Pop Songs as Learning Objects. How can singing belong to everyone?

Abstract

Many pupils dont like to sing in schools, partly because of lack of self-confidence. However, most young people listen to pop music and would love to sing this music in school as well. Additionally, individualization is a keyword in modern schools and pupils like to have choices. Together with the fact that I personally like to listen and play pop music, I regularly use pop songs as learning objects in the classroom in order not only to improve the singing skills of my pupils but also to increase the self-confidence and well-being of pupils and address the heterogeneity in classrooms. Here, I present my experience of 20 years of personal work with sixth to ninth grade pupils in Switzerland.