Song lyric in class!

By Marikken Riis

Firstly, I believe that the most important thing one must know and understand when learning a new language is single words. At this level, the purpose is to be able to comprehend the content in communication situation, and maybe to be able to answer for oneself. After the “glossary” part and one know enough words, I think the next step would be to learn to use the language correctly, and here enters the grammatical part of the language.

I would dare to say that the grammar is vital to know and understand: for using the language more correctly and to become more understood. The English grammar shows and enlightens how the language works. Therefore, I think the grammar is very important by teaching the pupils how to use the language correctly and by showing them the construction of the language. With a piece of knowledge in the English grammar, one can see a coherence in the language. 

The closest I’ve been to teaching grammar was in my previous practice period, where I was deployed, along with two fellow students, in a 7th grade. In the practice period, we were commissioned to lead an English class with a focus on nouns. We decided to start with a recap of what a noun is in plenary and wrote some notes on the blackboard. As teachers, we wanted to teach in a way we found interesting, and hopefully, give them motivation and a great time with us. We came up with the idea of use song lyrics in class, which we found both fun, creative and interesting to conduct. The pupils had to underline the nouns in the song text, as an exercise to find English nouns in a new text.

The pupils were happy and motivated for the task, as they never had done it before. Some of the pupils had heard the song before, which seemed motivating. The song we used was “A Sky Full of Stars” by Coldplay, and we played the song out loud while the pupils were underlining the nouns in the text. There where some pupils who found it hard to find the nouns and others found it very easy. This enlightened the pupil’s different levels in English. After underlining the nouns, we gave them a second task: to make sentences with the nouns they had found in the song lyric.

My experience of teaching grammar in this way was fascinating and educational! I saw the big overspend the class had in the English subject, and how different pupils works with tasks alone. It was fun to see how the students received our tasks, and how exciting they were. It was truly motivating to try out something new and creative!