Amid the many ways to incorporate music into the ESL classroom, one might not suspect the potential success of an ESL course using music to highlight cultural history.
Several years ago I designed an advanced ESL reading course for an ELI program that aimed to introduce the students in my class to the spectacular moment in American culture called "the 60s." For most of the international students in my class, this period in American history was extremely interesting and they were curious to learn about it.
Incorporating some rather challenging native-speaking reading materials at the start of the course, I found that the students began to "turn off" (not Leary's intention) in relation to the prominent ideas of that time, so I immediately made a drastic change to the style and structure of the course.
Turning to "reading" materials that included stories, poetry, and song lyrics, I began to recognize not only a change in their attitude toward the subject at hand, but also an improvement in their ability to articulate their understanding and critical interpretation of the topics we discussed. We also spent time searching the internet for images of the period, which went a long way to providing them with visual meaning and insight. In fact, some of the students pointed to some fashion styles that were popular in their countries at the time our class took place - thirty years later!
However, the key element that made the course a success was the music. Choosing some songs from popular collections of 60s music, I discovered that many of the songs were actually pretty well known by the students, at least the "tunes" anyway, and they loved learning the lyrics and coming to understand some of the references important events of the time embedded in the lyrics.
Do you like music? You might consider sharing your interest with your students.
