A Happy Encounter & Teaching English Through Songs

This afternoon I was invited to share my experience with members of Taipei County English Education Advisory Group at Chiang-Tsui Junior High Schol.  My topic was Teaching English Through Songs.  I talked about the reasons for using songs in class, what songs to teach, and how such an activity can be conducted. 

While I was preparing the speech, I found that, in fact, singing English songs is a very good way to practice liaison, or linking, in speaking, which helps to make one's English sound more natural.  

Of course, vocabulary, collocation, and grammar are also what students can learn from songs.  What's more, I like to teach students songs which give them strength to face their lives and songs which ignite their love for people around them, their love for the world.

I enjoyed the time spent with the teachers this afternoon.  They were an excellent audience, not only listening attentively and participating actively, but also sharing generously their knowledge about songs.  One of the teachers, Winnie, said she taught a song every day at the very beginning of the class so that students would not be late for class.  That's interesting. 

Here I'd like to thank Sandra, who arranged this meeting; Tsui-ying, who had all the equipment ready; Eric, who set up the computer and the projector for me; Alice, who offered me a banana when hearing that I only ate a Japanese rice ball for lunch; and all the others, who gave me such a warm feeling. Thank you all.