Teach Question Formation Through Songs

Even students who speak English pretty well sometimes have trouble asking questions in English. They forget to use auxiliary verbs, they forget to invert the order of the words, and many times they say things like, “Did you went?”. That’s why practicing question formation is always good. The more students practice, the better. They need to repeat the structures over and over.

Singing is excellent for learning English. First of all, it’s fun. Second, when you sing the same song again and again – and we do sing our favorite songs a lot – the words stick to your mind. And later on, when you speak, these words come to your mind and come out of your mouth. The result is that you speak more naturally and fluently.

You can use songs to teach or reinforce anything in your class. I put together these two videos, choosing songs that have questions in them. The questions are in different verb tenses. Just by singing them, students will practice a lot of question formation.

The first video is a selection of songs from the TV series “Glee.” Students who are fans of “Glee” will enjoy the songs a lot, but students who don’t like the show will like them, too, because most of the songs are famous songs by a number of different singers and groups, which were recorded again for “Glee.” 

The second video is a selection of songs from Broadway musicals, which also have a lot of questions in the lyrics.

Although lots of people say “Broadway” musicals, many of these musicals are originally from the West End, the London theater district. Although not as famous as Broadway, most of the plays in the West End are the same as the ones on Broadway – but tickets there are a lot cheaper. 

When students sing these songs, they don’t need to worry about understanding all the words. Tell them just to sing and have fun. Even if there are verb tenses they haven’t learned yet, it is OK. The songs will help improve their English.