Songs as a Lead-in for Tenses

When I think about my elementary and high school English classes, I remember I enjoyed the ones in which we listened to the songs and filled in some blanks within the lyrics or something like that most. That probably shows that my experience was pretty dull and I have to say that it really was, but it can also be a sign of how great songs are for use in class.

Besides movies, TV shows and internet, music is probably one of the most common things that makes your students exposed to the language. So use it as an advantage! Familiar songs can make them more comfortable with what you are presenting in class, it won't be so stressful and they will probably be much more engaged.

Here are just two songs (and one poem) that I think can help you with warming up your students for some grammar, but there are so many out there, you just have to do little researching. You can do whatever you want with them: make handouts with jumbled verses, so that your students have to put it in the correct order; give them only some of the lines from the song for them to try to guess the connection and maybe even the title of the song; make worksheets with lyrics with blanks in the place of relevant language structures, etc. There are no limitations - just be creative!

Click on the title of the song to download the lyrics and have fun!

U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
 -  Present Perfect Tense 




- Present Simple and Simple Future


- Conditionals; this poem is so amazing on so many levels, you can really make your whole class around it!



Do you have any songs that you like to do in class and what for? Share your ideas!

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