Sandra Heyer
This concludes the series of articles on extending lessons with songs and song-based activities. In past newsletters, we’ve taken a look at six activities that work well with beginners and high-beginners; a technique for quickly matching a song with an activity; and general tips for using songs in the classroom. One of those tips was to choose songs that are thematically related to the lessons. I know from experience that is sometimes easier said than done; finding classroom-friendly songs on specific themes can be a challenge.
For the past several years, I’ve been building a list of popular songs that are suitable for beginning and high-beginning English language learners–songs that have clear, comprehensible lyrics and language that is at least “PG.” I now have a list of over 150 songs, organized by sixteen themes: friendship, falling in love, taking chances, work, and freedom, to name a few. The songs coordinate with the themes in True Stories Behind the Songs and More True Stories Behind the Songs but could be used to enhance other theme-based curricula.
You’ll find the list, and all the activities and tips you’ve read here, on my new site at sandraheyersongs.com. The site has no ads and requires no registration–it’s simply a place where teachers can get and share ideas. If you have a song-based activity or classroom-friendly song you’d like to suggest for the site, please e-mail me at truestories@ticon.net.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Sandra
