UNIVERSITY OF PANAMACOLON BRANCH

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

ENGLISH TECHNICIAN GROUP

SUBJECT: SEMINARIO CANTO Y RONDA

TOPIC: TEACHING GRAMMAR THROUGH SONGS

DATE: TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2010

TEACHING GRAMMAR THROUGH SONGS

IMPORTANCE OF SONGSIn order to make a grammar lesson effective, beneficial and interesting, a teacher should use some well-developed and fascinating techniques in the classroom.

Songs are the most enchanting and culturally rich resources that can easily be used in language classrooms.

They are precious resources to develop student’s abilities in listening, speaking, reading and writing.

They can also be used to teach sentence patterns, vocabulary, pronunciation, rhythm, adjectives, and adverbs.

They are motivating, thus they provide a non-threatening atmosphere for students, who usually are tense when speaking English in a formal classroom settings.

ADVANTAGESThere are many advantages of using songs in the classroom.

Through using contemporary popular songs, the teacher can meet the challenges of the teenage needs in the classroom.

The songs constitute a powerful subculture with the student’s rituals. Through using traditional folk songs, the base of the learner’s

knowledge of the target culture can be broadened. Traditional songs, correctly chosen, have the dual motivating attack of

pretty tunes, interesting stories and the added ingredient of novelty. Most songs follow a regularly repeated verse form, with rhyme which

makes them easy to follow. Songs may both be used for the presentation or the practice phase of

the grammar lesson. The songs may encourage extensive and intensive listening, and

inspire creativity and use of imagination.

TEACHING PROCEDUREThere are various ways of using songs in the classroom. The level of the students, the interests and the age of the learners, the grammar point to be studied and the song itself, have determinant roles on this procedure. Apart from them, it mainly depends on the creativity of the teacher.

Since there is not strict teaching procedure, the teacher can mainly concentrate on what to teach rather than on how to teach.

For primary students, the best songs would be those that are familiar to the learners or the ones which have an international nature, like OLD MAC DONALDS.

To teach them individual letter sounds or spelling words, the traditional camp song Bingo can be used.

To teach them counting, Johnny works with one hammer song, will be useful.

To make the songs more meaningful and more enjoyable, you can add motion which parallels the words of the song.

Since most children enjoy singing fun and nonsensical lyrics, using easy children songs will be useful.

Choosing lively action songs through which they can dance or act while singing will ensure a lively atmosphere.

TECHNIQUES FOR USING SONGS

A teacher’s selection of a technique or a set of techniques should be based on the teachers’ objectives for the classroom, the grammar point to be studied, and the song.Some examples of techniques are:

Gap fills or close texts Focus questions True false statements Put these lines into the correct sequence Dictation Add a final verse Circle the antonyms/synonyms of the given words Discuss

TEACHING GRAMMAR THROUGH SONGS

EXPLOITATION OF SONGS FOR GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES We can illustrate it through several examples:

For present tense “Let it Be” by The Beatles For past tense “Yesterday” by The Beatles For present progressive “Sailing” by Rod Stewart For preset perfect “ “Nothing compares to you” by Sinead O’Connor For past perfect “Last night I had… by Simon and Garfunkel For modals “Blowing in the wind” by Bob Dylan For conditionals “El cóndor pasa” by Simon and Garfunkel

The teacher should keep in mind that, songs, which provide frequent repetitions, tell a story, provide comments about life, or introduce cultural themes, are the effective ones since the songs provide authentic and meaningful material.

IMPORTANCETEACHING PROCEDURE MUST BE BASED ON

CHANGE ROUTINE DEVELOP ABILITIES TEACH SENTENCE

PATTERNS ENSURE A LIVELY

ATMOSPHERE PROVIDE AUTHENTIC

AND MEANINGFUL MATERIAL

ADVANTAGES

LEVEL OF THE STUDENTS AGE OF THE LEARNERS GRAMMAR POINT TO BE

STUDIED THE SONG ITSELF

MEET THE CHALLENGES OF TEENAGERS

BASE OF THE LEARNERS’ KNOWLEDGE CAN BE BROADENED

TRADITIONAL SONGS HAVE PRETTY TUNES, INTERESTING STORIES, NOVELTY

THEY ARE EASY TO FOLLOW INSPIRE CREATIVITY AND USE OF

IMAGINATION

TECHNIQUES

GAP FILLS OR CLOSE TEXTS

FOCUS QUESTIONS TRUE FALSE

STATEMENTS PUT THESE LINES INTO

THE CORRECT SEQUENCE

DICTATION ADD A FINAL VERSE CIRCLE THE

SYNONYMS/ANTONYMS OF THE GIVEN WORDS

DISCUSS

VOCABULARY

1. Advantage

2. Beneficial 3. Commitment

4. Enchant

5. Enjoyable

6. Insight

7. Integrate

8. Lyrics

9. Skill

10. Target