Songs For Teaching English Grammar
ESL and EFL teachers thinking about using songs and lyrics to teach English grammar will find this table we've
compiled a useful
Highlighted songs are those available as complete lesson plans here on tefltunes.com...
Songs for teaching present simple
Songs for teaching present continuous
Songs for teaching past simple
Songs for teaching past continuous
Songs for teaching present perfect
Songs for teaching present perfect
continuous
Songs for teaching past perfect
Songs for teaching used to
Songs for teaching going to future
Songs for teaching will future
Songs for teaching future continuous
resource.
Eric Clapton / Wonderful Tonight (lyrics)
The Beatles / She Loves You (lyrics)
Bette Middler / From A Distance (lyrics)
Fool's Garden / Lemon Tree (lyrics)
Rod Stewart / Sailing (lyrics)
Suzanne Vega / Tom's Diner (lyrics)
The Beatles / Yellow Submarine (lyrics)
Gloria Gaynor / I Will Survive (lyrics)
Celine Dion / Because You Loved Me (lyrics)
John Lennon / Jealous Guy (lyrics)
Oasis / Champagne Supernova (lyrics)
Aerosmith / Cryin'
Michael Buble / Haven't Met You Yet (lyrics)
U2 / Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
(lyrics)
Chris de Burgh / Lady In Red (lyrics)
Sinead O'Connor / Nothing Compares To You
(lyrics)
Queen / We Are The Champions
Anastacia / Left Outside Alone (lyrics)
Led Zeppelin / Since I've Been Loving You (lyrics)
Foreigner / Waiting For A Girl Like You (lyrics)
James Blunt / Goodbye My Lover (lyrics)
Maddness / My Girl (lyrics)
Simon & Garfunkel / I Had The Strangest Dream
(lyrics)
Erik Hassle / Hurtful (lyrics)
Madonna / This Used To Be My Playground (lyrics)
Dandy Warhols / We Used To Be Friends (lyrics)
Bruce Springsteen / The River (lyrics)
Pet Shop Boys / The Way It Used To Be (lyrics)
Jamie Cullum / Next Year Baby (lyrics)
Jack Johnson / We're Going To Be Friends (lyrics)
Savage Garden / Truly Madly Deeply (lyrics)
James Blunt / You're Beautiful (lyrics)
Gloria Gaynor / I Will Survive (lyrics)
The Rembrandts / I'll Be There For You (lyrics)
Whitney Houston / I'll Always Love You (lyrics)
The Police / Every Breath You Take (lyrics)
Ottis Redding / Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay

Songs for teaching future perfect
Songs for teaching 1st conditional
Songs for teaching 2nd conditional
Songs for teaching 3rd conditional
Songs for teaching "wish"
Songs for teaching passive voice
Songs for teaching reported speech
Please contact us
Also see our table of songs for discussion topics.
http://www.tefltunes.com/grammarsongs.aspx
Songs For Discussions
ESL and EFL teachers thinking about using songs and lyrics to stimulate class discussions will find this table
we've compiled
Highlighted songs are those available as complete lesson plans here on tefltunes.com...
Business & Songs about jobs & work
Money
(lyrics)
Faith Hill / You Will Be Mine (lyrics)
Sheryl Crowe / It's Only Love (lyrics)
Frank Sinatra / If You Go Away (lyrics)
Simply Red / If You Don't Know Me By Now
(lyrics)
Cyndi Lauper / Time After Time (lyrics)
Beautiful South / I'll Sail This Ship Alone (lyrics)
Red Hot Chili Peppers / If (lyrics)
Eric Clapton / Tears In Heaven (lyrics)
Enrique Iglesias / Hero (lyrics)
The Beatles / If I fell (lyrics)
The Beatles / With A Little Help From My Friends
(lyrics)
Beyonce Knowles / If I Were A Boy (lyrics)
Gwen Stefani / Rich Girl (lyrics)
Barenaked Ladies / If I Had $1,000,000 (lyrics)
Hoobastank / If I Were You (lyrics)
Joan Osborne / One Of Us (lyrics)
Norah Jones / Painter Song
ABBA / Money Money Money (lyrics)
Johnny Cash / If I Were A Carpenter (lyrics)
Lisa Stansfield / Change (lyrics)
Gloria Gaynor / I Will Survive (lyrics)
Pearl Jam / Wishlist (lyrics)
Westlife / Written In The Stars (lyrics)
Offspring / Kirsty Are You Doing Okay? (lyrics)
Gloria Gaynor / Let's Mend What's Been Broken
(lyrics)
The Beatles / Norwegian Wood (lyrics)
Stereophonics / Mama Told Me Not To Come
(lyrics)
The Killers / Somebody Told Me (lyrics)
with your own suggestions.
a useful resource.
Dolly Parton / Nine To Five (lyrics)
Shania Twain / Not Just A Pretty Face (lyrics)
The Kinks / Nine To Five (lyrics)
 Travie McCoy / Billionaire (lyrics)
Barenaked Ladies / If I Had $1,000,000 (lyrics)
Songs about wealth
Gwen Stefani / Rich Girl (lyrics)
Spin Doctors / Two Princes (lyrics)
Men At Work / Land Down Under (lyrics)
Songs for Australia Day
Midnight Oil / Beds Are Burning (lyrics)
Bing Crosby / White Christmas (lyrics)
Songs for Christmas
Chris Rea / Driving Home For Christmas (lyrics)
Michael Jackson / Thriller (lyrics)
Culture & Songs for Halloween
Sting / Moon Over Bourbon Street (lyrics)
Customs
Johnny Cash / Galway Bay (lyrics)
Songs for St Patrick's Day
U2 / Beautiful Day (lyrics)
Barry Louis polisar / All I Want Is You (lyrics)
Songs for Valentine's Day Linkin Park / Valentine's Day (lyrics)
Madness / It Must Be Love (lyrics)
Nizlopi / JCB Song (lyrics)
Songs about bullying
Superchick / Hero
Education
Busted / What I Go To School For (lyrics)
Songs about school
Alice Cooper / School's Out (lyrics)
Joni Mitchell / Big Yellow Taxi
Songs about the Michael Jackson / Earth Song
environment The Kinks / Apeman (lyrics)
The Kinks / A Gallon Of Gas (lyrics)
Environment Bing Crosby / Let It Snow (lyrics)
Madonna / Rain (lyrics)
Songs about the weather The Beatles / Here Comes The Sun (lyrics)
Travis / Why Does It Always Rain On Me?
(lyrics)
Bob Dylan / Ugliest Girl In The World (lyrics)
Christina Aguilera / Beautiful (lyrics)
Songs about beauty
Right Said Fred / I'm Too Sexy (lyrics)
Fashion & Sugababes / Ugly (lyrics)
Beauty
Paolo Nutini / New Shoes (lyrics)
Songs about fashion The Kinks / Dedicated Follower Of Fashion
(lyrics)
Beach Boys / Vegetables (lyrics)
Oliver / Food Glorious Food (lyrics)
The Kinks / Have A Cuppa Tea (lyrics)
Songs about food & drink
The Kinks / Maximum Consumption (lyrics)
ZZ Top / TV Dinners (lyrics)
Food & Drink Weird Al Yankovic / Eat It
B. Springsteen / Queen Of The Supermarket
(lyrics)
Songs about food shopping
They Might Be Giants / I Am A Grocery Bag
(lyrics)
 Songs about good health Nina Simone / I Got Life (lyrics)
Health & Bon Jovi / Bad Medicine (lyrics)
Fitness Athlete / Wires (lyrics)
Songs about illness
My Chemical Romance / Cancer (lyrics)
Flaming Lips / Spiderbite Song (lyrics)
History Songs about past times Brian Adams / Summer of '69 (lyrics)
Brian McFadden / Real To Me (lyrics)
Britney Spears / Piece Of Me (lyrics)
Songs about fame &
Jennifer Lopez / Jenny From The Block (lyrics)
Media & celebrity
Lily Allen / The Fear (lyrics)
Entertainment Lady GaGa / Paparazzi (lyrics)
Vincent / Don McLean (lyrics)
Songs about art
Norah Jones / Painter Song
Arctic Monkeys / Mardy Bum (lyrics)
Songs about arguments Black Eyed Peas / Shut Up (lyrics)
Deep Purple / The Spanish Archer (lyrics)
Pink / Family Portrait (lyrics)
Songs about divorce
Usher / Papers (lyrics)
Bobby McFerrin / Don't Worry Be Happy (lyrics)
Songs about feeling low
Oasis / Stop Crying Your Heart Out (lyrics)
Life & Beyonce Knowles / Honesty (lyrics)
Songs about honesty
Relationships Mr Hudson / White Lies (lyrics)
Busted / Who's David? (lyrics)
Songs about jealousy
John Lennon / Jealous Guy (lyrics)
Songs about love & Barry Louis Polisar / All I Want Is You (lyrics)
marriage Robbie Williams / Something Stupid (lyrics)
Good Charlotte / Hold On (lyrics)
Songs about suicide
Missy Higgins / The River (lyrics)
Songs about unrequited James Blunt / You're Beautiful
love Radiohead / Creep (lyrics)
Mike & The Mechanics / Silent Running (lyrics)
Songs about conspiracy
Muse / Rule By Secrecy (lyrics)
theory
REM / Man On The Moon (lyrics)
Genesis / Man On The Corner (lyrics)
Songs about homelessness Phil Collins / Another Day In Paradise (lyrics)
Politics &
Stereophonics / Lying In The Sun (lyrics)
Social Issues
Black Eyed Peas / Where Is The Love? (lyrics)
Bob Dylan / Blowing In The Wind (lyrics)
Songs about war Green Day / Holiday (lyrics)
John Lennon / Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
(lyrics)
Science & Songs about space Elton John / Rocket Man (lyrics)
Technology The Killers / Spaceman (lyrics)
 Queen / Radio Ga Ga
Radiohead / Fitter Happier (lyrics)
Songs about technology
The Buggles / Video Killed The Radio Star
(lyrics)
Madness / Driving In My Car
Songs about driving
Chris Rea / Driving Home For Christmas (lyrics)
John Denver / Leaving On A Jetplane (lyrics)
Songs about flying Lenny Kravitz / Fly Away (lyrics)
Michael Buble / Come Fly With Me (lyrics)
Travel &
Transport Alicia Keys / Empire State Of Mind (lyrics)
Elton John / Belfast (lyrics)
Stereophonics / Nice To Be Out (lyrics)
Songs about places
Sting / Englishman In New York
Tony Christie / Amarillo (lyrics)
Will Smith / Miami (lyrics)

Please contact us with your own suggestions.

Also see our table of songs to teach English grammar.

http://www.tefltunes.com/themesongs.aspx

Life & Barry Louis Polisar / All I Want Is

Intermediate Pronunciation _ n/a Valentine's Day
Relationships You
4

Jan
11

Upper Culture &

Mixed Skill _ n/a St. Patrick's Day U2 / Beautiful Day
5

Intermediate Customs
Mar
10

Culture &
Advanced Mixed Skill _ n/a Australia Day Midnight Oil / Beds Are Burning
Customs
6

Jan
10

understanding Culture &

Advanced Reading Christmas The Pogues / Fairytale Of New York
song lyrics Customs
6

Nov
09

Upper Culture & The Jackson 5 / I Saw Mommy

Pronunciation running dictation Christmas
5

Intermediate Customs Kissing Santa Claus

Nov
09

Culture & The Jackson 5 / Santa Claus Is

Intermediate Functional giving advice Christmas
Customs Coming To Town
4

Nov
09

Pre Culture & Chris Rea / Driving Home For

Listening word bingo Christmas
3

Intermediate Customs Christmas

Nov
09

Culture & Shakin' Stevens / Merry Christmas

Elementary Vocabulary _ n/a Christmas
Customs Everyone
2

Nov
09
 Culture &
Beginner Vocabulary _ n/a Christmas Bing Crosby / White Christmas
Customs
1

arch > Task > Writing (Sorted by Level in Ascending order)

Upper Life &

Writing writing a letter divorce Pink / Family Portrait
5

Intermediate Relationships
Dec
09

FluentU English Educator Blog

Want to speak English naturally?

By Emily Monaco Comments are closed

9 Hip Modern Songs for Teaching English to All Levels

When you read, you begin withABC!

Maria from The Sound of Music sure knew what she was talking about.

Setting words to music is a great way to boost your students language retention and teach
them lessons in a new, interesting way.

Thats why weve united our favorite songs for teaching English. And we promisetheyre
far from what youd expect!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take
anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Songs are a fantastic way to help students work on different elements of language learning.
There are many different ways to use songs in the classroom, from sing-a-longs to more
structured listening exercises, depending on the class you have and the goals you have in
mind.

A more structured exercise will take a bit longer to prepare, but itll be far more helpful for
your students. Ideas for structured exercises will depend on the grammar points youre trying
to teach, but they can include fill-in-the-blank exercises, writing exercises to continue the
song or even creating adaptations of the song with new words.

Whatever you decide to do with the song you choose, scientists agreemusic offers loads of
benefits to language learners. Take advantage of them in the classroom right now!

The first step is to choose a song, which can seem daunting at first. After all, you have a wide
variety to choose from!

Were here to help you out with this. Weve chosen 9 different songs adapted to different
levels of ESL students. In our selection, weve made sure to choose songs that are written in a
grammatically correct way and that highlight certain key vocabulary or grammar points
in their lyrics. That being said, advanced students can take full advantage of their favorite
songs as well. As students to contribute their favorite songs for new class lessons. The only
limit here is your imagination.

If youre on the lookout for songs to use, try resources like YouTube and FluentU to track
down your favorites in a format thats easy to listen to in the classroom. All FluentU videos
are accompanied by interactive subtitles which allow you to see definitions, in-context usage
examples and more on screen.
If you opt for YouTube or another site, youll often find lyrics included along with the songs,
which, of course, you should reread and edit as needed before using them in the classroom.
But once youre armed with these tools, youll be ready to start planning your lessons!

9 Modern Songs for Teaching Hip English Grammar and Vocab Lessons

When using songs to teach beginners, repetition is key. Repetition in a song allows a
beginner to catch on to what is being said/sung and then chime in by the end. Choose songs
with catchy refrains and repetitive structures to make sure beginners are getting the most of
them.

Do You Like Bananas?

Teaching Point: Yes/No Questions

Do You Like Bananas? is a great song thats ideal for teaching yes/no questions to
beginners. The lyrics go through a series of questions beginning with Do you like and
then answer each question by saying, Yes, I do, or No, I dont. Simple enough, right?

As for the refrain, it goes a little something like this: When I like it, I like it, yum, yum, yum.
When I hate it, I hate it, yuck, yuck, yuck.

Its no surprise, then, that most of the elements in the song are food vocabulary words. The
song is ideal for introducing and reinforcing this vocabulary.

The ideal way to use this song in the classroom is in an interactive way. Because the song is
fairly easy to learn, you can go through it in class once or twice with the video as an
accompaniment, but soon after, ask students to write (and sing!) their own Do you like
questions. In order to do this without putting your shy students on the spot, try having the
whole class sing the song. Then call on people at random to insert a food item to be asked
about.
To ensure that the question form has been well integrated by all students, be sure that the song
isnt the only element of the lesson. Start the lesson by introducing the question form, and
follow the song portion of the lesson with a worksheet of yes/no questions or a pair work
activity to reinforce whats being taught.

Friday Im in Love

Teaching Point: Days of the Week Vocabulary

Its fun to find ways to use classic songs in class, and the Cures Friday Im in Love is a
perfect example. While this classic rock song is certainly fun to listen to, its also great for
learning the days of the week.

You can approach this song in several ways. For true beginners, it may be enough to ask the
class to chime in at moments when the day of the week is being said. In this case, the exercise
makes a fun way to end a week of classes that have introduced them to the days of the week
and months of the year.

You can also use it as a jumping off point to allow students to make their own sentences about
what they do on each day of the week. Be sure to closely examine the lyrics for new
vocabulary with students in this case, helping them to truly understand the words of the song
before moving on to making their own sentences.

My Favorite Things
Teaching Point: General Vocabulary

My Favorite Things is a fun song to help students get talking about things that they enjoy.
While the things that Maria describes in the song are fairly poetic, students can also use the
structure to describe things that they like themselves, and they dont have to get nearly as
descriptive as Maria does!

A great way to use this song is to have students draw pictures of one of the things that
Maria says she likes, for example, whiskers on kittens or brown paper packages tied up
with string. Once youve discussed the song together and have figured out what the lyrics
mean, have each student contribute a picture. Then, have students stand in a line and hold up
their picture when their lyric is being sung.

After this exercise, have students adapt the song to their own favorite things. You can either
have them write out the song themselves or give them sheets with blanks to fill in, as follows:

__________

__________

__________

These are a few of my favorite things!

As students move into the intermediate phase of their learning, theyll be ready to tackle more
difficult topics with their songs, particularly grammar points. The good news for students is
that they can use many songs that theyre already familiar with to study these different
grammar elements!

Here are three choice songs for intermediate level students.

Somebody That I Used to Know and Call Me Maybe

Teaching Point: Past Constructions

Use Somebody that I Used to Know or Call Me Maybe to review different past
constructions with your class. Lyrics like the following allow them to think about which past
tense is appropriate to use and why:

No you didnt have to stoop so low

Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I dont need that though
Now youre just somebody that I used to know

(From Somebody that I Used to Know)

I wasnt looking for this

But now youre in my way
Your stare was holding
Ripped jeans
Skin was showing

(From Call Me Maybe)

In order to use these songs in class, the most efficient way would be to make worksheets in
advance with the lyrics typed out and the appropriate past construction removed. Replace
these removed past constructions with a blank, accompanied by the infinitive verb in
parentheses.

Students should fill in the correct answer. Once theyve finished, verify answers using the
recording as a dictation. Hopefully, this activity will get students singing along!

All My Loving
Teaching Point: Future Simple

This classic Beatles tune will have students using the future like pros soon enough!

All My Loving uses the auxiliary will construction in the future fairly consistently, making
it ideal for practicing this future form. Make a worksheet as you did for the last exercise,
replacing future tense conjugated verbs with blanks and the infinitive verb in parentheses.

This exercise is ideal to use with false beginners (beginners who have studied English before
and forgotten) to remind them of the future tense, as well as for intermediate learners who just
need a bit of practice.

Now, on to songs for advanced learners!

When youre teaching advanced learners, you can have a lot of fun using songs in the
classroom. Here are a few of our favorite ways to use songs that will interest and engage your
advanced students.

Counting Stars
Teaching Point: Verb Tense Review

By the time students have reached an advanced level, theyll usually have seen pretty much
every verb tense there isbut that doesnt mean theyve mastered them all! Counting Stars
is a fantastic way to do a general verb review using the same fill-in-the-blank exercise we
discussed above.

The reason that this song is so perfect for this exercise is that Counting Stars features the
past progressive (Ive been losing sleep), future (well be counting stars), present, (I
see this life), present progressive (life swinging) and thats all just in the first two stanzas!

The only trouble with using this song in this exercise is that many of these verb choices are
open to interpretation based on how the student understands the songso turn it into a
debate! Ask students to defend their choices, and they may just open up a new side to the
song. Then play the song at the end of class to see what One Republic really meant to say.

If I Were A Boy

Teaching Point: Subjunctive

While advanced students will usually have seen quite a few different verb tenses in their day,
they may have yet to encounter the subjunctive, and thats where If I Were a Boy comes in.
Use this song to introduce a lesson on the subjunctive, asking students what they think this
mood implies in English.

Once youve established the correct use of the subjunctive with your students, allow them to
come up with their own If I were scenarios. You can either have them share these
statements orally in class or use this in-class preparation for a take-home written production
assignment. If its the latter, its up to you whether you want students to write a more formal
essay or a song of their own!

Across the Universe

Teaching Point: Gerunds

Gerunds are something that students first encounter as beginners or intermediate learners, but
advanced students can always use a good revision of gerund forms. Listening to the Beatles
classic Across the Universe is a great place to get this review.

Once youve done a gerund review, perhaps with a fill-in-the-blank exercise, allow your
students to delve further into the poetry of the song. Advanced students will likely have a lot
to say about the figurative language used by the songwriters and, for this reason, this song
can also be an excellent way to delve into topics related to stylistic or figurative writing,
culminating in a songwriting exercise for the entire class!

Whether your students are writing their own songs or learning from the lyrics and music of
others, were sure that making the most of these songs in your ESL classes will not only make
the ESL classroom experience more fun, but more fruitful too!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take
anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Oh, and One More Thing

If you liked these fun songs, youll love using FluentU in your classroom. FluentU takes real-
world videoslike music videos, cartoons, documentaries and moreand turns them into
personalized language learning lessons for you and your students.

Its got a huge collection of authentic English videos that people in the English-speaking
world actually watch on the regular. There are tons of great choices there when youre looking
for songs for in-class activities.
Youll find music videos, musical numbers from cinema and theater, kids singalongs,
commercial jingles and much, much more.

On FluentU, all the videos are sorted by skill level and are carefully annotated for students.
Words come with example sentences and definitions. Students will be able to add them to
their own vocabulary lists, and even see how the words are used in other videos.
For example, if a student taps on the word brought, theyll see this:
Plus, these great videos are all accompanied by interactive features and active
learning tools for students, like multimedia flashcards and fun games like fill in the blank.
Its perfect for in-class activities, group projects and solo homework assignments. Not to
mention, its guaranteed to get your students excited about English!
1:36

POW ERED BY WISTIA

If you liked this post, something tells me that youll love FluentU, the best way to teach
English with real-world videos.

Bring English immersion to your classroom!

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