What I Teach: Musics!

I mentioned a while ago that my favorite way to teach is through music. The students enjoy it, I like it, everyone stays quiet, and they are really engaged in what they're learning. The only tricky part is that the lyrics have to be sung clear enough that the students have a chance at understanding them, and the words/phrases can't be too familiar or "slangy." This eliminates a lot of songs. But with the right song, there is opportunity to teach language and culture. Here are some excerpts from the best examples of songs I've used to teach:

1. Secret Heart by Feist

Secret Heart
What are you made of?
What are you so afraid of?
Could it be three simple words,
Or the fear of being overheard?
What's wrong?

Lesson enforced: Forming questions
Vocabularly: Overheard, sacred, tough, conceal, reveal, lonliness, bear (as in grin and bear it), admit, "go through it" and "something to do with"

2. Homeward Bound by Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel

I'm sitting in the railway station.
Got a ticket for my destination.
On a tour of one-night stands, my suitcase and guitar in hand.
And every stop is neatly planned for a poet and a one-man band.

Every day's an endless stream
of cigarettes and magazines.
And each town looks the same to me, the movies and the factories
And every stranger's face I see reminds me that I long to be,

Tonight I'll sing my songs again,
I'll play the game and pretend.
But all my words come back to me in shades of mediocrity
Like emptiness in harmony I need someone to comfort me.

Lesson enforced: Contractions (I'm sitting, every day's, I'll play)
Vocabulary: railway, one-night stands (hey, if I'm going to teach it, it might as well be in this context), neatly planned, endless stream, long, pretend, shades, emptiness, thoughts, escaping

3. The Devil Went Down to Georgia by The Charlie Daniels Band

Now you play a pretty good fiddle, boy
But give the devil his due
I'll bet a fiddle of gold
Against your soul
'Cause I think I'm better than you

The boy said, "My name's Johnny
And it might be a sin
But I'll take your bet
And you're gonna regret
'Cause I'm the best there's ever been"

This song is all about a story - as the title says, the devil goes to Georgia looking for a "soul to steal" and bets a boy named Johnny that he can play better fiddle. If the devil loses, Johnny gets a golden fiddle and if he wins, he gets to take Johnny's soul. My main goal with this is not vocabulary (the word "hickory" as in "hickory stump" doesn't even exist in French) but culture. Most students don't know what a fiddle is or what it sounds like, so it's new and fun for that reason. I also just want them to get the main idea of the story and know who wins in the end, the Devil or Johnny.