Skyfall (Adele)

It's 50 years since the first James Bond film was released so we couldn't resist including the theme song from Skyfall, the next Bond film, performed by Adele.

In the video, the lyrics appear in sequence on screen so it's a good opportunity to remove a selection of words from the ends of lines and ask students to place them in the correct place before watching the video to check. Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

Hello/Goodbye (Erin MacCarley)

Olga Valverde in Spain writes:

This song is very easy to follow line by line, even for absolute beginners. So I use it to boost my students' confidence in English from the first or second day in class.
I cut out each line and give them out, one to each student. Give the longer one to false beginners. Then, I ask them to stand up and tell them they will have to line up putting their lines in order.
If the class is very big, with about 30 students, I divide them in 2 groups and have a competition.

Silly Love Songs (Wings)

Ann Campbell in Canada writes:

Most people like this song when they hear it.  It has several non-progressive verbs in it (think, love, see, know, want) and is very repetitive.  Students catch on to it very easily and are willing to sing along with it after only a few times. And who can refute the message?

Shape of my Heart (Sting)

Cristina Bumboiu in Romania writes:

The song can be used to introduce the conditional clause type II, but it can also be adapted to suit a number of various speaking activities.

iT's: An opportunity to take a pack of cards to class, teach playing card vocabulary, and play a card game. And here's a version with Sting performing the song.

I Am (Hilary Duff)

Donna Weiss in Spain writes:

This song is excellent for elementary students learning adjectives. There are lots of them and wonderfully varied. The song is catchy and my students end up humming it and singing it classes later.

iT's: After working on the song, students can complete their own version of the lyrics, using adjectives to describe themselves.

Another Brick in the Wall (Pink Floyd)

Martin Wills writes to say: A good song for discussing issues related to education; the roles of teachers, schools,etc

• Show Ss video without sound
• Elicit vocabulary and what the song is about
• Give Ss lyric worksheets with gaps
• Ss guess what the missing words might be
• Ss listen to song again and complete worksheet
• Follow-up: talk about issues raised in the song

Maybe (Emili Sandé)

Leonard Hall writes to say: This song can be used to revise modals. Also, as a follow up with advanced groups, students can discuss if it's a good idea to keep at a relationship when it's gone sour.

I've used it in a discusion together with the following songs: It Must Be Love by Madness (the sweet beginning); Maybe by Emili Sandé (Things going bad); and It Must Have Been Love by Roxette (it`s over). All songs revise modals.

Summer NIghts (Grease)

Nothing Compares 2 U (Sinead O'Connor)

Katherine A. Johnson from the U.S. and Yolanda Giménez from Spain both chose this song. Yolanda writes: 'It is good to practise present perfect and it's a beautiful song. You can also use the video clip. Students understand the lyrics very well and Sinead sings beautifully.' Katherine likes it: 'because it's beautiful, slow and well-known and because Sinead O'C. has had such a controversial life.'

iT's: Here's a link to the song with lyrics.

Streets of London (Ralph McTell)

Celia Belda Rivero from Spain writes:

First, the lyrics are easy to understand. Then the topic: people in the streets. You can talk about the homeless, beggars.... And you can always use the grammar and the syntax with different levels. I think it's a "classic".

iT's: With the video version, write the title on the board. Students list the things they think they'll see on the streets of London and then check with video and add more things to the list. Here's a version with lyrics.

Love Story (Taylor Swift)

Yolanda Giménez from Spain writes:

This song by Taylor Swift can be used to revise present continuous. Young students like it very much.

iT's: A good song for practising a variety of tenses. 2011 was a good year for Taylor Swift with several awards including Billboard's Woman of the Year.

7 O'Clock News/Silent Night (Simon and Garfunkel)

iT's: This song was recorded by Simon and Garfunkel in 1966. The track consists of a simple arrangement of the Christmas carol Silent Night with a 7 o'clock news bulletin of the actual events of 3 August 1966 read over it.

Students can use the news bulletin (which appears on-screen in the video) as a model for writing a news report for 2011 which could be read over a contemporary version of the song. Here's a version of the carol by Annie Lennox which students could read their bulletin over.

All About Tonight (Pixie Lott)

Leonard Hall from Spain writes:

It's a modern song by a singer that teenagers know and it's good for revising the different ways to express the future.

iT's: And here's a link to a version with on-screen lyrics.

Because You Loved Me (Celine Dion)

Josep Sala from Spain writes:

The song can be used for elementary students or higher levels to revise irregular verbs. The song was written by Diane Warren as a tribute to her father for his encouragement so it is also good to encourage the students too. You can even make them write a dialogue after listening to the song.

iT's: And here's a link to a version with on-screen lyrics.

All together now (The Beatles)

Paul Berry from France writes:

For elementary beginners of English, this is a must. This incredibly catchy song introduces the alphabet, simple phrases and expressions and each time the students love it! In fact the song is so simple you can pick it up after hearing it only two or three times!

Somebody to love (Queen)

On Thursday 24th November it will be 20 years since Freddie Mercury died. There are many Queen songs you could use in the classroom but we've chosen this classic from 1976. Written by Freddie Mercury, it's perfect if you're teaching pronouns such as somebody, anybody, everybody. Alternatively, remove some of the verbs and do a gapfill with the stronger verbs.

Here's a link to a version with on-screen lyrics.

Another day in paradise (Phil Collins)

This song was chosen by four teachers. Dominique Maurice in France says: 'It's a great song and you can practise the Present Perfect continuous and passive.' Montse irun Chavarria in Spain says: 'Apart from the fact that it is a song that can be used to practise language (I use it to revise vocabulary), I always use it to talk about homelessness and to make my students aware of how lucky they are to have a family and friends that love them.' Admira in Bosnia says: 'Not too slow nor too fast. Kids learn about more serious things in our society - poverty, hunger, the homeless, etc but in a less serious way. It can be acted out too.'

Waterloo (Abba)

Penelope Vandewaal in Belgium writes:

Abba, although not my all-time favourites, are great for end-of-training finales, for grammar and film and song extracts and generally finishing off with fireworks!

iT's: This song links nicely with this month's World Toilet Day activity! (Connection explained here.) And here's a version of the song with on-screen lyrics for classes who want to sing along.

Ordinary world (Duran Duran)

Juan Antonio Sandoval Pérez in Spain writes:

I like this song because it covers many verb tenses and can be used as a review of tenses. Students fill the gaps with the suitable tense. It was also a hit song in the UK.

iT's: A song that will probably remind many teachers of the 1980s and those distinctive Duran Duran videos. Here's a version with on-screen lyrics.

The Queen and the Soldier (Suzanne Vega)

Celia Belda Rivero in Spain writes:

This is a very good to practise using prepositions. I give the lyrics to the students with gaps for the prepositions. They have to write down the prepositions.

iT's: Students can try writing the prepositions before checking their answers with the song.

American Pie (Madonna/Don McLean)

Martin Wills in Spain writes:

The song is excellent because of its rich vocabulary and several verbs in the present simple, past simple, past perfect,etc. I show students the two versions - the original by Don McLean and Madonna's. They decide which one they like best.  I prepare two gapfill sheets for students A & B with different words missing. They listen and complete their part of the song and then compare. We then discuss what the song is about using Internet, if available, to find relevant information.

When September Ends (Green Day)

Alessia Attinà in Italy writes:

In autumn, when we are in October, I use this song in the classroom to repeat the seasons, months, and feelings. The pupils ask me to listen to it again and again!

iT's: As a follow-up activity, students can watch the official video. Pause it halfway through after the couple argue. Students discuss what might have caused the problem and then watch the rest of the video to find out.

Common People (Pulp)

Roberto Santos in Spain writes:

This is a good song for advanced students. The main virtue of the song, in my opinion, is the fact that it tells a story combining direct and indirect speech. The lyrics can be divided into three parts for three different groups of students, so that each of the groups can report their part of the story to the others. They can also turn direct speech into reported and viceversa. I hope you like it!

Stand By Me (Ben E. King)

iT's: Songwriter Jerry Leiber, who died on August 22nd, co-wrote some of the greatest songs of the 20th century including this one which gave its name to a film that celebrated its 25th anniversary in August.

Ask students to watch the video and make a note of the following:

• 3 musical instruments
• 3 words (nouns) from the song
• 3 objects from the 1960s
• 3 objects from the 1980s

Ask students to describe the scenes from the film and discuss the message of the song.

Every Breath You Take (Police)

iT's: This was the UK Number One song in August 1983. It apparently took Sting 30 minutes to write. He recently commented that the lyrics were very simple and the rhymes could have come straight from a rhyming dictionary - take, make, break, fake...

Give your students a copy of the lyrics with the final word missing from the first four lines of each verse and chorus. Can students guess the words before watching the video and listening to the song?

Love Profusion (Madonna)

Eugenio Gómez Santos in Spain writes:

I use this song mainly to practise the pronunciation of words ending in -sion -tion. I remove all these words and write them next to the words of the song using phonemic transcription, each with a number next to it. They have to identify them.

Summer Holiday (Cliff Richard)

The editor writes:

Here's a classic song from the 1960s to end the school year and start the summer holiday. Students watch the video and find the following things (answers in brackets):
a number (9)
a destination (South of France, Paris)
a colour (red bus, green trees, white shirt etc.)
a drink (tea)
a form of transport (bus, bicycle, car)

Then they can sing along to the song using the on-screen lyrics.