There are plenty of reasons why we could use songs in the efl classroom; linguistic, cognitive, cultural, just to name a few. To me, the most important one is that songs provide a perfectly relaxing and intimate room for authentic language practice, that makes teaching and learning so much fun. Even better, this is done naturally since “all students have musical tastes and it seems easier to sing language than to speak it”” (Tim Murphy,1992). They also enhance Multiple Intelligences according to H.Gardner’s theory. I know they may cause extreme excitement in the classroom, or may not please all tastes, but when used meaningfully, noise or excitement are a minor drawback to me.

I have come across some helpful sites which provide ideas and resources for song based lesson plans and I would like to share them with you. Please check their copyright policy before using any of them.

The most amazing one, I found just today is  http://www.lyricstraining.com/  where one can watch countless song videos and do gap-filling exercises at the same time.Then there are

http://tefltunes.com/search/searchall.aspx?name=public

http://www.musicalenglishlessons.com/

http://educationaltechnologyinelt.blogspot.gr/2011/01/teaching-english-through-songs-in_16.html

Do you know of  any other sites?