Job Discussion Forums

[Chester]

I always believed that singing songs / karaoke was a real positive in teaching english. Good for the "fun" aspect of course, but more importantly for building confidence in speaking, getting some real expression of tone, etc etc. I taught in 3 other countries beside Indonesia, before returning to a real job with real salary, and I got such good results from students by including a sing-along in the syllabus. Beatles and Ramones songs were the favourite, largely because they have simple lyrics, not a lot of syllables, and they are "catchy". My old vinyl record collection has taken a hammering from my Indonesian wife and her confidence and announciation (Henry please correct my grammar and spelling) improved so dramatically that she had the confidence and skills to land a great sales job in Australia. I am aware that some "tosser" DOS people will say "I cant see the benefit in students singing songs". Infact I have been sacked for encouraging students to sing. "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment" man the students love that sheeet! so do I. give it a try.

[Winmarr]

Yeah singing in class is good! The students got into When I'm 64 when I was teaching.....

Wasted Years by Iron Maiden didn't go down quite as well though.

[gugelhupf]

The new edition Cutting Edge textbooks use a few songs scattered amongst the activities. Songs in ESL teaching are mainstream these days - can't imagine why some DoSsers are so anti.

[xsbir]

"If I had a million dollars" by the Bare Naked Ladies is good for teaching the second conditional.