In my last post, I described how I use obscurely worded newspaper headlines to improve my students’ interpretation of ambiguous and figurative language. Today, I wanted to further delve into this topic by describing the utility of interpreting music lyrics for language therapy purposes. I really like using music lyrics for language treatment purposes. Not only do my students and I get to listen to really cool music, but we also get an opportunity to define a variety of literary devices (e.g., hyperboles, similes, metaphors, etc.) as well as identify them and interpret their meaning in music lyrics.
Lyrics interpretation is a complex task. There is definitely a myriad of ways one can interpret the lyrics of a particular song, the sky is the limit! As such, I am always mindful of the complexity of this task and typically tend to target this as a language goal with my adolescent students. I don’t always target the interpretation of lyrics in the entire song, especially because many great recording artists use quite a healthy amount of profanities in their lyrics that I do not necessarily want the students to hear. As such, I may play portions of songs or present clean versions of lyrics to my students for their interpretation. Prior to choosing particular lyrics I typically review the following wikiHow article: How to Figure Out a Song’s Meaning as it provides some helpful advice to students regarding the parameters which they could use to analyze music lyrics.
Typically, I like to approach language goals pertaining to music lyrics interpretation, thematically. So, if I am working with my students on the identification of particular literary devices/figurative language, I will use that opportunity to introduce a variety of songs containing that particular literary device.
To illustrate, if my students are working on the identification and description of 1. hyperboles, I will locate a number of songs containing hyperboles for them to identify and utilize in a variety of contexts.
Working on 2. alliteration? There are plenty of songs available on this topic.
Looking for songs that utilize 3. similes? There are literally so many of them! You can find them HERE, HERE, and HERE for starters.
How about 4. metaphors? Sure thing!
5. Personification? Oh, yes, plenty of sources!
6. Onomatopoeia? Ono mono, no problem!
Finally, how about some 7. irony? Definitely got it!
Now that we have identified just some of the potential sources we can use for this purpose, let me describe how I address this goal with my students. Prior to initiating a unit on the interpretation of music lyrics, I typically ensure that my students are highly familiar with the expected literary terms (e.g., similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, hyperboles, as well as irony). We use a variety of worksheets at first, then find these terms in a variety of texts, and later transition to using the above terms in conversational exchanges via oral and written sentence formulation tasks.
Some basic questions to ask the students:
- What is figurative language?
- What are the most common figurative language types? (metaphors and similes)
- What is a metaphor? (definition)
- Can you give me some examples of metaphors?
- What is a simile? (definition)
- Can you give me some examples of similes?
- What are some other examples of figurative language? (ask for definitions and examples of personification, alliteration etc.)
- Why do songwriters use figurative language in their lyrics?
After ensuring that my students have the solid knowledge of definitions and can use examples of these terms in sentences, I introduce them to the mutually selected music videos and ask them whether they know what the lyrics signify. Many of my students frequently report that while they had memorized some of the lyrics in the past, they’ve never actually thought about their meaning. After listening to a portion of the video/audio I then present the words in writing and ask them to answer a few questions.
For example, after listening to “Tik Tok” by Ke$ha I will ask them: “What type of figurative language is Ke$ha using here?’
“Tick! Tock! on the clock but the party don’t stop”.
What makes it __________?
In addition to defining the literary terms, locating their examples of music lyrics, using them in sentences, etc. there are numerous other extension activities that SLPs could use for the purpose of targeting this goal. One suggestion is to ask the students to create their own simple music lyrics utilizing figurative language and then have them explain their songwriting process.
There are numerous fun and educational activities which can be targeted via this goal with the help of the selected FREE resources below. So if you didn’t get a chance to target this therapy goal in sessions, give it a try. It definitely goes a long way toward improving our students metacognitive and metalinguistic abilities for social and academic purposes.
Helpful FREE Online Resources:
- Song Lyrics featuring Figurative Language
- How to Figure Out a Song’s Meaning
- 10 Songs That Have a Hyperbole in Them
- 8 Song Lyrics that Use Alliteration
- 10 Good Songs With Similes
- Popular Songs to Teach Similes
- Using popular songs to teach similes from Newsela
- 10 Great Metaphors from Popular Music
- Songs That Teach About Metaphors
- 10 Songs with Meaningful Personification
- Personification In Songs
- 10 Timeless Songs with Personification
- 10 Songs With Onomatopoeia
- Top 10 Most Ironic Songs of All Time
Helpful FREE TPT Worksheets
This is so smart!!!! Thank you!!