walk in a circle around the room.

  4. 15+ Free Classroom Music Activities and Lesson Plans

    15+ fun classroom music teaching resources These are 15 amazing resources for teaching classroom music, suitable for use by specialist and non-specialist teachers. Classroom music teaching resources using little or no instruments Poison Rhythm Game This is a fun aural clapping game for just about any age group.

  5. How to use songs in the English language classroom

    3. Listen to the song again, this time with lyrics. This time, you should give learners the chance to read the lyrics to the song. At this point you might do one or more of the following activities: Learners can just read the lyrics while they listen. They can possibly highlight unknown words for later discussion.

  6. 9 Popular Songs for Teaching English to All Levels

    "Friday I'm in Love" by The Cure "My Favorite Things" from "The Sound of Music" "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye and "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen "All My Loving" by The Beatles "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic "If I Were A Boy" by Beyoncé "Across the Universe" by The Beatles

  7. Music is Great

    This lesson plan for teachers of teenagers and adults at CEFR level B1 explores the theme of music and music festivals. Students will develop their reading and speaking skills. Introduction This lesson is about music and, in particular, music festivals.

  8. 8 Ways to Use Music in the Language Arts Classroom

    Music can be used to help control a classroom environment or to support the content within that class. It can be used to signal different transitions within the class as well as to serve as a writing prompt itself. Music is also a way to build community and to share yourself as a teacher.

  9. ESL Lesson Plans For Teachers Topic: Sound And Music

    sound and music lessons 13 lessons 60 min Listen and look Upper-intermediate (B2-C1) Students work with the theme of trends in an IELTS Writing Task 1. They discuss different types of music formats and examine a task with a line graph and a model answer before preparing to write a response to a similar question.

  10. 45 Free ESL Songs for Teaching English (+ Activities!)

    As with all the other categories of songs, songs around the holidays will inevitably open the door for more discussion about holiday customs and personal stories. O Christmas Tree. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Frosty the Snowman. 12 Days of Christmas. Jingle Bells.

  11. Let's talk about music!

    Introduction This lesson is designed to develop speaking skills and fluency. In this lesson, students review and learn vocabulary related to music. They practise the vocabulary by asking and answering questions about their personal experiences with music.

  12. Teaching English with Music: 4 Effective Ways to Use Music in ...

    4 Effective Ways to Use Music in the ESL Classroom 1. Use Music as an ESL Warm-up. This tactic is especially useful when you have students who are coming in from a very static period, a boring period or one that was very stressful. For example, I had one class that I would consistently teach immediately following Japanese calligraphy class.

  13. Nine Teaching Ideas for Using Music to Inspire Student Writing

    How do you use music in your classroom? Let us know in the comments. _________ Creative and Narrative Writing Exercise #1: Write a story or poem inspired by music. Jean-Michel Basquiat,...

  14. PDF New Ideas for Teaching English Using Songs and Music M

    Sing about Martin, a catchy music video about Martin Luther King Jr., is an example of this (Weissman 2005). The simple words are clearly displayed and repeated, and each line is performed by a lead singer, echoed by a chorus. Ask students to find their own karaokes. Let your students take the lead.

  15. 15 Songs to Use in ELA

    Theme in Songs Portfolio: use songs to study theme. 15. "We Become Silhouettes" (The Postal Service) "I've got a cupboard with cans of food, filtered water, And pictures of you and I'm not coming out. Until this is all over.". This is a surprisingly jaunty fallout shelter song.

  16. 25 Marvelous Music Projects for Students

    12. "Flight of the Bumblebee" Music Activity Sheet. "Flight of the Bumblebee" Music Activity Sheet. This "Flight of the Bumblebee" Music Activity Sheet makes a great music project for kids, because it's available in both printable and digital formats, meaning it can easily be assigned as a home-learning project.

  17. Music Projects for Middle School Students

    Music Projects for Middle School Students - Teach From The Stage Welcome! Engaging music projects that your middle school music students will love including a Soundtrack of my Life project, Podcast Project and more!

  18. 25 Invigorating Music Activities for Middle School

    15. Rumble Ball. Rumble ball is one of those cool music activities that students will be constantly asking to play. Although in the video, Rumble Ball is played with certain instruments, it can easily be modified to fit the equipment that you have in your middle school music classroom. Learn More: World Drum Club.

  19. Project work with teenagers

    Music Project If your class loves songs this could be a motivating project. Make a CD Cover. Invent the band and the names and biographies of the band members. Video an interview with the band. Record a song. (Students often borrowed the music and wrote their own lyrics) Write gig reviews. Photo shoot of the band. Design a poster advertising gigs.

  20. ESL Projects for Kids and Adults

    In the Share Portfolio ESL project students make, track, and review the performance of hypothetical investments. Find all the best EFL / ESL projects for your English class. Ideas for both kids and adults, to practise a wide range of different grammar and vocabulary topics.

  21. Music Projects

    Students will learn about the importance of music and sound in film, different music jobs within the film industry (especially focusing on foley artists and score composers), and add their own sound effects and soundtrack to a short film! This project can be done in a variety of ways to suit your classroom needs, including individual a

  22. 18 English Project Ideas You Can Do Right Now!

    Here are 18 practical projects that will help your students get creative while enhancing their written and communicative English skills. These are applicable to your middle school and high school students . Creative English Project Ideas Advertisement

  23. A Guide To Your Music Project

    Likewise, music supervisors need you to prove that your music is sync-able. If you want to build a bigger audience, you will need to prove that you are already liked by a small, devoted fanbase ...