A popular activity of the English Speaking Society ESS is listening to pop music. We talk about the artist and their back catalogue. We talk about whether or not the song is new, trending on Tik Tok or if it is old and enjoying a revival. We talk about the choice of vocabulary, the casualness of the tone and prounciation, the contraction of words. How grammar rules go out of the window. What the idiom "to go out the window" means. The lessons are always engaging and bring up many interesting topics of discussion. I think it works best to start with listening to the song and see what conversations naturally arise. I have some teaching notes about specific songs if you need a guide.
Where can I find English songs for my ESL class?
A good place to find current songs is to look at the UK Top 40 music chart website. I usually look at the UK one as that is where I am from. You could compare the
US music chart to the UK one (or to any other country) to see if there are songs that appear on both charts. Student song requests are always a popular choice too. I created an
ESS Playlist on Spotify so students can listen to the songs at home. I also have an
ESL Pop Song Playlist on YouTube. Many music videos, have an official video, a lyric video and you can often find fan made Japanese lyric translations video version too.
Using music and pop songs to grow vocabulary
The starting point of these pop song activities is watching the music video and filling in the missing lyrics on a worksheet. Pop song lyrics are under copywrite and I cannot share them as part of the English pop song bundle, what you will find is a set of teaching notes, activities and questions similar to the ones below. Use these pop song analysis teaching notes as a starting point for quieter classes or as a guide to keep chattier classes on track.
Are pop song lyrics appropriate for the ESL classroom?
Proofread lyrics before starting a lesson, are the themes suitable for your age group? A lesson on English swear words is usually loved by students but explicit lyrics and themes might be too much for a younger class. Watch out for metaphors too, I love the Tik Tok series of creators having a realisation that the pop songs they belted out in their youth had far more sexual connetations than they imagined but most of them I would not want top handle in the English classroom.
Here is an example lesson showing what you will find in the teaching notes:
Song: Natasha Beddingfield Unwritten
Details: Unwritten song was released in 2004. Natasha's brother Daniel Beddingfield had been enjoying success in the music charts for a few years. The song Unwritten became much more popular in 2006 after it was used as the theme tune on the MTV (staged) reality TV show The Hills.
I was surprised to see Unwritten was in the Top 40 again in 2024. The song was used in the 2024 rom-com (romantic comedy) movie Anyone But You. The two main characters sing it to each other while being rescued from the water by a helicopter. In this vulnerable moment their feelings for each other soften and the song becomes quite important to the movie plot.
Using music and pop songs to start English discussion
Discussion points
Have you heard the song before?
Can you tell that the song is 20 years old?
Do you think this song has a positive or negative message?
New Vocabulary
illuminate, inhibitions, conditioned
Grammar point
The negative prefix un-
unwritten, undefined, unplanned, unspoken
Metaphors
The song uses many metaphors
What does "I am unwritten" mean?
What does the "blank page" represent?
What does the rain symbolise in the line "feel the rain on your skin"?
Advanced discussions
1. What are the main themes of this song?
2. How can embracing the unknown lead to personal growth?
3. Talk about a time when you had to overcome uncertainty. What was the outcome?
4. Does the song unwritten promote individualism over collective values?
5. Is the message of Unwritten too idealistic for real life?
6. The line "sometimes my tries are outside the lines" refers to the metaphor of colouring outside of the lines which means breaking away from conventional rules or expectations. Imagine a childrens coluring book, the expectation is that people will colour inside of the lines. What other metaphors or idioms do you know that mean the same thing?
Role play
A friend is starting a new job. Give them some advice about embracing the challenge and use the phrase "live your life with arms wide open".
You are pitching the use of the song Unwritten to be used on a reality TV show about rich young adults starting their professionals lives in LA. Does this song fit that genre? How would you sell this song to the TV producers?
We have a display board in the language room of common contractions in songs for example gonna = going to. I always recommend songs from our ESS pop song analysis sessions as my school radio song of choice. You could also have an end of term English karaoke party to celebrate the new English songs that your students have learned.
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