What Songs Did.elton John.sing for.disney Movies

Modern songs to use in ESL lessons

"Is life not a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves?"

― Friedrich Nietzsche

Well, I tend to agree with this famous philosopher and cheer myself up in any case, in any place. In lessons, too. And songs are usually a great tool to jazz up the lessons. You may choose the one you like and even better to pick the song preferred by a student.

It is up to you, what part of a lesson and how to use a song, however, the plan below might make things easier:

1. Introducing new vocabulary from the lyrics (especially for lower levels).
2. Listening to a song and doing the tasks:

• filling in the gaps (provide a worksheet with gapped lyrics);
• writing down target vocabulary while listening;
• completing the sentences;
• crossing out extra words (added beforehand in a worksheet). 3. Doing the tasks after listening:

• underlining grammar structures you want your students to revise, making up new examples;
• discussing the lyrics of the song (meaning, point, aim, giving opinions);
• discussing a video clip (purpose, sharing opinions). 4. Singing a song.

Here are some modern songs and ideas on how to use them in the lessons.

1. Lady Gaga "911".

Level: Intermediate-Advanced

Age: 18+

Genre: pop

Topic: Personality/Behaviour/Depression/ Emotions

Grammar: Tenses

After listening to this song it is not complicated to organize a debate/discussion, as the song and video are not run-of-the-mill. Here are some questions that might be used for the discussion:

1. What do you know about 911? What comes to your mind when you hear this?
2. What associations were caused by the song?
3. Was the end (of the song) expected? How would you interpret it?
4. What can you say about the colours, effects, things were used in the video clip?
5. What do you think about Gaga's songs in general?

For homework, you can give the article and ask a student to retell (and discuss) the next lesson.

2. Rolling stones "Living in a ghost town"

Level: Pre-Intermediate-Intermediate

Age: 16+

Genre: classic rock

Topic: Life/Feelings/Society/

Grammar: Continuous tenses (past/present)

For "while-listening" task, you can gap the parts with continuous structures. For example:

Once this place…….

And the air was full of drumming

The sound of cymbals crashing

Glasses ……. all ……..

Trumpets ……..all ………

Saxophones were blaring

Nobody ……….. if it's day or night

Whoa, oh, whoa, oh

I'm a ghost

Living in a ghost town

I……………….nowhere

Shut up all alone

So much time to lose

Just staring at my phone

Every night I…………….

That you'll come and creep in my bed

Please let this be over

Not stuck in a world without end

Whoa, oh, whoa, oh

Whoa, oh, whoa, oh, oh

Preachers ……… all…………………

Charities beseeching

Politicians dealing

Thieves ……..happy …………….

Widows ……….. all ……………..

3. Daði Freyr (Daði & Gagnamagnið) "Think About Things"

Level: Intermediate-Upper-Intermediate

Age: 14+

Genre: pop

Topic: Love/Relationship

This song may be used as an "active break" during the lesson in a group. You can listen to the song, discuss the lyrics, check new words, sing the song and actually dance. It will definitely turn out to be fun, especially if you have students who like moving around and dancing.

4. Billie Eilish "No time to die"

Level: Elementary-Pre-Intermediate

Age: 16+

Genre: pop

Topic: Relationships/Life/Love

Grammar: Pronouns

The song is slow, so it may be used with low levelled students. If you want to revise pronouns, you can prepare a worksheet with lyrics to fill in the gaps with an appropriate pronoun. If not, you can gap any words which you think the students are supposed to know and while listening they should do the task.

In the end, of course, it is fun to sing together.

5. Ed Sheeran "Beautiful people"

Level: Pre-Intermediate-Intermediate

Age: 14+

Genre: pop

Topic: Finding yourself/People/Society

Examples of tasks:

• working on vocabulary> match meanings with definitions:

sundown

a prenup

stunning

to fit in

a downtown

to faze

1. to feel that you belong to a particular group and are accepted by that group
2. in or to the central part of a city
3. extremely beautiful or attractive
4. to surprise and worry someone
5. an official document signed by two people before they get married that says what will happen to their possessions and/or children if they divorce
6. the time in the evening when you last see the sun in the sky

Keys:

• To fit in
•  A downtown
• Stunning
• To faze
• A prenup (A pre-nuptial agreement)
• Sundown

• questions for a discussion:

1. Have you ever listened to Ed Sheeran's songs? What does he usually sing about?
2. What came to your mind when you heard the title of the song?
3. What people are beautiful? What beautiful people are meant in the song?
4. What did the singer want to tell? What is the idea of the song?
5. Is it tough finding "true self"? What does finding yourself mean?

• Adele Send my love

Level: Pre-Intermediate-Intermediate

Age: 14+

Genre: pop

Topic: Relationships/Kindness

Grammar: Continuous Tenses

The song will perfectly fit to revise continuous tenses, especially Past Continuous. For the first listening, you can ask students to note the examples of continuous tenses they hear. After that, the worksheets with a task of completing sentences with appropriate structures may be given. After listening to the song for the second time and filling in the gaps, checking the answers, it is nice to discuss the song in pairs.

• Ava Max "Queens & Kings"

Level: Intermediate-Advanced

Age: 18+

Genre: pop

Topic: Gender equality/Gender roles

The song is rather easy to understand, so it is possible to have it as a relaxing moment during the lesson with such tasks:

• discuss the title of the song
• listen to the song and identify the topic/idea of the song
• ask and answer questions with a partner. Possible questions:

1. Are there different expectations for sons and daughters?
2. What habits are deemed as appropriate for men but inappropriate for women?
3. Are there differences in the ways men and women communicate?
4. Do women in your country earn less than men for doing the same job?
5. What about in other parts of the world?
6. Why does gender inequality exist?
7. Actress Emma Watson once said that "fighting for women's rights has too often been synonymous with man-hating." Do you agree?
8. Would you like to be a queen/king?

8. Maroon 5 "Memories"

Level: Pre-Intermediate-Advanced

Age: 16+

Genre: pop

Topic: Memories/Past events

This song might be used as a task for Warm-up or Lead-in on topics related to memories, past events. Here is the article about the song and its meaning. If you have a student(s) who is a fan of Maroon 5, it could be interesting to read and discuss the article.

Music plays an essential part in people's lives as we learn many things through it. Songs cause plenty of feelings, emotions with lyrics on varied topics. Knowing what your students listen to and using songs makes lessons more fun, memorable and engrossing.

Преподаватель и методист Методической поддержки Skyeng, филолог, обладательница сертификата Anglia-Proficiency

What Songs Did.elton John.sing for.disney Movies

Source: https://skyteach.ru/2020/09/29/modern-songs-to-use-in-esl-lessons/