Cultural aspects Cultural aspects can be introduced through songs , as most them have a recurring theme . As mentioned by Larry Lynch , songs “ have been used as vehicles of protest for civil rights , workers ’ rights , even prisoners ’ rights along with an untold number of other causes . They ’ ve expounded on pollution , crime , war and almost every social theme or cause .”
The topics can easily be introduced in a pre-listening activity devoted to discussing the title . Prediction can work well in case the students are not very familiar with the song itself . Anyway , all too often , even in the case of songs they do know , students might be able to sing-along parts of song without really reflecting on the message or the take-away of the song . So , getting them to analyse the deeper meaning of lyrics might even lead to ‘ aha moments ’ and an enhanced appreciation of the artist ’ s purport .
Here are some songs that can be used to exploit topics :
• Consumerism - Dire Straits - Money for Nothing / Madonna – Material Girl
• Conflict / war – Black Eyed Peas - Where is the love ? / Bob Dylan - Blowing in The Wind / U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
• Drugs - Pink – Save My Life / The Verve - The Drugs Don ' t Work
• Education - Boomtown Rats - I Don ’ t Like Mondays / Pink Floyd – Another Brick in the Wall
• Environment - Counting Crows - Big Yellow Taxi / Michael Jackson – Earth Song
• Friendship - Simon And Garfunkel - Bridge over Troubled Waters / The Corrs – At Your Side
• Gender issues - Beyonce – If I Were a Boy
• Immigration - Sting - An Englishman in New York
• Perceptions – Carly Simon - You ’ re so vain / Christina Aguilera - Beautiful
• Technology - The Black-Eyed Peas – Now Generation
• Work environments - Dolly Parton – 9 to 5
Pronunciation Another positive aspect of using songs in the classroom is that students can experience a wide range of accents . British English , American English , Caribbean English are all widely available through songs . Gospel , soul , R & B , Pop , Rock , Reggae , Jazz and other styles change not only accents , but vocabulary and usage too .
Alternatively , songs can be used to draw attention to the use of weak forms / sounds . For example , “ Hit the Road Jack ” sung by the late Ray Charles can be used to illustrate contractions , as the singer uses spoken contractions in virtually every line of the song .
Spoken and written production Language production activities can be used both as pre-listening and as post-listening activities . As an introductory part of the activity , students can be shown the videoclip of a given song and asked to make predictions , orally or in writing , about the thematic content of the song . The same activity can use the initial lines of a song as a starting point , instead of the videoclip .
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