How do I Use Rap to Teach English?

Incorporating rap into your lessons can engage young learners.

No matter what age group or subject they teach, one of the biggest struggles teachers face is finding ways to make their lessons relevant and engaging to their students. Secondary English teachers, in particular, must convince their students that centuries- or decades-old literature is, indeed, applicable to their prepubescent or adolescent lives. Music can be an effective and powerful asset to help with your approach. By incorporating rap into lessons about poetry or literature, English teachers can link the writings of yesteryear to the musings of today.

Things You'll Need

• Song recording
• CD player
• Handouts of lyrics
• Handouts of poetry
• Projector

Instructions

1. Involve your students. If rap isn't your favorite genre of music, ask your students for input. Ask the class to help you craft a list of their favorite rap songs. Your students will most likely be quite engaged and vocal in this part of the process.

2. Find radio-friendly edits of the rap songs you wish to use. After you've created the list, you will need to listen to the songs to make sure they are school appropriate. Do not use a song that you haven't listened to in its entirety.

3. Create handouts of the song lyrics for every student. Most song lyrics can be found online simply by typing the song title into a search engine.

4. Organize students into small groups. Distribute the handouts to every student before you play the song. This allows students to follow along, especially those who are visual learners and need to see what they are reading to comprehend the content.

5. Project a copy of the handout to the class, if possible. This will allow you to directly and visually reference phrases and words in the songs and bring the focus of the class back to center if your students start to venture off task.

6. Ask the students to discuss, in their groups, the meaning of the song. You can also ask students to find vocabulary words within the songs, as well as literary devices such as similes, metaphors, alliteration, onomatopoeia, assonance, rhyme, and so on.

7. Ask each group to write a paragraph summarizing their findings. An option would be to provide each student or group with a worksheet of specific questions related to the content of your lesson. This ensures accountability and allows you to assess their understanding of the lesson.

8. Repeat steps five through seven for each song recording, if desired.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid using any lyrics with suggestive themes or vulgar themes, even if they do not include typical "swear" words.

• Using rap--or any music genre, for that matter--works especially well when teaching poetry. Most song lyrics contain similar literary devices that poets use. Using popular music helps students readily grasp these concepts.

• Be prepared to defend your lesson. Some parents or administrators may not find value in using popular music to teach academic subjects; be sure you have the resources readily available to support your reasoning.

• If possible, trying bringing a local hip-hop artist into the classroom for a question-and-answer session with your class.

References

• Hip-Hop Helps Teach Everything from English to Algebra

Resources

• Edutopia
• Web English Teacher