Simple Past

Age: Adults
Focus: Simple Past


The song "BECAUSE YOU LOVED ME" by Celine Dion is a very good opportunity for students to practice the Simple Past of the verbs. Younger students don't like this song, so I only use it with adults. You can give this song as a wrap-up activity after they have practiced the verb tense for some time. First, students are introduced to the vocabulary in the song and then they engage into a brief discussion. After that, they write down the past form of the verbs provided. Then, they sing the song and finally play a concentration game.

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Creative Writing

Age: Adults
Focus: Writing


"A THING ABOUT YOU" is a song by Roxette and gives students the opportunity to use their imagination in a piece of writing, based on three words from the song. First, they use the three words to write a story. After that, they are introduced to the lyrics and compare the two stories. Finally, they categorize the words in order of difficulty. (They are allowed to use the dictionary to find the definitions of any word they don't know). An option for a wrap-up activity is to illustrate the song.

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Word Functions

Age: Adults
Focus: Word Functions


The activity below was made for the song "AT LAST" by Etta James. The focus is word functions. First, a list of words is showed as the song is played. A fun element could be lipsink the song while it's playing. Then, the students categorize the words into verbs, nouns and adjectives. In the end, they fill in blanks in the lyrics. Activity - Downloadable

I love Paris

Age: Adults

Focus: Writing

The activity below has been designed for the song "I LOVE PARIS", performed here by Frank Sinatra. I recommend this song for adults only for teens are not big fans of old songs. As for the activity, it's very simple and its ultimate goal is to engage students into writing. First, students talk about Paris based on a list of words provided by the teacher. Then, they listen to the song and work on some vocabulary. Finally, they write about their city and what they like about it. 

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We are more beautiful than we think

Age: Teens & Adults
Focus: Reflection & Discussion

The activity below has been designed for the song "BEAUTIFUL" by Christina Aguilera. First, students describe themselves to the person sitting next to them and then they listen to their partner's description. After that, they watch a TV commercial by Dove and say what aspect of the video they found interesting. Then, they listen to the song and find 10 vocabulary mistakes. Finally, they engage into a discussion about beauty. 

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Hazard - Bingo

Age: Teens & Adults
Focus: Vocabulary


HAZARD ( OPTION 1)

The activity below has been designed for the song "HAZARD" by Richard Marx. First, students guess what the song is about based on a list of words given. Then, they choose 9 words from the list and write them on a BINGO grid. After that, they listen to the song and check the words they hear. Finally, they read the lyrics and check whether their guessing was right or not. (Only then will the video be used.)

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Describing Clothes

Age: Teens and Adults
Fucus: Adjectives for Clothes


The activity below has been designed for the song "THE ONLY THING THAT LOOKS GOOD ON ME IS YOU" by Brian Adams. First, students are introduced to vocabulary used to describe clothes. Then, they watch the video and write as many phrases as possible using the words learned. Finally, students describe their favorite outfit.

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The Third Person

Age: Teens & Adults
Focus: Simple Present

The activity below has been designed for the song "LIVING ON A PRAYER" by Bon Jovi. First, students engage into a discussion about their musical preferences. Then, they play a quick guessing game, in which they are supposed to guess the name of the band. After that, they are introduced to the vocabulary presented in the song. Then, they listen to the song and underline the Simple Present forms in the lyrics. Finally, they play the CANDY GAME.

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What were you doing when...?

Age: Teens & Adults
Focus: Simple Past & Past Continuous

The activity below has been designed for the song "MISUNDERSTOOD" by Bon Jovi. The activity is not based on the lyrics, but on the video. It provides the teacher with two options for activities. 

OPTION 1: Students are presented with some vocabulary and based on that, they write a story using Simple Past and Past Continuous. Then, they watch the video and compare the two stories. 

OPTION 2: Students engage into a brief discussion about what they were doing on the day of very important historical events (such events will be provided in the activity). Then, they watch the video and based on it, they write sentences using Simple Past and Past Continuous.     

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Expressing Frustration, Empathy and Encouragement

Age: Teens & Adults

The activity below has been designed for the song "CHIQUITITA" by ABBA. Fisrt, students are introduced to vocabulary related to the song. Then, they listen to the song and categorize each line as and expression of FRUSTRATION, EMPATHY or ENCOURAGEMENT. FInally, they engage into a discussion about the lyrics.

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Creative Writing

The activity below has been designed for the song "A THING ABOUT YOU" by Roxette. First, the teacher shows students vocabulary from the song and then give them time to write a creative short story using it. Afterwards, they listen to the song and compare their story to the author's. As a wrap up, they list the words according to their difficulty and share them in pairs, explaining their meaning. 

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The City I Love

Age: Teens & Adults
Focus: Talking about places
Ultimate Goal: Writing

The activity below has been designed for a lesson in which students learn vocabulary used to talk about a place ( BREATHTAKING, SEASONED TRAVELER, OVERRUN WITH TOURISTS, WANDER OFF THE BEATEN PATH, IN YOUR FACE, ISOLATED, REMOTE, HUSTLE AND BUSTLE, etc...) After practicing the vocabulary, students brainstormed words related to New York. Then, they shared the words they came up with and listened to the song "A HEART IN NEW YORK" by Paul Simon. After listening to the song, students engaged into a discussion about the uniqueness of the city. Finally, they were encouraged to write a short poem or a paragraph about a city they enjoy going to and then shared their pieces of writing with their peers.

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School Items

Age: Children
Focus: School Items


The song below has the tune of "YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE" . I sing it with my little ones to practice the vocabulary learned, which is school items. Initially, I write the words on the board in the sequence they appear in the song and elicit the lyrics from them. Eventually, they memorize it and don't need the words anymore. The cool thing about this song is that the items don't necessarily have to be in the order suggested here. 

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