404 ESL Songs For Teaching English

Welcome to our 'ESL Songs for Teaching English' worksheets section, where you'll find a lot of free lesson materials that English teachers can use with their class for musical English lessons.
Our growing collection of teacher-tested ESL songs worksheets contains all-time favorites such as 'I Saw Her Standing There' or 'Yesterday' (as well as many other songs sung by the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Gloria Gaynor, Bon Jovi) and also relatively new songs that are successfully used by ESL teachers.

Teaching English with songs helps learners provides a lot of opportunities for a creative teacher. Songs are a great way to practice intonation and stress, spelling and pronunciation, they are wonderful subjects for debate or discussion, are great for specific vocabulary practice, group singing practice. It is advised that when selecting an ESL song the teacher should look for one with functional English, plenty of common and useful phrasal verbs, clear and natural examples of comparative and superlative use, question words, reported speech. For the post-listening stage we also recommend some creative writing activities or a whole class discussion.

Generally, students love to listen to songs during their English lessons.

 

If the song was selected properly, they are also very willing to participate in the after-listening activities such as gap-fills, concept questions, discussions or creative writing. 

It is very important to select the right song.

You must also be totally aware of why you're selecting this or that song and what specific & useful ESL context it has for your students. Do not choose songs just because YOU like them: it's a good idea to do some subtle research asking your class about their music tastes before you come up with a musical lesson!

If you're new to teaching English through songs, we have prepared several articles that will help you get started and will teach you the basics. Please see these articles here: 'Teaching ESL With Music: Creative Ideas For The Classroom', 'How To Teach Using Songs', and 'Classroom Songs: 16 Creative Ways'.

At the moment we have 404 worksheets specifically designed to go with ESL Songs For Teaching English, as well as other useful resources for teaching English through songs, such as printable handouts, teacher tips, etc.
See our most recent ESL Songs lesson plans, or navigate through the menu at the top of every page to locate the worksheet you are looking for for this or that particular lesson. One excellent example is this song worksheet which you can use for intermediate learners studying phrasal verbs. It is based on the pop song “Breakaway” by Kelly Clarkson which may appeal to your middle and high school students.

ESL Songs – Music to my ears

Songs are often used for listening activities in ESL classrooms. They add some variety to lessons by shifting focus away from the textbook and give students the opportunity to listen to an unfamiliar voice. This really helps them improve their listening skills but it is important to find songs that are slow enough for students to catch individual words or else they may become frustrated. As an ESL teacher, you probably speak at a slower than normal speed during your lessons which is great when students are learning new material but could hinder their ability to communicate effectively in real life situations. Using songs will give them some practice and while challenging, can be fun too. Songs can also be used for pronunciation practice but usually only young learners can be encouraged to sing a long.