I saw some English teachers complaining on their Facebook that “English songs these days are too bad and only promoting sex and violence, thus it is so not useful to be taught in class”. Of course, those who says this comes from Meleis background who back on their school days listen to those Meleis crap songs like New Boyz or Tomok or whatnot lah kan.. 
And they kept on saying that back on their days, “oh we used to have Westlife songs which are so inspirational and good. Now that is suitable for teaching English class.” What bollocks!
You see Meleis, you do not have to only use all lovey-dovey goody-goody boy band songs to teach English. Are you so incompetent or so not creative that you can only see boy bands and pop culture as English songs? I can proclaim myself to be good enough in English – and guess what, I didn’t learn by listening to those Westlife songs! I used to listen to Limp Bizkit and mumbling Tupac rap songs for God sakes!
Alright, let me help you poor fellows by listing these songs which are cool, suitable, more worthy and will be remembered better by the students if you use it as your class materials. My suggestion: play these songs, ask the students to write the lyrics as the song goes, and then discuss the meanings behind those songs. See how fast your students can learn English – their vocabulary will be increased, their speaking will be better, their listening skills will be sharpen, etc.
Here’s three of my suggested songs that can be used in English class. The question is, do you have the guts to bring it into your class, teachers?
- Fuel – Haemorrhage (In My Hands).
- Kris Allen – Live Like We’re Dying.
- Miley Cyrus – The Climb.
1) Fuel – Hemorrhage (In My Hands)
Full lyrics can be found here. Some of the interesting lyrics:
Memories are just where you laid them..
tried the waters till the depths get rough that day.
What did you expect to find?
Was it something you left behind?
Don’t you remember,
Everything i said when i said…
Why it can be used in English class?
First, the title of the song itself. Do you think student understand what hemorrhage means? Ask them to explain the meaning to you in English, literally and non-figuratively.
Second, get your students to distinguish two perspectives of the story in this song. One, the male describe his dissatisfaction when she asked the girl – “what do you expect to find?”. Second, the girl situation after listening to his dissatisfaction.
Third, the literature part. What does it mean by “unholy now I feel contagious”? What does it mean by “dead actors faking lines”? What does it mean by “some movie black and white”? Or “till the depths get rough that day”? Or “love lies bleeding“?
Of course, this is a breakup song. If you want to take the path of “what is love”, by all means go ahead. Tell them stories on how life and love come and go. Tell them your breakup story. Seep in morality values. Get creative about it.
» Read more: Cool Songs That You Can Use in English Classes
