May 26th is Dracula Day – a holiday dedicated to one of the most famous vampires in the world. While most people don’t celebrate Dracula Day (and I would even go as far as to say that most people don’t know it exists), it provided me with the perfect excuse to create a music review ESL lesson based on Dracula, the latest song by Tame Impala. Of course, music doesn’t need a special occasion to be discussed in class. It can be celebrated every day of the year, making it an evergreen topic for ESL lessons.
As I was thinking about a suitable topic for Dracula Day, my thoughts immediately turned to Tame Impala and this song. The song itself may not be the easiest material to build an entire lesson around and, besides, there are plenty of other content creators who have mastered creating lessons based on songs (looking at you, Onthesamepage ELT!). Instead, I thought that analysing a review of a song could provide an interesting twist on a music-themed class.
I found a perfect article written by Mark Chinapen for Modern Music Analysis called Dracula by Tame Impala | Song Review, which contained exactly the kind of language advanced learners often struggle with. The reviewer doesn’t simply say that the song is good or bad. Instead, he balances praise and criticism, softens negative comments, acknowledges positive points, and presents his opinion in a way that sounds professional and convincing.
If this music review ESL lesson sounds useful, scroll to the end of the post to download the presentation, worksheet, and teacher’s notes.
Warmer: Rating Things
Begin the lesson with a simple rating activity. I thought it might be fun to ask students for the first song, movie, and social media platform that come to mind. After sharing their ideas, they rate each suggestion from 1–10 and explain their reasoning. This task introduces the idea of evaluation and encourages students to justify their opinions rather than simply stating them.
First Impressions: Listening to Dracula
Next, students listen to Dracula by Tame Impala without seeing the lyrics, as analysing the lyrics is not the focus of this lesson. Instead of listening for specific information, they focus on their first impressions of the song and complete four prompts while listening:
- The song reminds me of…
- The song would work well at / in…
- The strongest aspect of the song is…
- The weakest aspect of the song is…
Afterwards, students compare their ideas and justify them. Since there are no correct answers, this stage encourages personal interpretation and helps students begin thinking critically about music before reading someone else’s opinion. Of course, it also serves as an introduction to the song in case someone isn’t familiar with it (which is hard to believe!).
Reading for Gist: Is the Review Positive or Negative?
Students then read an adapted version of a review of Dracula by Tame Impala. Their first task is simple – decide whether the review is mainly positive or negative. At first glance, this may seem straightforward, but students quickly realise that the reviewer is neither entirely positive nor entirely negative. Instead, he praises some aspects of the song while criticising others. This creates a useful opportunity to discuss how professional critics often avoid extreme opinions.
Reading for Detail: Praise and Criticism
After reading for gist, students return to the text and identify the language used to praise and criticise the song. They look for positive descriptions such as catchy, memorable, and enjoyable, as well as critical comments like minimal, simplistic, and plays things a little too safe. By separating praise from criticism, students begin to see how reviewers build their arguments and support their ratings.
Discussion: Predicting the Rating
Using the evidence gathered from the review, students work in pairs and predict the score the reviewer gave the song. This stage should generate lively discussion because students need to justify their predictions with evidence from the text. Once everyone has agreed on a rating, reveal the actual score – 6.5/10. Then discuss whether the rating was higher or lower than expected and whether students agree with the reviewer’s assessment.
Language Focus: Softening Criticism
The main language focus of the lesson comes next. Students read the review again and identify phrases used to soften criticism, acknowledge positive points, and balance positive and negative feedback. Examples include By no means am I saying that…, I will say that…, and Yet at the same time….
After finding the expressions, students categorise them according to their function and discuss why critics often choose this type of language instead of making very direct statements. This stage helps learners understand that effective reviews are rarely completely positive or completely negative. Instead, strong reviewers present nuanced opinions that sound fair and balanced.
Controlled Practice: Gap-Fill
Students then practise the target language by completing review-style sentences using the expressions from the previous activity. Not all of the expressions are needed, so students must think carefully about meaning and function rather than simply matching words to gaps. This helps reinforce the distinctions between softening criticism, acknowledging strengths, and balancing opposing ideas.
Writing: Reviewing the Reviewer
Once students have analysed the reviewer’s language, they become critics themselves. They rate the review out of 10 and write a short review of the review. They are encouraged to discuss whether the review is fair, convincing, and supported by sufficient evidence while using the target language from the lesson.
Discussion: The Role of Critics
As always, the lesson finishes with a discussion about reviews and criticism more generally. Students consider questions about the objectivity of reviews, the influence critics have on public opinion, and whether artists are judged too heavily against their previous work. These questions encourage students to move beyond the song itself and think about reviewing as both a skill and a form of communication.
This is just one of the many ways teachers can use songs in the classroom. This Music Reviews ESL Lesson combines music, reading, language analysis, writing, and discussion into a highly engaging C1 lesson, with the hope that students may start listening to music and reading reviews a little more critically themselves.
Are you influenced by professional reviewers, or do you prefer to make up your own mind?
