Criteria for sorting out texts of English songs and poems for intermediate teaching of English

The article deals with the issues of working out some criteria that would allow an English teacher to perform quick and effective sorting of lexical material (in form of song lyrics and poems in English) for further use as the material for teaching English lexis and pronunciation. Modern trends in teaching foreign languages show that non-standard methods of teaching become more and more popular as they help to simplify the process of learning a foreign language by linking it to creative element. Modern technology and unlimited access to the Internet make it easier for people from different countries to communicate; it brings learning English to a completely new level. Direct knowledge of culture and traditions of other countries make people more motivated for learning foreign languages. As the result of swift change of modern educational trends, traditional teaching methods using textbooks and dictionaries pale into significance. Today modern methods of learning foreign languages become more and more relevant; these methods are aimed at both developing lasting speech skills and forming linguistic, social, cultural, speech and cognitive competences according to the Russian Federal Educational Standard. In order to bring out the best in their learners, many English teachers try to use these new developments and sets of exercises based on modern trends. But this requires much more teaching materials and best practice that would allow to enhance the efficiency of teaching. As one of the ways of solving this problem, a number of criteria for sorting out the texts of authentic songs and poems in English was developed by the author of this article. The given criteria are applicable to essentially every song or poem and, consequently, can be used by the English teachers during their classes. Moreover, these criteria can be relatively easily adapted to any other foreign language.