The first time I ever felt old I was 22 years old..sad really, isn’t it? I was supervising an IT class in an East London school and one of the students was looking for information on Google.

Well, having no idea as to what or who Kanye West was, I gave him a puzzled look, said, “I’m afraid I don’t know” and quickly walked away, feeling rather embarrassed and positively ancient.

Most teens love music and it’s a great resource for teachers to use in the EFL classroom. I try to use songs regularly with my teenage classes (gapfills, lines with extra words, ordering activities) and invite them to request the songs they want to hear. There are still times when they name a singer or group which is met with the same puzzled look I gave that boy five years ago, but I like to think I’m a little more up-to-date now than I was back then…