How to Use Song Contests in the Classroom

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Every year, there are some amazing song contests from around the world that take our classrooms by storm.  The Sanremo Music Festival usually occurs in February or March, and the Eurovision Song Contest usually happens shortly after in May. These competitions are wonderful modern and real-time examples of events going on in the target culture we’re studying, and showcase tons of talent to boot!

So how can we use these contests and festivals in our classrooms? Consider running a modified competition in your classes!

We usually break students up into groups of two or three and give them access to playlists of the current or previous year’s YouTube videos. (Here is a playlist of the San Remo 2023 Collection and the Eurovision YouTube Account.)  We have each group pick one video of the performer they are “backing” for the class competition, and then the competition begins!

We use this ready-to-go template to organize the competition (a favorite freebie in our Free Resource Library! - just sign up for our mailing list to access)

We have students put the links to their favorite performances into the first and last column of the template. Once the competitors are chosen, you can watch the videos as a class or have students watch the videos at home. Students vote on their favorites, and move the winners to the next column until a final winner has been chosen! 

Some years, we spend a whole class period on this, and other years we spend the first five minutes of class watching and voting over the course of the week. Either way, it’s a huge hit with our students, and a fun and easy way to incorporate real-time elements from the target culture. You can even create activities to interact with the lyrics of the chosen songs and incorporate grammar and vocab into the activity as well!

What about you? How do you celebrate music competitions and festivals like Eurovision and Sanremo into your classroom?

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