Debbie Jones, England
Chants are a fun fairly simple way to practise rhythm and stress in pronunciation. Sounds are also always easier to copy in songs/chants and the whole group will get engaged. Sometimes you divide into two halves and it's rare in my experience that people don't try their hardest when 'competing' against the others in the class.

Try this one:
Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut (4 times)
McDonalds, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut (twice)

It works like a dream every time! Split the class after you've done it a couple of times with one side starting when the others have got onto McDonalds. (The '..Do...' is long - for stress purposes.)
Enjoy! Debbie

H. Naseema Parveen
Songs can also help teach stress and pronunciation. Students of different age groups love to hear songs because of the music. They not only repeat the words after listening to it but are also able to imitate it in terms of stress and pronunciation. It has been tried by me on my students and it worked wonders making classes lively and interesting. They tell me it's a fun way to learn.

Anup Ghosh, India
The rhythm in chanting is very helpful: it is a natural way to retain and repeat, and also rejuvenate a stressed class. Any level can benefit, finding the pronunciation patterns of new sentences especially stress and intonation.

Roberta King, Mexico
Chants are great for people of all ages, not just children. There are many websites where you can find great chants, nursery rhymes and children's action songs to use in your classes depending upon their ages and abilities.
As most of my students are adults, I use tongue-twisters as chants to help them improve their pronunciation. Carolyn Graham is an extremely well-known teacher/author of Jazz Chants and her Jazz Chants for Children books have lots of ideas and activities using them. Just do a Google search with EFL or ESL chants and you'll come up with some great sites to explore.
Have fun with your students and see how quickly they'll learn!

Luis Sepúlveda, Chile
Chants are great! When I started using chants I thought "Oh, they're so dull", but when I tried them I realized that my students loved them, they really enjoyed them. Besides you can tell your students to do the actions as they sing the chant.
Chants make repetition and grammar attractive, for instance, practicing the simple present tense sounds boring, but when I used a chant called "I get up at 7:30" (it's on the Internet: http://www.onestopenglish.com/) the activity became more interesting, and students liked miming the actions (even though some students felt a bit ashamed in the beginning).

Brenda Engberts, Malaysia
I use chants a lot, and get lots of ideas from Carolyn Graham's 'Jazz Chants' books. (Grammar Chants, Jazz Chants, Jazz Chants for Children, etc). When I can't find one that suits my purpose, I write my own.

Chants are a fun way to introduce, reinforce and/or practice target structures. For example, for present perfect:

Have you ever eaten sushi?
Have you ever been to Spain?
Have you ever been in love?
Have you ever been in pain?

I have a few verses in that one. I read a line, and they repeat. I focus their attention on pronunciation, especially connected speech, so they sound smooth, not choppy:

'haveyooever'
'haveyouever'
'haveyouever'
We repeat it a few times.

'beenin'
'beenin'
'beenin'
'Haveyouever beenin pain'

I underline or circle the stressed sounds to emphasize the rhythm.

Have you EVer eaten SUshi
Have you EVer been to SPAIN

They find this practice quite enjoyable and helpful. It's a fun way for them to build confidence with pronunciation, stress, rhythm, etc.

I might then have half the class read one line, then the other half read the next. I tap the time on the board with my board pen, and help keep them on rhythm with my voice as needed. We do it faster, and if they're still into it, maybe even faster. It should be fun, and if you're into it, they'll be into it too.

Sometimes I print it out on a small page, like a bookmark, so they can mark the stress as we do it together, and so they can practice at home too.

Onestopenglish.com has some more advice on using chants, and if you scroll to the bottom of the page, you'll see a link to lots of chants you can use.

http://www.onestopenglish.com /section.asp?sectionType =listsummary&catid=59396

Happy chanting! :)

Marija Liudvika Drazdauskiene, Lithuania
Judging by the opinion above and my own experience, there can be no doubt that rhymes and songs are indipensable in learning English and English pronunciation in particular. It is chants now, while some twenty years ago, it was songs (by Pete Singer, Humperdink, even Elvis Presley, Julie Andrews and others). Still earlier, in the early 1960s in Eastern Europe, it was tongue twisters, rhymes and nursery rhymes or lines from classical English poetry, which accompanied formal exercises in classes in English phonetics. Even this brief chronological glimpse says that poetry and songs, both of which are musical, have never been neglected in classes in English phonetics (at least by good conscientious teachers and in Eastern Europe at least. In the US, too, judging by recently published materials in the ET FORUM). Both satisfaction and success encourage it and keep up the use of musical pieces. I wish all the teachers who practise chanting and singing in English classes success.