A group of 16 Tokyo high school students and two teachers who use Beatles songs to study English received an invitation from British rock legend Paul McCartney to attend his concert Monday.

Before going onstage, the former Beatle met with the students and teachers from Kitazono High School in Itabashi Ward and gave them a special English lesson in which they all sang "Yesterday" together.

The 16 students, who apparently have English skills below those of the other students in the senior grade, sent an e-mail to the official fan club of the Beatles in mid-October, asking McCartney to visit their school when he came to Japan.

The students received a reply this month from the British fan club saying that McCartney would instead like to invite them to his concert at the Tokyo Dome.

The students greeted McCartney in English and showed him their English textbook, which contains songs and a history of his former band.

Yusaku Murata, 18, who played guitar when they sang together, said: "I was really fascinated. He's a real superstar and was wonderful, as I expected."

Teacher Fumiko Shiroki, 51, said she never imagined they would be invited to the concert.

"I hope the students also use this opportunity to study English," she said.