A discussion of the use of music activities in teaching English as a second language describes experiences with two different teaching environments and examines the reasons for the success of the approach. In one program, children aged 7 to 17 in an international summer camp learned English through songs and other music-related activities. The younger children used actions with songs, and the older children worked on music projects that related to their musical and social interests. The second program was an adult education class in which music appreciation was taught entirely in English to non-native speakers. These experiences support the belief that language courses should be taught for a specific purpose and with specific subject matter to a specific group to stimulate normal communicative activity, and that an interest in music and related movement is a strong motivator for language learning. (MSE)