Vocabulary In The Lyrics Activity – Exploring Words & Context Clues in Music

So often, we think that students will never voluntarily expand their vocabulary. We think it is only through our constant inundation of vocabulary in the classroom that they will ever move beyond using “a lot” and “stuff.” However, I have found that they are frequently exposed to some amazing vocabulary through music, particularly good rap artists.

I am blessed with the best English department a gal could have! So wonderful are my colleagues that my lovely friend and fellow English teacher Ariel Uppstrom has agreed to share a few of her vocabulary ideas on the blog. What follows is her idea, which I am very excited to try, as you know I love having my students write vocabulary raps after showing students the Eminem interview clip where he shares his obsession with words…

EXPLORING VOCABULARY WORDS & CONTEXT CLUES IN SONG LYRICS

Rap music also has so many double entendres that I can also use it to teach the kind of skill that goes into writing and layering meaning. For this reason, I have had my students acknowledge the importance of a diverse vocabulary through musicians. I got this idea because one of my former students is a burgeoning rap artist who frequently uses words I recall teaching him four years ago.

I like to use “Trapped” by Tupac as a jumping off point because it has some good 10^th grade vocabulary, good context clues, and no cuss words that might get me in trouble.

I play the song while the kids have the lyrics in front of them. We then put up words from the song that they don’t know or that they think are good vocabulary words. We discuss the context clues (which is also a standard) the artist used to let us know the meaning of the word.

VOCABULARY PLAYLIST ACTIVITY

I then charge them with finding a song with at least 5 vocab words they didn’t know until hearing the song. If they can’t find it in one song, they can use multiple songs. You can do this with partners to keep their interest. This also has them talking about vocabulary and word meanings which I love to hear as a teacher.

I have students use the Vocabulary Playlist Worksheet to write the song, artist, vocabulary word, definition, and context clue that helped them define the word.

I have done this on days when I need to get them reinvested in vocabulary, I’m teaching poetry, or when I’m teaching the art of words. It really helps them understand the skill that goes into writing and that vocabulary is all around them.