Listening to Beyoncé’s song ‘ If I were a boy’ not only is a nice way to introduce conditionals, but also invites one to think about what the person is trying to say when she finally says ‘but you’re just a boy’.
For this listening I would suggest trying to make a list of all the things the person would do if she were a boy and after, try to make out her reasons for saying this.
Henry VIII is one of the most famous kings in English history. He was most famous for his six wives and for having caused a breach with the Church of Rome.
This is a famous song about his six wives that talks about what happened to each one of them. The song is quite humorous even though, I agree on the fact that none of Henry’s six wives may have found the song particularly amusing.
Here’s a link to the song by Horrible Histories and if you are interested in learning some British history, I have also included a link from the BBC website.
I love this song because it talks about the special bond that exists between brothers and sisters. Although I must say that I always find it very hard to watch the video because it makes me quite sad. Even so,I think it’s a great song where you can learn conditional structures and expressions related to daily life problems and relationships.
Listen to the song, and see how many correct answers you get.
Learning English with songs
One of Brits 80’s most well-known rock bands, The Police, wrote this song about a very young couple breaking up. The group explored this issue not without some sense of humour, talking about things like, a big brother threatening his sister’s boyfriend or the girl ruining his records.
The song has also a lot of interesting expressions and phrasal verbs. To do the activity, four lines of the song have been removed and jumbled. First try to understand the meaning of the four lines and after, try to find out when Sting (lead vocals) says them. (see handout)
i-cant-stand-losing-you-by-police1-1
