RESOURCES: SONGS

How can songs help in our EFL classroom?

Songs have been part of the human experience for as long as we can remember. As a great showman once stated, adults sing at religious services, bars, in the shower, and listening to the car radio. Songs have become an integral part of our language experience, and if used in coordination with a language lesson they can be of great value. Fortunately, with the expanding prevalence of the Internet and specifically the World Wide Web into both the classrooms and lives of students, access to music and lyrics has been made easier.

there is also a linguistic reason for using songs in the classroom. Some songs are excellent examples of colloquial English, that is, the language of informal conversation. A song such as "My Best Was Never Good Enough" by Bruce Springsteen is a prime example of a song that demonstrates colloquial language use. This song is full of phrases like "Every cloud has a silver lining." and "Every dog has his day. " Of course, the majority of language most ESL students will encounter is in fact informal. Using songs can prepare students for the genuine language they will be faced with.


Finally, two studies investigated the prevalence of pop music in the lives of EFL students. Both studies found that music is often the major source of English outside of the classroom. The exposure to authentic English is an important factor in promoting language learning. It relates directly to both the affective filter and automaticity. If students are exposed to songs which they enjoy, more learning is likely to occur since they may seek out the music outside of the classroom. The repetitive style of songs then helps to promote automatization of colloquial language.

So if there's ever an occassion where you can't get your students to learn something the usual way, try using a song instead, you might be surprised.

Tell us any experience with the use of songs that you've gone through that you found particulalrly revealing or interesting.
Check out our brand new DOWNLOADS WEBSITE, and click on DOWNLOADS to download the worksheets for songs and you can watch the video clip right below.
Please don't forget to comment.

10 THINGS I NEED TO DO AS AN EFL TEACHER

1. I have to find out what an ESL/EFL teacher is. Check it out here.
2. Once I have that figured out I need to know how to make my classes interesting and worhtwhile. We'll take a look at this part later.
3. Shorts, swim suits, flip-flops are suitable to go the beach, not to visit multinationals and executives and expect to teach them English. Sadly enough, our appearance does matter.

4. If I have students with different levels in class, you can always mention it to the DOS (Dep. of Studies) and see if something can be done about it. If nothing can be done you can always adapt by providing different material to the students and leveraging conversation by eliciting answers and introducing vocabulary useful in all levels.

5. If you have to teach for an hour, you teach for an hour. You start and end your lessons always on time. If a student's late, as "punishment" you can ask him to tell a story or a joke to the rest of the class.

6. Students feel motivated when we mix different learning areas in our lessons. A little bit of listening, a little of reading, some grammar, some vocabulary and all of this activated in coversation practice.

7. We to correct the mistakes of our students as soon as we can. Some teachers prefer interrupting students and some like correcting after the student has finished. See which one suits you and each student.

8. If your students spend the whole of your class time talking, that's very good, but don't make these classes take place too often, forgetting about the other areas. Your students will appreciate it if you review grammar and vocabulary in class daily.

9. As a fun activity introduce a song or a TV show extract and let the students complete a filling the blank exercise or some questions. Here's an example. Video and worksheet.

10. Remember that whatever you do in class needs to have an aim. There should be a purpose in all you do.

WANTED! ALIVE AND KICKING

SAT & SET is now hiring teachers for the coming season 2010-2011. SAT & SET is an evergrowing language centre and the demand for high quality training has increased this year, therefor we simply, WANT YOU!

If you're interested in teaching English or any other language, please send your CV to mvallejo@sat-set.com. We'll get back to you as soon as possible and set up and interview so we can get a chance to meet each other and offer the options we have available.

SAT & SET has been the leader in in-company training for the past few years in Spain. All we need from you is to be ready to work and learn and leave the rest up to us.

So, don't hesitate and send in your CV, we'll be glad to meet you and get to know you.
If you are currently working for SAT & SET and know of someone who would like to work with us, please do give them the email mentioned earlier.
The season is about to start and many companies are looking forward to training their employees to the best stardards. SAT & SET provides this kind of high quality training.
We also hold, at least 2 teacher training sessions a month to help you cope with the demands of your students. We will let you know the days set for the Teacher training sessions in advance so you can arrange which ever way you want and attend them, which will prove to be very useful.

BACK TO WORK!

Here we are, back again! Hope you all had a great summer. For those who are still enjoying, keep doing so, winter is too long. For those of us who are back, all the best in this new season. There are a couple new things that SAT & SET has thought might be useful for its continuous growth and improvement and that is the creation of a BLOG just for SAT & SET TEACHERS. This BLOG will help us share information, news, experience and, why not a lot of other fun stuff.

SAT & SET will try to provide you with continuous updates on teaching trends, corporate news you can use in your classes, extra ideas and exercises and games, in order to make this BLOG your resource centre for all you need during your classes.

This BLOG will only become better if you take part in it, so subscribe and comment on the posts that we'll be adding almost daily. There'll be videos, audio excerpts and a lot of pictures (viewers' discretion advised, ehem). 

But your participation doesn't end just by subscribing or commenting on the posts. You can create posts yourself for these to be added in the BLOG. You just have to write your fine piece of art in an email and send it to rdaswani@sat-set.com. We'll make sure your post gets published.

SAT & SET's intention of getting closer to our most valuable asset, the teachers, doesn't end here. We've also created SAT & SET Teachers FACEBOOK. You can look us up and comment on all of the content of the BLOG or all the new specific content created and compiled for this channel.

So, fellow mates, let's all make the BLOG and FACEBOOK great places to meet, share and enjoy while working here at SAT & SET.

COMING UP, IN FULL SWING! SEPTEMBER 1ST 2010

Hi all,

SAT & SET is expanding its means to communicate with teachers and the Internet seems to the best way to do so. We have decided to launch our brand new SAT & SET'S BLOG FOR TEACHERS and the Sat & Set Teachers Facebook.

These two new channels will be the way to keep in touch with all of you. We'll be adding new stuff, updates and news that make up the day-to-day SAT & SET.

You'll be updated on future events that SAT & SET will be hosting for the last term of 2010, such as Teacher Training Sessions, Teacher Contests, Teaching Tips and, of course, Teachers' Night Outs.

However for all of this exciting and happening launches to take off there are still a few more weeks to go, September 1st will be the launch date (Stay up-to-date with the BLOG for further announcements till then). So, be patient and get ready for some great Blogging. It goes without saying that for any of this to be a success we'll need your continuous collaboration and participation, let it be in the form of comments to the blog posts or creating posts of your own.

So fellow colleagues we look forward to your comments and posts, and all of your charm and humour in them. Have a great summer and we'll be back on September 1st 2010!