Souls are Hungry for Songs – Feed Them! Make Feel Good Songs for Your Students

Sezgi Yalin, North Cyprus

Sezgi Yalin earned her M.A. in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Illinois in Chicago. She holds a B.A. in Journalism and English Literature. She worked as an English teacher and teacher trainer in the USA and Poland, and gained additional experience in the field in various countries such as UK, Spain, Egypt, China, Nepal, Tibet, Vietnam and Turkey. A CELTA and Pilgrims trainer, her research interests are teacher training, integrating technology into teaching and creative writing. E-mail: sezgiriza@yahoo.com

Menu

Background
How these activities work

Background

Listening to songs is a great language teaching tool often used by teachers. Songs may, however, prove to be more than mere language enhancers for students. They can be used to help students feel better about themselves and about the life surrounding them, especially when in secondary school. Below are some of these songs with activities if you are interested in exploring how songs can be used as psychological enhancers in the classroom.

How these activities work

Activity 1

Song: Beautiful by Christina Aguilera

1. Learners are shown photos of people and asked to discuss in pairs what makes a person beautiful. They are then asked to share ideas with the rest of the class.
2. Learners are then asked why some people find themselves beautiful/handsome or ugly. They discuss their answers with a new partner and then share with the class.
3. Learners are now asked to choose the most beautiful/handsome person for them and write why they think s/he is beautiful/handsome in 5 words only. They can then share their sentences with the other learners.
4. Pairs of learners are given the roles below. Partners cannot see each other’s role:
   1. You are going to talk to a close friend who sometimes acts like s/he is the most beautiful/handsome person on earth. Tactfully, try persuading him/her that s/he is not as beautiful/handsome as s/he thinks.
   2. You are very confident and sure that you are beautiful/handsome. If someone says the opposite, you are ready to explain why you think you are beautiful/handsome.
5. At the end of the role-play, the teacher elicits some of the reasons B’s gave to A’s as to why they are beautiful/handsome. The teacher also tries to elicit or teach the lines from Beautiful by Christina Aguilera: “I am beautiful, no matter what they say. Words can’t bring me down.”
6. The teacher elicits other ways of saying how one can trust their own beauty and how no one can make them feel otherwise. While doing this, the teacher also introduces the numbered lines in the song.
7. The learners sit in a circle with their backs to the center. There has to be one fewer chair than students. The teacher explains the rules for musical chairs: The song is played and learners try to sit as soon as they hear (a) particular sentence(s). The students sitting list some positive qualities of the student left standing.
8. Those learners who never were left standing by the end of the song are also told by the rest of the class something about their positive qualities.

Beautiful by Christina Aguilera

Don't look at me

Every day is so wonderful
And suddenly, I saw debris
Now and then, I get insecure
From all the pain, I'm so ashamed

I am beautiful no matter what they say
Words can't bring me down
I am beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring me down
So don't you bring me down today

To all your friends, you're delirious
So consumed in all your doom
Trying hard to fill the emptiness
The piece is gone left the puzzle undone
That's the way it is

You are beautiful no matter what they say
Words can't bring you down
You are beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring you down
Don't you bring me down today...

No matter what we do (no matter what we do)
No matter what they say (no matter what they say)
When the sun is shining through
Then the clouds won't stay

And everywhere we go (everywhere we go)
The sun won't always shine (sun won't always shine)
But tomorrow will find a way
All the other times

'cause we are beautiful no matter what they say
Yes, words won't bring us down, oh no
We are beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring us down
Don't you bring me down today

Don't you bring me down today
Don't you bring me down today

Activity 2

Song: Don’t Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin

1. Learners are asked to list with a partner what makes people happy. Answers are shared with the class.
2. Learners are also asked to make a list of what makes them happy. They do not have to share it with anyone.
3. The teacher shares things that make her/him happy and shows some photos.
4. The teacher shares some quotes of what makes others happy: “I love the smell of Cinnamon Apple in the morning. It smells like victory.” – Garfield “I am the happiest when being creative.” – Justin Timberland “I have (…) children and caring for them is the most important thing for me at the moment. I'm very proud and happy to be their mother.” – Angelina Jolie
5. Learners are asked to list, with a partner, what worries people. Answers are shared with the class.
6. Learners are also asked to make a list of what worries them. They do not have to share their list.
7. The teacher asks: “If you worry a lot, what might happen?”
8. The teacher tries to elicit a song whose name includes the words ‘worry’ and ‘happy’.
9. Learners are then given the lyrics to Don’t Worry, Be Happy and asked to underline the worries McFerrin sings about.
10. Learners are asked to find what McFerrin suggests for each worry.
11. The teacher asks what might happen to someone if s/he worries, according to the lyrics.
12. In groups, learners are asked to rewrite the song by replacing the worries with some of their own from steps 5 and/or 6 and suggesting solutions too.
13. The teacher plays the background music of the same song, allowing learners to sing their own versions.
14. If time allows, the teacher ends the lesson with some relaxing breathing exercises while reciting lines about why worrying is not good, e.g.,

1/ Ask learners to sit straight, put their hands on their knees, and close their eyes.

2/ Ask them to breathe in from their nose (mouths should be closed), count to 5 and hold their breath as long as they can.

3/ Ask them to exhale through the nose, counting to 6.

4/ Learners repeat steps 1 to 3 until you ask them to stop. Meanwhile, read the following lines, some of which are quotes by famous people:

Break the habit of making yourself unhappy through worry.

Happiness is a choice. - anonymous

Smile – smiling relaxes the muscles in your face and makes you feel happy.

The purpose of our lives is to be happy. - Dalai Lama

Whoever is happy will make others happy, too. - Anne Frank

Your greatest gift to others is to be happy and to radiate your happiness to the entire world. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

As a happy person, you radiate happiness to the world. Visualize your light radiating throughout the world, passing from person to person until it encircles the globe. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The successful and happy ones dance lightly with life. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Training yourself to live in the present - without regretting the past or fearing the future - is a recipe for a happy life. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When you feel worried and depressed, consciously form a smile on your face and act upbeat until the happy feeling becomes genuine. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Angry and happy don't mix. Flush out the angry, and the happy has a place to put down roots. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Don't hurry. Don't worry. You're only here for a short visit. So don't forget to stop and smell the roses. - Walter Hagen

Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere. - Glenn Turner

Don't Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin

Here is a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don't worry be happy
In every life we have some trouble
When you worry you make it double
Don't worry, be happy......

Ain't got no place to lay your head
Somebody came and took your bed
Don't worry, be happy
The landlord says your rent is late
He may have to litigate
Don't worry, be happy
Look at me I am happy
Don't worry, be happy
Here I give you my phone number
When you worry call me
I make you happy
Don't worry, be happy

Ain't got no cash, ain't got no style
Ain't got not girl to make you smile
But don't worry be happy
Cause when you worry
Your face will frown
And that will bring everybody down
So don't worry, be happy (now).....

There is this little song I wrote
I hope you learn it note for note
Like good little children
Don't worry, be happy
Listen to what I say
In your life expect some trouble
But when you worry
You make it double
Don't worry, be happy......
Don't worry don't do it, be happy
Put a smile on your face
Don't bring everybody down like this
Don't worry, it will soon past
Whatever it is
Don't worry, be happy.

Activity 3

Song: I Believe I Can Fly by R. Kelly

1. Learners work in pairs and are asked to mumble their favorite song to their partner. Then, they are instructed to explain why it is their favorite song to their partner and how it makes them feel.
2. Learners are shown an excerpt from the movie ‘Fun with Dick and Jane’ starring Jim Carrey singing a song (see Youtube video at
   www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNH2iF5AQmE).
   
   They are asked to discuss the questions below in groups:
   
   Why does he sing this song? He is promoted and feels happy
   How does the song make him feel? He feels he can do anything.
   What does he feel he can do? Flying is an ability Jim Carrey thinks he can perform.
3. Learners are asked to make a list of abilities they would like to develop (e.g., to be able to speak their mind).
4. Learners are then told to draw their superhero self on a sheet of A3 paper and draw in or glue a photo of their own face.
5. On the chest of their superhero self, learners are asked to write “Super (Own Name).” They draw bubbles around it and fill them in with the abilities they want to develop by adding them to the phrase “I believe I can…” (e.g., “I believe I can speak my mind”).
6. Learners are asked to close their eyes, visualize themselves as their superhero self with a smile on their face and repeat each of their belief/can statements ten times.
7. Learners are instructed to get into their superhero self character. They then walk around talking to other students, telling them about their superhero self and abilities (“I can…” “I am…”).
8. Learners are shown a picture of a cat that sees herself as a lion in the mirror. In pairs, learners are asked to list things they think of at that moment.
9. The teacher elicits “The cat is pretending to be a lion” and what the learners were doing in step 5. Teacher draws learners’ attention to the similarity and elicits “If I can see it, then I can be it” and “It starts inside of me” by asking how the cat is able to see herself as a lion.
10. Learners are then presented with I Believe I Can Fly by R. Kelly. After pre-teaching some vocabulary, learners can be asked to change the chorus according to themselves. The teacher then plays the song as background as each learner sings his/her own version.

I Believe I Can Fly by R. Kelly

I used to think that I could not go on
And life was nothing but an awful song
But now I know the meaning of true love
I'm leaning on the everlasting arms
If I can see it, then I can do it
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it

I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away
I believe I can soar
I see me running through that open door
I believe I can fly
I believe I can fly
I believe I can fly

See I was on the verge of breaking down
Sometimes silence can seem so loud
There are miracles in life I must achieve
But first I know it starts inside of me oohh
If I can see it, then I can be it
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it

(Chorus)

Hey 'Cause I believe in you
oh..............

If I can see it, then I can do it (I can do..)
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it

(Chorus) Hey

if I just spread my wings (I can fly) *
I can fly (I can fly)
I can fly (I can fly)
I can fly (I can fly)
Hey if I just spread my wings (I can fly)
I can fly...(I can fly, I can fly)
woo... (I can fly)
hmmmmm...fly, fly, fly

Please check the Methodology and Language for Secondary Teachers course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.