When students make a major breakthrough in learning, it is music to a teacher's ears. There is nothing more rewarding for a teacher, than seeing their students smile and laugh while they learn. The same can be said for students. Students who are taught in a fun and creative way, love coming to class. Using music in the classroom is a great way for teachers to achieve success with L2 learners. Oliver Wendall Holmes suggests taking a musical bath once a week, saying that music is "to the soul what water is to the body."
Music is the universal language of mankind.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Benefits of using Music
Have you ever heard of anyone who doesn't like music? Some people may not like art, dancing, reading, or movies, but almost everyone likes one kind of music or another. Most people like many different kinds of music. Studies have shown that music...
- improves concentration
- improves memory
- brings a sense of community to a group
- motivates learning
- relaxes people who are overwhelmed or stressed
- makes learning fun
- helps people absorb material
Techniques for Using Music with L2 Learners
There are a variety of different ways to use music in the classroom. Some teachers prefer to use background music and others use music lyrics as the basis of a lesson. Music can be used to:
- introduce a new theme or topic (Christmas/colours/feelings)
- break the ice in a class where students don't know each other or are having difficulty communicating
- change the mood (liven things up or calm things down)
- teach and build vocabulary and idioms
- review material (background music improves memory)
- teach pronunciation and intonation
- teach songs and rhymes about difficult grammar and spelling rules that need to be memorized ("i before e", irregular verbs, phrasal verbs)
- teach reading comprehension
- inspire a class discussion
- teach listening for details and gist
