How to use songs in foreign language teaching.

Before introducing a song in the classroom, the teacher should introduce the song in order to facilitate a better oral comprehension of what it will be heard. This can be done with the use of drawings or flashcards on the board, mime, gestures and body movements or a brief explanation in the mother tongue.

The songs can be repeated by the whole class or we may vary the grouping, specially if there are questions and answers in the song, that is, one part can be sung by the half class, and the second part by the other half, or even each group a paragraph.

Songs are good for practising new grammatical patterns or vocabulary once they have been presented. But they are particularly useful for practising pronunciation. This includes individual sounds and sounds in connected speech, but more importantly, features related to stress, rhythem and intonation, that is to say, the suprasegmental features of the language.