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Using Songs and Music

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To reinforce learning with music is a method being introduced widely. Most of your students can easily learn the words of popular songs when they can’t seem to learn vocabulary lists. What is the power of learning through songs?

Throughout our experience on this planet as a species, songs and storytelling have been used for learning. Many of us are hearing oriented and can remember what we hear if it is repeated often enough. I am sure that you as a teacher can remember songs from childhood nursery rhymes, vacation Bible school, and children's songs.

In this section you will learn how to reinforce learning with common, easy to sing songs, with words written by Ms. Dee that help reinforce vocabulary, parts of speech, verb forms, and comprehension of fast speech. Singing songs integrates both sides of the brain resulting in more permanent learning by students.

Students feel good when they sing and thus what is being heard is a positive experience. This positive experience is associated in the brain with what they are learning. Thus this leads to a positive feedback loop and the desire to have more such positive experiences.

Singing together is used by groups to create community and stimulate group harmony. You can see it from the singing of soccer fans to the Japanese' use of the company song. Using songs can be incorporated in all parts of your learning program. Find out how to integrate it into your activities. Here is an example song to help students learn fast speech for the near future tense, "going to do."

(Music: Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush;

Words by Dee Brightman)

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?

1.         What are you going to do today? Do today?
           Do today?
           /wu   tshx     goo nx    due  dx dae/
           What are you going to do today?
            I'm going to go to school.
            /iem goo nx goe dx skuel/

2.         What are you going to do today? Do today?
           Do today?
            What are you going to do today?
            I'm going to sing a song.

 Continue for 7-9 verses. Substitute ideas students have.

            I'm going to     
            _______________________________________.

 Some possible answers: drive home, walk home, take the bus, cook a meal, study hard, close the door, use the computer, feed my kids, clean my house, go to work, go to sleep.

You get this unique system of learning English through songs as well as Dee Brightman's proprietary Color Based English Learning Mastery System in these certification courses:

Level One Certificate Course

Level Two TEFL Certificate Course

Level Three TEFL Certificate Course

Level Four TEFL and ESL SCHOOL Marketing

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