1.b) Improving your English by listening to Music.

• Music motivates people to learn and forms a link between the language used in the classroom and the real world.
• Because they focus on general themes and not specific people or places, most people identify with the lyrics to many songs.
• Singing is fun. Most people like to sing. Singing by yourself is even better.
• Singing seems to be an excellent way to improve your memory. Most people are able to remember large chunks of songs that they memorized years ago. “When we are relaxed, the part of the brain that creates memory can actually work better.’’ (Rose and Goll, 1992)
• Music speaks to our hearts and our minds. This association of words and emotions helps memory.
• Language learned through rhythm and melody “is assimilated much easier, in much larger amounts and with much greater retention.” (Lozanov and Gateva, 1983)
• “Songs provide a vehicle for learning language unconsciously.” (Gold, 1985)
• “Songs promote whole-brain learning . . . the left hemisphere of the brain processes language and the right hemisphere processes music . . . The best learning occurs when both hemispheres are involved.” (Brown, 1994)
• “The promotion of a relaxed, light-hearted, playful, lowstress environment, (that music provides) is greatly conducive to effective learning (and) reducing factors that inhibit language acquisition.” (Nicky Riddiford - 1999)

Convinced?

Put more pleasure in your language learning.

• Listen to music for the fun of it.
• Visualize what you hear.
• Practice the vocabulary - use the new words you’ve learned.
• Improve your pronunciation and intonation through pronunciation practice. The rhythm of music provides a fun and easy way to memorize.
• Learn more about the culture of English-speaking countries.
• Practice linguistic structures by singing a song many times.
• Relate the stories in songs to other experiences.
• Write a dialogue based on the lyrics of a song.
• Mentally tell yourself the story in the song.

Careful

Songs may contain slang and incorrect grammatical structures. It is important to identify them and to know the corresponding correct structure. Here are some examples of colloquial expressions that are often commonly heard in songs, but not in formal oral or written language:

ain’t a contraction for ‘am not’, ‘has not’, and ‘have not’
wanna this could mean ‘want to’ or ‘want a’
gonna means ‘going to’
gotta means ‘got to’
ain´t no sunshine (double negative - normally not allowed in English)

DVD

First listen to it with the subtitles in Portuguese if you wish to understand the lyrics better. Then listen to it with the subtitles in English and pay attention to how the ideas are expressed in English.

Congratulations! You have just done an excellent exercise. If you like these suggestions, go to www.cellep.com “Dicas” and print out your copy!

Bibliography

Holden, S. and Rogers, M. 2001. Ensino da Língua Inglesa. SBS Davanellos, A. 1999. “Songs”. English Teaching Professional, Issue 13 Riddiford, N. 1999. “Singing your Way to Fluency: Songs in Language Education”
www22.auckland.ac.nz/lbr/conf99/riddiford.htm
Lianza Conference - Awckland 99
Rose and Goll, 1992
Lozanov and Gateva, 1983
Gold, 1985
Brown, 1994