How to Use AI to Generate Songs for Language Learning

A new AI tool can generate free, personalised songs for you.

Music can be a gateway to language learning.

Along with storytelling, music can be an incredible way to engage students and help them learn a language. Songs are a powerful tool for language learning, but finding the right ones can be challenging.

In this article, I'll show you how to use a new AI tool to generate custom songs you can use in your lessons.

How do songs help language learning?

But first, should you even use songs to teach?

There has been a lot of research carried out around this question, and the answer is yes (thankfully!).

Using music for learning has been shown to:

• Amplify memory and knowledge retention.

• Enhance the brain’s capacity for complex thought, problem-solving, and critical analysis.

• Improve social skills by promoting teamwork and networking.

• Be a fun and effective way of learning a new language.

• Turn a classroom into an invigorating space, sparking enthusiasm and driving student motivation.

• Create a pleasant environment that can boost students' moods.

How to use AI to generate songs for free

The tool we’re going to use is called Suno, and it’s easy to get started. When you arrive, you see this screen:

To start, type in the kind of song you want to create. I started very simply and typed:

A children's song to help learn the names of fruits.

It then generates two versions of your song. Done!

You can then try another:

A bouncy happy rap song about the animals in a zoo.

You can customise with styles of music (although I wouldn’t necessarily recommend death metal for kindergarten kids!).

You get 10 credits a day, which equates to 5 prompts (as it generates two songs every time you type in a prompt).

Oh, and it’s a good idea to sign up (which is free), so you can keep your songs.

You can also browse other people’s music - I found someone that looks like they’re trying to teach multiplication tables:

Learning activities with your song

So what can you do once you have a song you like?

While you can have the music on as background at the beginning and end of class (which is great if you have a topic-related song!), it’s fun to do more structured activities.

Here are some creative activities to try with your AI-generated song:

1. Fill-in-the-blanks - provide students with the lyrics of the song, but leave some words blank. As they listen, students must fill in the missing words.

2. Sing-along - encourage students to sing along with the song, focusing on pronunciation and intonation.

3. Lyric scramble - Cut up the lyrics into individual lines or phrases and have students work in groups to reconstruct the song in the correct order.

4. Vocabulary hunt - have students identify and define new vocabulary words from the song.

5. Grammar spotlight - use the song to highlight and practice specific grammar points, such as verb tenses or sentence structures.

6. Song-inspired writing - ask students to write a short story, dialogue, or poem inspired by the themes or emotions in the song.

Bonus activity - ask your older students to create their own songs for homework, and tell you about them in the next class!

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