Top 5 Ways to Use Songs in the Children’s English Classroom

Songs can be used in many fun ways in English class (ESL, EFL). I love music, so I make it a centerpiece of my classes. For me, the more songs the better. Here we go!

    1. Before Class Time: Get your students ready for the class before it starts by playing songs in English. This can be a playlist of songs that you are singing in your class, or something else nice to listen to.
    2. Warm-Up Songs: I always sing a song with my students as part of the warm-up. Keep the warm-up songs simple and introduce the language as part of the warm-up. A great warm=-up song example is “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.”
    3. Topic Songs: You can use songs to help teach the vocabulary and phrases that you are learning in the class. For example, if you are learning the weather try the “Weather Song/Sun Comes Up.” It introduces the weather and asks, “How’s the weather?”

4. Fun Time: Sometimes we need a bit of a break from drilling and games and songs can be a lot of fun! Choose a student favorite or some action song to get the kids moving. For example, try “Shake It Out” a student favorite!

5. Goodbye Song: I always end the class with a Goodbye Song. This lets the students know that the class is over. For some reason, the students sing this song very enthusiastically! Check out the Dream English Goodbye Song here.

These are some of my favorite uses of children’s English songs in the classroom. What are your favorite uses of songs? Let us know with a comment on our Dream English Facebook or Instagram Page!

New Song and Video: Walking, Walking Song

Young learners of English (ESL, EFL) love to interact by saying, “No!” For example, if I hold up a flashcard of a dog and say “banana” the students will either say “no” or “dog”. This always comes with a lot of laughter. The Walking, Walking Song is based on this idea. More below the video:

Give the idea a try. Don’t over do it, but when you are counting numbers for example, when you get to 10 say banana instead of ten! See how your students react.

Lyrics:

 

I’m walking, walking in the park
And I see a dog (No!)
I see a dog (No!)
I see a dog (yay!)
I’m walking, walking in the park
And I see a cat (No!)
I see a cat (No!)
I see a cat (yay!)

I’m walking, walking in the park
And I see a bird (No!)
I see a bird (No!)
I see a bird (yay!)

I’m walking, walking in the park
And I see a bear (No!)
I see a bear (No!)
I see a bear

A bear?
Run! run, run,
run run, run,
run run, run,
run stop, safe!

Great job!

Visit our Free Download page to download our top songs for teaching children English. Click here!

 

Beginner Adult English Chants – Free MP3 Downloads

I am happy to offer Free MP3 download of beginner English vocabulary chants for adult learners (ESL, EFL). Chant download below video:

Food Vocabulary Chant and Learning Video

Click here to download the Food Vocabulary Chant
Right-click to download (Mac users Control-click)

Vocabulary: bread, cheese, chicken, eggs, fish, fries,  cheeseburger, hot dog, pizza, salad, sandwich, soup, spaghetti, steak

Jobs Vocabulary Chant and Learning Video

Click here to download the Jobs Vocabulary Chant
Right-click to download (Mac users Control-click)

Vocabulary: bus driver, carpenter, cashier, chef, construction worker, dentist, doctor, pilot, plumber, police officer,  student, teacher, waiter, waitress

Check out more Chants below and Visit our Teach English Plus YouTube Channel for more vocabulary chants!

Visit Teach English Plus on YouTube for: Drinks, Colors, Numbers and more!

Beginner English – Food Vocabulary

Learn 14 Food names in this beginner English vocabulary builder video:

Vocabulary: 

bread, cheese, chicken, eggs, fish, fries,  cheeseburger, hot dog, pizza, salad, sandwich, soup, spaghetti, steak

Phrase:

I like bread. Practice saying “I like ….” and a food.

Check out my Beginner English Video Playlist on YouTube. Colors, Numbers, Phrases and more. Click here!

Traffic Light Song – New Actions Song for Children’s English Class

The Traffic Light Song is a new fun action song for your classes (ESL, EFL). It practices the colors green, yellow, red and fun actions. More below video!

How to Teach

Start by teaching the actions that go with the colors: green is go, yellow is slow, red is stop. You can practice all of the actions before your play the song.

Game Idea

Have the students line up on one side of the room. Call out the different colors, for example “green!” and the students have to go. If they make a mistake they are out. For example, if you say “yellow” and they stop, they are out. If you have many students, only have a few go at a time for safety and judging reasons.

Check out the new video on Youtube, song also streaming on Spotify, iTunes and more! Search for “Traffic Light Song Dream English Kids” Happy Singing!

1 Number Song | Today’s Number Song with Matt and Friends

I’m excited to share the new Today’s Number Song video: Number 1. This is a new series. More below the video!

Today’s Number Song: Learning to Count Numbers and Objects

This fun new series introduces the concept of numbers and counting to young learners of English (ESL, EFL). A children’s English class is not complete without some counting. This video teaches the number 1 and counting one apple, one t-shirt, one dog, and one car.

Activity idea: After watching the video, ask your students to find one object in the room and bring it to the front of class. Each student can take turns saying the number 1 and the name of their object. For example, “1 pencil.”

I hope you find this video helpful for your kids English classes.

Happy singing and learning!