It’s a very Englishy thing to add a “Y” to a word and turn it into an adjective. Fish smell fishy. Woods smell woodsy. Cows can be beefy, and on and on. These words tend to be a little slangy, or informal. (By the way, funky means unusual).

Here are 10 fun “Y” adjectives .

1. classy
2. dicey
3. ditsy
4. glitzy
5. jazzy
6. junky
7. pricey
8. sassy
9. snazzy
10. spunky

You may not know them all, but you can probably figure out their meanings. Try filling in the gaps in this “definition poem” below. Place one of the “Y” adjectives in each space. (Rhymes will help you too).

Someone who’s got style and taste is (1) _________
A girl who’s got a lot of spirit but a smart mouth is (2) _________
A situation or a place that’s risky and dangerous is (3) _________
A restaurant that costs too much is (4) _________
If your clothes are chic and and stylish you look (5) _________
And if you’re lookin’ snazzy then you’re also lookin’ (6) _________
A girl who is absentminded and shallow is (7) _________
And a hotel that’s very showy and bright is (8) _________
A broken old car that hardly runs anymore is (9) _________
And a person who is bold and forward in a good way is (10) _________

Answers
1. classy 2. sassy 3. dicey 4. pricey 5. snazzy 6. jazzy 7. ditsy 8. glitzy 9. junky 10. spunky

Y adjective song [ 1:24 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (6524)

That’s right. This 15-second song lists the largest countries of the world. It’s a good dictation for groups of all levels. Play the song and students write. You might not tell them the title, only afterwards asking them what the relationship of these 10 countries is.

Ten Biggest Countries Song [ 0:16 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1094)

Yep, this song lists 32 adjectives to describe personality or behavior types. Give it a listen and see if students can write down all the adjectives. Stop the song after each verse for lower levels. Repeat as necessary.

Activities to go with the song will appear here later.

The 32-Adjective Song [ 1:39 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1900)

“The Antioxidant Song” (0:30) lists the top 10 foods that contain the most antioxidants–cancer-fighting properties according to a recent study in Oslo, Norway. These top ten are not listed in any particular order.

This song features the fabulous singing voice of Christy McWilson. (Christy also sings “This is Just to Say” on this web site).

Talking Questions:
1. What patterns do you notice in this list of foods?
2. How often do you eat each of these foods?
3. Are there any of these foods you’ve never tried, or just tried once?
4. What foods in your country or region are considered really good for the health?

The violin riffs were played by efiddler (www.efiddler.com)

Here’s the list/lyrics:
Blackberries, strawberries, artichoke hearts, cranberries, ground cloves
Rasberries, blueberries, walnuts, pecans, brewed coffee
You heard right, coffee.

The Antioxidant Song [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (928)

Can music and melody aid our memory? Is it easier to learn L2 vocabulary from a song? I hope so, because I’ve got a lot of songs on this website.

But let’s try an experiment in class.

Below there are mp3 audios of a word list. The list has twenty words. The words have no relation to each other; they represent several different parts of speech.

In two of the audios the word list is spoken (one by a male, and one by a female).

In the third audio, the words are sung to piano accompaniment.

Directions
Split your class into two groups. One half of the class will listen to a spoken audio (doesn’t matter if you choose the male or female). The other group is going to listen to the musical rendition of the same words.

You will need two rooms, or one room and the hallway, and two music players. Members from one group should not hear what the other group hears.

No one is allowed to write anything down. No pens or pencils at all. They may play the audio over and over again for 3 minutes. (All the audios are about 30 seconds long). The goal is for each individual students to memorize, during these three minutes, as many of the words on the list as possible.

After the listening is done students should individually, without looking at each other’s work (remind them this is an experiment!), write down as many of the words as possible.

When that is done, and you have discussed all the words on the list, ask each student to report honestly how many he remembered. Calculate averages for each group: the spoken word group, and the song group.

Which group rememebered the most words?

This experiment is not good science and not good research, and it doesn’t really prove anything. But I still think it’s a good activity. Students will be curious about the results, and this might provoke their curiosity about language and vocabulary in general, and they may even follow up with some of their own investigations.

If nothing else, there’s bound to be some discussion afterwards. Here are some questions that might help stimulate that discussion:

What do you think of the results? (after tallying them up)
Do you think that music helps you learn English?
Do you think it could be harder to learn a list of words that was sung to music?
Did the singing of the words interfere with your initial understanding?
Were the words clear enough for you to understand?
Would it be easier if you saw the words as you heard them?
Did any of the words seem to go together—by sound?
Were you confused by the compound words (mousetrap, suitcase)?

The next day or two days later try again: ask students to write as many of the 20 words as possible.

Options
There are many ways to expand on this experiment. You might involve four groups instead of two. Groups 3 and 4 would have a list of the words, so they could read them while they were trying to memorize them. Take the lists away when the time is up, of course.

However formally or informally you set up the task, I would be grateful to hear about any results. Stats are great, but general reactions are appreciated too. I mean, for all I know, this is the dumbest activity in the world.  Contact me.

Male Speaking the Vocabulary List [ 0:39 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (701)

Female Speakinb the Vocabulary List [ 0:37 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (571)

Singing the Vocabulary List [ 0:31 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (681)

Why lists? Well, lists are a natural form of thematic grouping. And the mind learns better when it groups things together and makes associations.

Besides, lists are so natural. Everyone makes them now and again. I make a dozen everyday.

And finally, it’s so easy to get more out of List Songs. If the list song is Foods, ask students to make a list of foods before the listening. Give them a time limit. Say, 2 minutes. See if they can predit which foods will appear in the song.

After the listening, create discussion questions about the elements in the list. Or have students create the questions.

Best of all, List Songs involve Listening Skills in the the introducing and/or practicing of vocabulary themes.

Here’s what you do with this song. You’ll hear a list of 16 adjectives that describe a person’s personality or behavior. The activity is a kind of race.

Play the whole song all the way through (1:12), and let students, alone or in pairs, try to write all 16 adjectives. The singer repeats the adjectives several times. It is not necessarry that students write the adjectives in the correct order.

The winner of the challenge is the student who gets the most correct adjectives after one listening.

There are tons of easy follow ups. One is to brainstorm personal questions from the students and write them on the board. For example, “When do you get uptight?” “Do you consider yourself talkative? Under what circumstances are you most talktative?” “Who is the most sensitive person you know?”

Once the questions are on the board, students in pairs or groups will ask each other. What a simple and effective speaking activity!

16 Personality Adjectives [ 1:14 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (5973)

In this 40-second song you’ll hear a list of chores. Most of these are fairly strong collocations–words that go together. For example, what word is likely to go with “sweep”? Right, “the floor.” That’s not the only possible combination, but it is a probable one. And it is useful in learning a language to hear and repeat these high frequency combinations.

That’s why this song goes into the Grammar category. It uses collocations.

You will hear 11 commands to do certain chores. They will repeat two times. That makes this a great dictation activity. Simply tell students to number from 1 to 11 and to try to write down all the chores by the time the song ends. You can play it a couple of times if needed.

It’s also called “The Nagging Song” because when someone is always telling you what to do, well, that’s nagging.

Answers: Take out the trash, feed the cats, mow the lawn, clean up that mess, make your bed, wash your hands, pick up your toys, iron your shirt, sweep the floor, brush your teeth, walk the dog.

The Chores Song (The Nagging Song) [ 0:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (10782)

The Chores Song, slower [ 0:48 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4735)