This relaxed the classroom atmosphere sufficiently for learning to take place. However, songs, like other activities, should be included in your lesson plan only when they promote a defined course objective. The following is an example of how I used a song to teach a specific lesson from our textbook used in Francophone secondary schools in Cameroon. This is what the text's authors would like taught. The accompanying teachers' book gives us a ready methodology to use.
Some teachers think that using the authors' suggested methodology ensures effective learning.
However, in rural Cameroon, where students are apathetic about learning English and where more than two-thirds of the pupils do not have the prescribed textbook, following the teachers' book only succeeds in reducing effective teaching. In this challenging situation, I immediately jolted my creative faculties. Rather than using the teachers' book, I decided to use lyrical bits to motivate my uninterested students. On my portable chalkboard with the student's timetable, days of the week are written in English. Since weekends are free days, I glued pictures of the local market and the local church on the spaces provided for Saturday and Sunday, respectively.