Learn English with Music
Learn English with Music Original songs & classic songs turned into listening activities and grammar lessons. Play the track, fill in the words you hear, and check your answers as you go.
Tips for Using these ESL songs
1. Classroom karaoke — project the song onto the board with the teacher (or one of the students) as the host/presenter. Learn the lyrics and sing.
2. Group presentation — ideally on a tablet, but a phone or computer works too. One device goes on the table between a pair or group of students. They learn the song and present it to the class.
3. Homework — assign the song as homework, then open the next lesson with it.
The songs
I think about you — A Preposition Song
How to use: a slow reggae beat with one preposition to the bar, so beginners have time to hear
it and write it. Listen and fill in the missing preposition — place first, then time.
Place · Time · Movement
Get Up, Stand Up by Bob Marley — Phrasal Verbs
How to use: a slow reggae beat with one preposition to the bar, so beginners have time to hear
it and write it. Listen and fill in the missing preposition — place first, then time.
Place · Time · Movement
It is written — Passives in all tenses
How to use: a slow reggae beat with one past participles and passives in all tenses- from present to past, perfect, continuous, with modals and the future.Listen and fill in the missing preposition — place first, then time.
Passive tenses (all) · Past participles
Dance, Think, Flirt, Remember — All the Tenses
How to use: one song, three languages, the same four verbs in every tense. Listen and type the
English verbs into the gaps. The focus is when to use each tense, not only how
to form it — the Spanish and Portuguese lines are there so you can see what your own language
does at the same moment.
English · Español · Português
Sydney from a 747 by Paul Kelly performed by Merril Bainbridge — The Present Perfect for Experience
How to use: watch the video and it stops eight times to ask about the story and the vocabulary
(a 747, Bondi, the break, savings). Then practise Have you ever…? with the
present perfect, past participles, and when to choose the past simple instead — and finish by
asking a partner about their own experiences.
Present perfect · Past participles · Present perfect vs past simple
Waltzing Matilda by Slim Dusty — Story telling in the past tense
How to use: a slow reggae beat with one preposition to the bar, so beginners have time to hear
it and write it. Listen and fill in the missing preposition — place first, then time.
Place · Time · Movement
If I Were A Boy by Beyonce — 2nd Relative Clause
How to use: a slow reggae beat with one preposition to the bar, so beginners have time to hear
it and write it. Listen and fill in the missing preposition — place first, then time.
Place · Time · Movement
Coming soon
Song 7 — title to come
How to use: one or two lines saying what the song practises and what the
student does. Replace this text when the activity is ready.
Coming soon
Song 8 — title to come
How to use: one or two lines saying what the song practises and what the
student does. Replace this text when the activity is ready.
Coming soon
Song 9 — title to come
How to use: one or two lines saying what the song practises and what the
student does. Replace this text when the activity is ready.
Coming soon
Song 10 — title to come
How to use: one or two lines saying what the song practises and what the
student does. Replace this text when the activity is ready.