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 - for example, when they are working on the Activity Units. 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 music for a writing phase.
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