Music
What
and why?
Potentially,
music can have an important role in the classroom. The use of songs
is already very familiar to most teachers. Music, however, plays
a major role in many parts of our lives. We may, for example, listen
to the radio while we are working, while we are driving or waiting
for something. There may be background music while we are eating
or reading. We may use music to relax or to mark a change of activity
(such as 'coming home from work') and so on. In similar ways, music
can be used to help make the classroom more welcoming.
Practical
ideas
- Choose
music for the atmosphere you want to create: soft calm music if
you want to calm the students down, energetic music if you want
to wake them up, and so on.
- You
can play music as they come into the classroom. This can help
'bring them into' English again, and relax them ready for work.
- You
could use music regularly at set phases in your teaching Ð for
example, when they are writing, doing short exercises or doing
an Activity Unit. Students could then suggest or bring
in appropriate pieces of music.
- If
there are a number of steps or phases in an activity, you can
use music to mark the transition. For example, some fast music
for a BRAINSTORMING
phase and a slow, gentle piece of music for a writing phase.
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