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Learning a new language can be daunting, requiring time, effort, and consistent practice to master. One learning tool that��s been researched and examined over the years for its effectiveness, is music and sound.
Music is sometimes overlooked or forgotten about, but it can be a beneficial tool when learning a new language. Today we will explore how music can aid language learning and what benefits it can provide. Here��s how:

Recollection and memory

Song is a powerful tool that can help us memorize new words and phrases. When listening to a song, recollecting the lyrics and melody long after it's finished can often happen. This is because our brains retain information better when associated with a melody/rhythm.

Research has found that exposure to a language's rhythm leaves a lasting impact on a person's ability to segment speech patterns^[1]. Listening to songs in a foreign language can help learners memorize new words, patterns and phrases more easily.

Pronunciation and tone

Music can improve our pronunciation and tone. When singing along to music, listeners may mimic the singer's pronunciation and cadence when listening to a song. This can help us develop a more natural and authentic accent when speaking the language.

Additionally, it can broaden our knowledge and comprehension of diverse dialects and accents. Exposure to different accents and pronunciations can make real-world interactions with a foreign language less daunting or confusing.

Two people may speak the same language but pronounce words very differently due to accents, a great example of this is in the UK and how the English language varies throughout areas.

In the UK, someone from the north may sound completely different to someone from the south, despite speaking the same language. So if you were trying to learn English with music and listened to English songs from different parts of the country, you'd be exposing yourself to different accents. Making yourself more familiar with the varied pronunciation.

Cultural understanding

It can expose us to the culture of the language we are learning. Music can be a deep-rooted part of a culture, and hearing music in a different language can provide insight into that culture's beliefs, practices, and heritage. This can give us a deeper understanding of the language and help us communicate more effectively with fluent speakers.

Often, songs use informal language and slang words we may not otherwise know or make us aware of a culture's situation or troubles. Academics Mark Gant & Dr. Carmen Fonseca-Mora discuss how although no one type of music works the best, foreign protest songs are a good example.

They're typically motivational, clear, and repetitive and give an insight into a country's culture without causing problems for the learners. Listeners may even feel inclined to discuss or research that situation �C which could be a good learning opportunity.

Listening skills

In addition, music can improve our listening skills. When we listen to a song in a foreign language, we��re often compelled to pay close attention to the lyrics, melody, and rhythm. This can help us develop our listening skills and train our ears to distinguish different sounds and accents in the language.

Being exposed to foreign languages in any output can be beneficial; having the added layers of music adds that little extra challenge for your ears and brain. It��s almost like immersing yourself in the language without the need for traveling.

An enjoyable way to learn

Finally, music can make language learning more enjoyable. Learning a new language can be challenging and sometimes even frustrating. However, listening to music in a foreign language can make learning more enjoyable and engaging.

Singing along with the lyrics can be a fun way to practice the language and boost motivation and confidence. Pairing those with interesting and engaging music videos can also make it more enjoyable. Check out some examples in our post?11 great English language song lyrics.?

So when you find yourself taking on a new linguistic challenge, give music some 'airtime' �C and watch how it helps you expand your vocabulary and improve your language skills.

What is it about music that helps boost your English skills, confidence and pronunciation? A song can provide an emotional connection between the music and the listener, providing learners with new ways to express their feelings. Music and rhythm have also been shown to benefit memorization, which is a key component of learning.

Here are some of our favorite lyrics to some of our favorite songs:

1. The Beatles �C Blackbird

The Beatles are the best band to help you learn English. There are many Beatles songs with catchy melodies and simple lyrics, but Blackbird captures the Fab Four at their most poetic:

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

2. The Cure �C Friday I��m In Love

This song is a great way to help learn the days of the week (that may be obvious). Love is also a very popular English word, so this one is for all the romantics out there.

Always take a big bite
It��s such a gorgeous sight
To see you eat in the middle of the night

3. Ed Sheeran �C Thinking Out Loud

Another one for the lovers, Ed��s heartfelt lyrics are huge in the mainstream pop charts. Here, he tells the sweet story of long-time love in this ballad and he��s becoming one of the world��s most sought-after songwriters.

Take me into your loving arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Place your head on my beating heart

4. The Smiths �C How Soon Is Now?

This classic from Morrissey and co was voted runner-up in VH1��s Top Lyrics poll, for the lyrics: So you go and you stand on your own, and you leave on your own, and you go home and you cry and you want to die�� but it��s the opening lines of the song that are the most intriguing. Firstly, they��re adapted from George Eliot��s novel Middlemarch and include some rather clever double meanings �C namely ��son�� (sun) and ��heir�� (air).

I am the son
And the heir
Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar

5. Neil Young �C Heart of Gold

This was Neil Young��s only number-one hit single from 1972��s Harvest album. He uses simple lyrics and melodies to tell his story of searching for true love.

I��ve been in my mind
It��s such a fine line
That keeps me searchin�� for a heart of gold
And I��m gettin�� old

6. U2 �C City of Blinding Lights

U2 is the second-best band to help you learn English and frontman Bono is the second-best male artist to help you learn (edged out by Justin Timberlake). The chorus was inspired by a moment during a performance in New York City, when Bono saw the audience lit up and shouted, ��Oh, you look so beautiful tonight!��

And I miss you when you��re not around
I��m getting ready to leave the ground
Oh you look so beautiful tonight
In the city of blinding lights

7. The Police �C Every Breath You Take

These lyrics are a good use of repetition and rhyme, which is excellent for helping memorization. Most people consider this a love song, but that��s a common mistake. In 1983, Sting was interviewed for New Musical Express and explained: ��I think it��s a nasty little song, really rather evil. It��s about jealousy and surveillance and ownership.��

Every move you make and every vow you break
Every smile you fake, every claim you stake, I��ll be watching you
Every move you make, every step you take, I��ll be watching you

8. Bob Dylan �C Mr Tambourine Man

Dylan��s whimsical, poetic lyrics might be difficult for an English language learner to interpret, but that doesn��t mean they��re not a pleasure to listen and sing along to.

Hey! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I��m not sleepy and there is no place I��m going to
Hey! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I��ll come followin�� you

9. Madness �C Our House

This song takes you through the daily goings-on in a typical household in the 80s. This song has been around for a while now but is a story that most people can still connect with. This is an excellent song for understanding the concept of nostalgia!

I remember way back then when
everything was true and when
we would have such a very good time
such a fine time

10. Otis Reading �C (Sittin�� on) The Dock of the Bay

Sadly, Otis Redding lost his life in a plane crash shortly after this song was recorded, and it was released after his death. His lyrics are quite reflective, provoking both contentment and sadness. You can really imagine yourself sitting on the dock with his simple yet descriptive words.

Sittin�� in the morning sun
I��ll be sittin�� when the evening comes
Watching the ships roll in
Then I watch them roll away again

11. Leonard Cohen �C Everybody Knows

No list of standout turns of phrase would be complete without Leonard Cohen, a man whose songwriting process is so painstaking he��ll often spend years on the same song. When quizzed on his process, Cohen once said it often took so long because, ��After a while, if you stick with the song long enough it will yield.�� It��s interesting to note then that, even for a master of the English language, the words don��t always come easily. Everybody Knows remains a firm favorite among fans, with the majority of lines starting with the words ��Everybody knows���� It��s a lengthy song, but for the sheer beauty of its words and phrasing, the opening lines are a highlight:

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows that the good guys lost

Have you considered studying abroad? Moving to Canada to study? With more than 100 world-class universities across the country, there��s good reason to. From coast to coast to coast, it offers many international students a safe and supportive learning environment and the opportunity to work after graduation.

Want to learn more? In this guide, we cover ten things you should know about studying in Canada:

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Language skills have become increasingly important in the workplace as the world becomes more globalized and connected. Having the ability to communicate effectively in more than one language is very valuable, and with English being a leading lingua franca for businesses across the world, language skills sit at the heart of business success.

Here we highlight four top reasons why language skills are so valuable in the workplace.

Enhanced communication

Effective communication is the number one soft skill that employers look for, . Having strong language skills enables better communication with clients and colleagues, and also helps to work effectively with people from different cultures. It builds solid relationships and reduces frustration where customers or colleagues may otherwise feel that they are not understood or listened to.

Career opportunities

Having different languages on your CV can really help to stand out among other candidates. For some industries it is essential, such as tourism, where it is necessary to serve clients from different countries, and this is also true where companies serve clients in international markets.

Where businesses are increasingly moving to hybrid working practices that can include teams spread across different countries and timezones, it is also becoming more of an expectation and advantage to be able to connect through a central language, such as English.

Furthermore, having English language skills can provide employees with better networking opportunities, in particular through conferences, trade shows and social media platforms such as LinkedIn.

Personal growth

Learning a new language can be a very enriching experience that enhances personal growth and skills development. Language learning doesn't just impact communication skills; it's also been noted that learning a language helps the brain process and remember information more efficiently^[1], as well as developing new cognitive and problem-solving skills.

Learning a new language requires discipline, dedication, and patience, which are qualities that can be applied to other areas of work and life.

To summarise, language skills are highly valuable in the workplace and can open up new career opportunities for employees, as well as adding tangible benefits to businesses. Investing in language skills can increase an employee's value, and this can help them succeed in today's ever-evolving work landscape.

What is independent learning?

Students who are actively involved in deciding what and how they learn are typically more engaged and motivated.

That��s not surprising, because independent learners are extremely focused on their personal learning objectives.

, independent learning is ��a process, a method and a philosophy of education whereby a learner acquires knowledge by his or her own efforts and develops the ability for inquiry and critical evaluation."

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Encouraging learners to feel more confident in the classroom is a problem often faced by teachers. Below are five simple things you can adopt in your classroom to encourage learners to feel self-confident.

The small things

Let��s start with the physical comfort of our students. Having the room adequately heated or cooled, asking if they would like the window open, making sure everyone has had some water or checking to see if anyone needs to go to the bathroom or wash their hands only takes a minute at the beginning of the lesson. It helps our children to know that their welfare is our concern.

Then, make sure that everyone has their books and praise them for being organized or having their pencils sharpened and ready. These things seem trivial, but they count. They count because we are acknowledging the fact that it isn��t always easy to get up and ready for school every morning, day after day and that just managing that well is an achievement.

So, starting by checking the small things helps to give our students a feeling of well-being before the lesson has even begun.

Clarity and familiarity

Be clear. Be clear about what you are all going to do and why you are going to do it. There is no such thing as ��the obvious�� when it comes to learning. For example, you know that English is spoken internationally, but primary-aged students may have no concept of what ��internationally�� means.

They may never have considered the concept of language itself. So, we must state the ��obvious�� and do it in ways which are meaningful to the children, through videos, pictures and relatable examples. This goes for everything; what a verb is, how we form negative statements, what question marks indicate and what today��s lesson aims are.

Whatever they need to know, we need to state it clearly and when they have forgotten, we tell them again without ever making them feel that they ��should�� have remembered. They forget �C we remind. That��s our job.

Then there is the familiarity of a routine. Apart from making us feel reassured that we know what is happening, routines also feed into the innate need for repetition. Young children want their favorite bedtime stories told to them exactly the same way each night and will pop their heads up to correct us if we do something differently. That repetition is part of practice; doing, saying or hearing something repeatedly until we are completely sure we know it.

Most teachers don��t need reminding of this, but it might be helpful to remember that within that routine, one can also have surprises.

A five-minute ��something different�� slot could be built into your routine. This could be a fun quiz, game or song and dance. A straightforward way of managing this is to write the names of different ��surprise activities�� on pieces of card, put them into a pot and let a different student pick a card each day.

Room to maneuver

We all feel more confident if we know that we are free to experiment and, within that experimentation, to make mistakes. It can��t be stated often enough that we will only ever learn something by doing it wrong, often many times, before we do it right.

This message may be even more important nowadays when we see and hear perfect versions of whatever has been created - music, cookery and writing to name but a few - especially on social media.

The learning process is not brought to our attention as often as the result, and the results are often digitally altered to look more impressive. We need to remind our children of this and make them feel good about their efforts, however small and halting.

Peer pressure often contributes to a lack of self-confidence; you only need one mocking ��friend�� to put you off. So, we must be vigilant in noticing little glances or whispered asides and praise the majority of the students who are quietly accepting or encouraging.

Space to flourish

Finally, confidence in our language learning abilities will soar when we know we can make the language our own and use it however we want.

This goes beyond personalizing activities, which can be done at any level ("What��s your favorite food?" "Do you like tomatoes?") and is dependent on the teacher noticing and accepting what individual children are really interested in. So, for example, if we continue with the example of food, a sporty child might be interested in what famous sports people have for breakfast or which foods give us stamina.

A child who is interested in nature might want to know what birds and animals eat. For this to happen, first we need to notice their interests, show enthusiasm for what they are finding out and encourage them to share what they have learnt with the class.

The 23rd of April marks the birth (and death) of William Shakespeare: poet, playwright and pre-eminent dramatist. His poems and plays have been translated into 80 languages, even Esperanto and Klingon.

It is remarkable how Shakespeare��s iconic body of work has withstood the test of time. More than four centuries on, his reflections on the human condition have lost none of their relevance. Contemporary artists and writers continue to draw on his language, imagery and drama for inspiration.

But, despite the breadth and longevity of his appeal, getting students excited about Shakespeare is not always straightforward. The language is challenging, the characters may be unfamiliar and the plots can seem far removed from modern life.

However, with the right methods and resources, there is plenty for teenagers and young adults to engage with. After all, love, desperation, jealousy and anger are feelings we can all relate to, regardless of the age group, culture or century we belong to!
So, how can you bring classic Shakespearean dramas like Hamlet, Othello and Macbeth to life?

There are many ways for your learners to connect with Shakespeare and get excited by his works. Here we��ll show you three classroom activities to do with your students and some indispensable resources to ensure that reading Shakespeare is as accessible and enjoyable as possible!

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What is mindfulness?

The term mindfulness refers to a state of awareness. This is arrived at by paying conscious attention to the present moment and observing it without judgment, with curiosity and compassion.

It is often confused with meditation, but really they��re not the same thing at all. Meditating and focusing on the breath is just one of the ways we can consciously pay attention and become more aware of ourselves and the present moment.?

You might be conscious that mindfulness has over the last decade. As with anything trendy, it can be easy to build preconceptions and dismiss it before trying it yourself. So let��s break it down together and start with the basics.

Why is mindfulness important?

Have you ever been driving somewhere in the car and noticed that you��ve arrived at your destination without really noticing the journey at all? All your thoughts on the way were elsewhere.

This is called being on automatic pilot. It��s a symptom of our mind and body��s brilliant way of turning our everyday processes into a routine. It means we don��t need to think about it every time we need our body to move, speak or function.

Just as the scenery can pass us by on a journey, so too can our thoughts and reactions to the things happening around us. They happen in our minds and bodies without us noticing. Our conscious mind is focused on something in the future, the past, or in our imaginations instead.

Being on automatic pilot is often very helpful. But it also comes with a significant downside. Without us even realizing, negative thought cycles can build up under the surface. They can make us feel stressed and anxious.

When this happens our minds conclude that there is a threat and sounds the alarm. This stress , ability to process new information, and ability to learn.

This is where mindfulness comes in.

Mindfulness helps us catch these in their tracks, allowing us to consciously notice negative thoughts. Rather than panicking, we become aware of how we are feeling �C and why. We can therefore shift our relationship with our thoughts and emotions so that they don��t seem so challenging anymore.

In a school setting, this can help students regulate the stress surrounding exam pressure. Students can also learn to sit more comfortably with the impermanent emotions of adolescence, which seemed all-consuming and everlasting at the time.

What can our students learn from mindfulness?

Over the past decade, neuroscientific research has discovered that our brains are immensely malleable. Every interaction we have in our day-to-day lives builds connections that affect how our brains and thoughts function. Just like building muscle through exercise, our brain forms new matter in the areas we use most.

In short, we can either continue to cement the habits we��ve already formed or build brain matter in areas that encourage healthier, more positive functioning.

Studies have demonstrated in many contexts that the brains of those who regularly practice mindfulness use different pathways to those who don��t: pathways which allow self-regulation of adrenaline and the stress responses and make it easier to experience external events without the accompanying narrative of critical thought.

Even ten minutes of practicing mindful awareness a day has been . Mindfulness has also been shown to improve concentration and focus, resilience, emotional regulation and sleep quality in children, teens and adults alike.

How can we begin to practice mindfulness?

We start by learning to focus attention on a physical anchor. This may be focusing on the body, the breath, or even using the senses to observe sounds, sights, tastes, touch etc. in our external environment. We then build the length of time we can focus, and grow accustomed to the mind wandering and returning to the point of focus.

Then we learn to be curious about what we notice in the present moment and that we can observe without judging or forming an opinion.

In time, it can be possible to learn to observe our relationship with the thoughts that come in and out of our minds. We can then find ways to accept difficult feelings and allow them to pass over without panicking or instinctively reacting.

Want to learn more about mindfulness and wellbeing? Check out our blog posts on the subject here.?

Knowing how to say no politely and professionally is important in the business world. Whether you're declining a job offer, rejecting a sales pitch, or turning down a project, saying no can be difficult. Especially if English is not your native language and you're new to learning business English.

However, using the right phrases can make all the difference in maintaining positive relationships and avoiding misunderstandings. This blog post will explore five phrases to say no in business English politely.