Published 2 min read
Songs are the most used and the least well used tool in the English lesson. In most classrooms the video goes on, the children sway along, and that's the end of it. Everyone enjoys themselves and almost nothing sticks, because remembering a tune is not the same as understanding the words. The difference lies entirely in what you do before and after you press play.
The three step formula: before, during, after
- Three minutes before: teach 3 to 5 key words from the song with flashcards or gestures. A child who knows the word first will actually hear it in the song. A child who doesn't hears nothing but a wash of sound.
- While it plays: give them a job, not just a screen. Clap every time you hear the word dog. A brain with a task listens on purpose.
- Five minutes after: sing it again with no video. Stop on the key words and let the class fill them in, then lock it down with a vocabulary worksheet built on that song.
Recommended songs by topic
- Letters and sounds: the ABC Song, and the Phonics Song family that works through a-æ-apple
- Body parts: Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, the old reliable that nothing has knocked off the top spot
- Family: Finger Family, simple and stuck in their heads by the next morning
- Numbers: Ten Little Fingers, which counts up and back down in a single song
- Weather: How Is the Weather? fits neatly into your start of lesson routine
The one thing to watch out for
Don't let the lesson turn into a television programme. When children start asking what are we watching today instead of what are we learning today, the balance has tipped. A song is a side dish, not the meal. A good rule is one song per lesson, and that song always belongs to the topic you're teaching.