OVERVIEW & OBJECTIVES

This ESL lesson plan on musical taste offers engaging activities, PDF worksheets, and digital materials designed for B2-C1 students. In this lesson, students will:

• Discuss favorite music, genres, personal reactions, and influences on musical taste.
• Explore vocabulary for music preferences, sound, mood, energy, and memories.
• Watch two videos about memory, exposure, personality, and musical preferences.
• Learn phrases for describing music, preferences, emotional effects, and associations.
• Create a musical profile and discuss songs, artists, albums, memories, and tastes.

PREVIEW & DISCUSSION

Students start by listening to short previews of several songs. For each one, they discuss whether they recognize it, identify or guess the genre, describe its vibe or energy, and give a personal reaction using expressions such as that’s totally my jam or that’s not really my cup of tea.

Next, they describe their own musical taste and consider what has shaped it. Possible influences include personality, family and friends, cultural background, upbringing, adolescence, personal memories, and recommendation algorithms. Students choose the influences that have played the biggest role in their own musical preferences and explain why.

The preview ends with a fact-or-fiction task about musical taste. Students predict whether statements about a universal “golden age” of music, genetic influence, musical dimensions, and the connection between personality and music are supported by research.

VIEWING ACTIVITY

The lesson uses two short videos that explore why certain music resonates with us. One focuses on memory, repeated exposure, family influence, and the idea of a musical “golden age,” while the other examines links between personality and the qualities people prefer in music. Before viewing, students discuss what makes a song “good” and why people feel drawn to particular music.

For Video 1, students decide whether five statements are true or false and correct the false ones. The questions cover research on music from people’s teenage years, the supposed golden age of music, parental influence, and the mere exposure effect.

Video 2 uses short-answer questions. Students identify why researchers did not organize their study around genres, which musical dimensions they focused on instead, what participants did during the research, and what conclusions the researchers reached about musical taste and personality.

VIEWING FOLLOW-UP

Students first discuss the research from the videos. They compare the studies on exposure, memory, and personality, consider whether they have developed preferences through repeated exposure, reflect on family influence, and discuss whether their personality matches the music they enjoy. They also share their views on the best eras for music.

In Part 2, students read three descriptions of people’s musical tastes. They identify words and phrases that express musical preferences, explain what someone likes about a piece of music, refer to memories or past experiences, and describe sound, mood, or energy. The texts include natural language such as gravitate towards, have a soft spot for, find myself drawn to, resonate with, and associate it with.

YOUR MUSICAL PALETTE: SHARE YOUR STAPLES

With Option A, students create a personal “musical palette” by adding examples of bands and musicians, genres and subgenres, go-to songs, and staple albums. They may use their own music library for ideas. Afterward, they discuss their choices with a classmate or teacher and use the target phrases to describe preferences, memories, emotional tone, intensity, and complexity. They can also play short samples of music as an optional extension.

Option B gives students a set of discussion prompts instead. They talk about different phases in their musical taste, how their preferences compare with those of family members, favorite songs or albums, memories connected to music, the effect music has on their mood, the importance of lyrics, and songs that give them chills.

BENEFITS OF USING THIS MUSICAL TASTE ESL LESSON

• Gives teachers an accessible topic that most students can connect to personally.
• Provides natural phrases for music preferences, reactions, memories, and emotional effects.
• Develops listening skills through two research-based videos with different task types.
• Supports extended conversation without the need for specialist knowledge about music.
• Offers flexible final choices for both group classes and individual lessons.