Lemon Tree: 3 Creative Ways to Teach Grammar with One Song

Lemon Tree: Activities for Prepositions, Present Continuous, and Adjectives

Lemon Tree truly is one of those songs that keeps giving, no matter which structure you want to focus on.

I was reading Vicky Saumell’s Eltchat summary on Teaching English through songs in the digital age (part 3 of 4): Specific songs and their uses, I came across with the suggestion of Lemon Tree by Fool’s Garden and I realised how versatile can this one song be. You can use the song

1. to review preposition:

 prepare a gap-fill exercise just omiting the prepositions

2. to practise present continuous tense:

•  prepare a gap-fill omitting the verbs
• prepare a handout with images of these verbs and ask students to fill in the gaps with them.
• after listening to the song, divide the students into groups and tell each group to draw one scene from the song. ( you can watch the animation later and they can compare their drawings with it)
• Display the pictures on the walls and ask students to write what is happening in each scene
• Make a movie clip with the drwaings

3. to revise adjectives:

• prepare a gap-fill omitting the adjectives from the song
• After listening to the song, tell them to rewrite the song with the opposites making all the necessary changes to make the song meaningful. It will be a brand new song.
• Find a tune for your song and sing.

If you enjoy using songs to teach grammar, you might also like Songs to Teach Grammar and my growing Songs in EFL Classroom collection.