Author: Márcia "Mars" Bonfim

I am a traveling teacher living my dream of world travel while making it possible for others to live the reality of their own dreams. I'm a member of the TESOL International Association, and I've been teaching since 1993.

Taylor Swift [a lesson plan for English Language Teaching]

ONLY THE YOUNG

Description:

This song-based activity lesson plan for English language teaching features the song “Only the Young” by Taylor Swift and the song lyric video. Students listen to a song extract and talk about feelings related to it, do a listening exercise identifying words from the song, play a song lottery game and watch a lyric video.

Language level: B1 and above
Learner type: All ages
Skills: speaking, reading and listening
Topic: Music and feelings
Language: Vocabulary related to music, expressing opinions and feelings
Materials: Youtube video, worksheet pdf and mp3 file
Duration: 1 hour - 1h 30 min
Downloadable materials:  instructions; Song words worksheet; Song Lottery worksheet;  song mp3

Continue reading Taylor Swift [a lesson plan for English Language Teaching]

Tattoos Together [a lesson plan for English language Teaching]

tattoos together

Description:

This song-based activity lesson plan for English language teaching features the song “Tattoos Together” by Lauv and the ‘clean’ version of the official music video. Students talk about tattoos; watch a video and play a memory game in teams, do a word search exercise, listen to the song, do a listening exercise with the lyrics, and write (answer) questions for the singer.

Language level: B1 and above
Learner type: All ages
Skills: speaking, reading, listening and writing
Topic: Tattoos and relationships
Language: Vocabulary related to tattoos, expressing opinions 
Materials: genially presentation, music video (clean version), worksheet and mp3 file
Duration: 1 hour - 1h 30 min
Downloadable materials:  instructions.pdf; music video (clean version); worksheet.pdf; song mp3

Continue reading Tattoos Together [a lesson plan for English language Teaching]

TEACHING WITH SONG PIECES 3!

song pieces
Image by Thomas Breher from Pixabay
SONG PIECES is back! By using various short song extracts, it injects variety and liveliness to English language teaching classes. It generates student interaction and collaboration to identify specific things in the lyrics, in a light and fun way.

SONG PIECES is fast-paced, and its variety provides extra energy and fun at any moment the teacher needs:
Review, warm-up, extra grammar practice, or as a simple reward activity
Description:
In this ELT song-based activity, students work in teams and listen to 7 different short song extracts, and have to identify different grammar structures and vocabulary in each one.
Language level: all levels
Learner type: All ages
Skills: listening and writing
Topic: varied
Language and grammar: comparative, prepositions, numbers, uncountable nouns, parts of the body, months, frequency adverbs
Duration: 20 - 30 minutes
Downloadable materials:  instructions; Song Extracts (mp3 files)

Continue reading TEACHING WITH SONG PIECES 3!

Songs for Cambridge English: First (FCE) You Can’t Stop the Girl – Bebe Rexha

you cant stop the girl

Description:

This song-based activity lesson plan for English language teaching features the song “You Can’t Stop the Girl” by Bebe Rexha and its official music video. Students talk about quotes related to women, listen to the song, use a word cloud to rewrite the lyrics, do an exercise based on Cambridge English: First (FCE) Use of English part 2 with the lyrics, watch the music video, and write a paragraph based on the song.

Language level: B1 and above
Learner type: All ages
Skills: speaking, reading, listening and writing
Topic: Women empowerment
Language: Vocabulary related to expressing and justifying opinions, agreeing and/or disagreeing and speculating
Materials: Youtube video, worksheets and mp3 file
Duration: 1 hour - 1h 30 min
Downloadable materials:  instructions.pdf; Word Cloud slide; Use of English worksheet.pdf, song mp3

Continue reading Songs for Cambridge English: First (FCE) You Can’t Stop the Girl – Bebe Rexha

Songs to Teach English: Connecting Videos, Narratives and Songs Creatively

ron-hamlin-G7H9dDHGCZ0-unsplash
Photo by Ron Hamlin on Unsplash

Description:

This song-based activity lesson plan for English language teaching features the songs ‘Clementine’ by Halsey, ‘Your Light’ by the Big Moon and ‘South of the Border’ by Ed Sheeran feat Camila Cabello  & Cardi B, and their official music videos. Students talk about music videos and do a matching exercise with videos and song extracts, write a short narrative based on the videos and choose a theme song, read the lyrics of a song, watch music videos and make comparisons.

Language level: B1 and above
Learner type: All ages
Skills: speaking, reading, listening and writing
Topic: Music Videos and comparisons
Language: Vocabulary related to music videos, songs, expressing opinions and making comparisons
Materials: Youtube/ Vimeo videos, and mp3 files
Duration: 1 hour - 1h 30 min
Downloadable materials:  instructions.pdf; videos.mp4 Song extracts mp3; QR codes Lyrics.pdf 

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Using Songs to Teach English: Song Challenge and Chat Stations

chang-duong-wT7qu4SZib4-unsplash
Photo by Chang Duong on Unsplash

Description:

This song-based activity lesson plan for English language teaching features the songs ‘Sunday’ by Neffex, ‘Something Special’ by Debby Smith and ‘Teeth’ by 5 Seconds of Summer and their official music videos. Students think and talk about connections between different things, listen to a song challenge and find out the word in common, watch music videos, read lyrics extracts, work together to make posters, evaluate each other’s work and explain and present their own work to others.

Language level: B1 and above
Learner type: All ages
Skills: speaking, reading, listening and writing
Topic: Connections
Language: Vocabulary related to connections, and presentations
Materials: Youtube videos, Chat station pdf and materials to make posters
Duration: 1 hour - 1h 30 min
Downloadable materials:  instructions; Song Challenge MP3 files; Chat Stations pdf

 Continue reading Using Songs to Teach English: Song Challenge and Chat Stations

Using Songs to Teach English: Five ideas to make students speak (and enjoy the process)

“Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.” E. Y. Harburg

Song Activity Factory came to life mainly to help English language teaching professionals who feel that music in the form of songs surely has a fitting place in the ELT classroom. However, trying to find a ready-made song activity that features neither an ‘ancient’ song nor the most boring – and dreaded by students – type of exercise: gap filling, is time-consuming and mostly fruitless.

The song-based activities and lesson plans you find at Song activity Factory aim to motivate and engage students in a creative and fun way. In this post, you will see 5 ideas plus examples of song-based activities you can use to make your students speak more.

Continue reading Using Songs to Teach English: Five ideas to make students speak (and enjoy the process)