What’s your English theme tune?

headphonesHave you seen the movie ‘Rocky’? If not, have a look at this clip on youtube. It’s a movie about a boxer who comes out of retirement for one last fight.

The part of the movie where he starts training for the fight is accompanied by some really inspiring music. It’s Rocky’s theme tune. I think people all over the world have tried working out with that music on their iPods to inspire them.

What about some music to inspire you to learn English?

We mentioned four different types of learners in last week’s Tuesday Tips article. Auditory learners learn well by listening to things. If you are an auditory person, a piece of inspiring music can get you in the right mood to start learning.

Do you have a piece of music that makes you feel calm but motivated? If so, that’s your theme tune! Try listening to it before you start studying.

If not, you need to find yourself a theme tune. Try thinking about a period of your life when you were very productive. What kind of music were you listening to at that time? Try listening to the radio, too. A song you’ve never heard before may catch your ear and become your English theme tune. Choose a song that makes you feel calm but ready to work and make that your theme tune.

If you can choose a song with English words, you can even use your theme tune to practise listening.

At the moment, my theme tune is John Coltrane’s Giant Steps but I’m pretty sure it will change in the future. I listen to a lot of music so I change my theme tune a lot.

What’s your English theme tune?

This is part of my ‘Tuesday Tips‘ series. Every Tuesday, I share a simple tip on how to improve your language skills. Some of these are techniques I use with students in class and others are things I’ve found work well when learning languages myself. If you decide to try them out, let me know how they went by leaving a comment below the article. Click here to see some more tips on how to improve your English.

Today’s image is by Dimitri Castrique.