9 Popular Songs for Teaching English

[Link]/blog/educator-english/songs-for-teaching-english/

May 20, 2015

FluentU / Blog / English Educator

Date Published: 20
Emily May 2015
Monaco Date Modified: 29 Jan
2025

Songs are a fantastic way to help students work on different elements of

language learning. There are many different ways to use songs in the
classroom, from sing-a-longs to more structured listening exercises.

Let’s explore nine popular songs you can use to teach various aspects of the
English language, all divided by language levels. With options for any learner,
you can’t go wrong by adding some music to your ESL classroom.

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“Do You Like Bananas?”

Teaching Point: Yes/No questions

“Do You Like Bananas?” is a great song for teaching yes/no questions to
beginners and kids. The lyrics go through a series of questions beginning with
“Do you like…” and then answer with “Yes, I do,” or “No, I don’t.” Most of the
elements in the song are food vocabulary words, so it’s ideal for introducing
and reinforcing this vocabulary.

Play the song once or twice and then have students write their own “Do
you like…” questions. Sing the song together as a class and call on students
at random to insert a food item or activity to be asked about. Follow this
musical activity with a worksheet of yes/no questions or a pair work activity to
reinforce their learning.

“Friday I’m in Love” by The Cure

Teaching Point: Days of the week

This classic rock song is great for learning the days of the week. For true
beginners that are learning this vocabulary, ask them to chime in when the
days are sung. This is a fun way to reinforce what they’ve learned.

For more advanced students, you can use it as a jumping-off point to have
students make their own sentences about what they do on each day of the
week. Be sure to closely examine the lyrics for new vocabulary, helping them
truly understand the song’s words before moving on to making their own
sentences.

“My Favorite Things” from “The Sound of Music”

Teaching Point: General vocabulary

This poetic song offers useful vocabulary practice for beginners. You can have
t d t d i t f f th thi th t M i h
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younger students draw pictures of one of the things that Maria says she
likes, for example, “whiskers on kittens” or “brown paper packages tied up with
string.” Have each student contribute a picture, then stand in a line and hold
up their picture when their lyric is being sung.

“My Favorite Things” is also a great song to get students talking about things
they enjoy. Have them adapt the song to their own favorite things. You can
either have them write out the song themselves or give them sheets with blanks
to fill in.

“Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye and “Call

Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen

Teaching Point: Past constructions

Use “Somebody that I Used to Know” or “Call Me Maybe” to review different

past constructions with intermediate students. Lyrics like the following allow
them to think about which past tense is appropriate to use and why:

No you didn’t have to stoop so low

Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don’t need that though
Now you’re just somebody that I used to know

(From “Somebody that I Used to Know”)

I wasn’t looking for this

But now you’re in my way
Your stare was holding
Ripped jeans
Skin was showing

(From “Call Me Maybe”)

To use these songs efficiently, make worksheets in advance with the lyrics
printed and the appropriate past construction removed. Replace these removed
past constructions with a blank, accompanied by the infinitive verb in
parentheses. Students should fill in the correct answer. Once they’ve finished,
verify answers by playing the song (and encourage them to sing along!).

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“All My Loving” by The Beatles

Teaching Point: Future simple

“All My Loving” uses the auxiliary “will” construction in the future

fairly consistently, making it ideal for practicing this future form. Make a
worksheet as you did for the last exercise, replacing future tense conjugated
verbs with blanks and the infinitive verb in parentheses.

This exercise is ideal to use with false beginners (beginners who have studied
English before and forgotten) to remind them of the future tense, as well as for
intermediate learners who just need a bit of practice.

“Counting Stars” by OneRepublic

Teaching Point: Verb tense review

“Counting Stars” is a fantastic way to do a general verb review using the same
fill-in-the-blank exercise we discussed above. The song is perfect for this
exercise because it features the past progressive (“I’ve been losing sleep”),

future (“we’ll be counting stars”), present, (“I see this life”) and present
progressive (“life swinging”)—and that’s all just in the first two stanzas!

Many of these verb choices are open to interpretation based on how the student
understands the song—so turn it into a debate! Ask students to defend their
choices, and they may just open up a new side to the song. Then play the song
at the end of class to see what One Republic really meant to say.

“If I Were A Boy” by Beyoncé

Teaching Point: Subjunctive

While advanced students will be familiar with various verb tenses, they may
have yet to master the subjunctive or hypothetical form, and that’s where “If I
Were a Boy” comes in. Use this song to introduce a lesson on the
subjunctive asking students what they think this mood implies in English
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subjunctive, asking students what they think this mood implies in English.

Once you’ve established the correct use of the subjunctive with your students,
allow them to come up with their own “If I were…” scenarios. You can
either have them share these statements orally in class or use this in-class
preparation for a take-home written assignment such as an essay or a song of
their own!

“Across the Universe” by The Beatles

Teaching Point: Gerunds

Gerunds are something that students first encounter as beginners or

intermediate learners, but advanced students can always use a good revision
of gerund forms. Listening to the classic song “Across the Universe” by The
Beatles is a great place to get this review.

Once you’ve done a gerund review, perhaps with a fill-in-the-blank exercise,

allow your students to delve further into the poetry of the song. Advanced
students can discuss the figurative language used by the songwriters. This
song can also be an excellent way to delve into topics related to stylistic or
figurative writing, culminating in a songwriting exercise for the entire class!

Using songs in your ESL lessons can mean more than just listening practice.

Your students can learn from the lyrics, write their own songs, review key
grammar and vocabulary and more! For additional song activities, the
immersion program FluentU has music videos equipped with interactive
subtitles and other learning features for enhanced comprehension.

You can also check out this post:

10 ESL Song Activities

Almost everyone loves music, so you should consider using songs and music as
the basis for new ESL song activities. Because many popular songs tend to be
pretty simple…

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