MUSIC
June 2009
F r e e
C D
WHY USE SONGS?
Songs have been part of the human experience
for as long as we can remember. Adults sing at
religious services, bars, in the shower, and listen-
ing to the car radio. Songs have become an inte-
gral part of our language experience, and if used
in coordination with a language lesson they can
be of great value. Fortunately, with the expanding
prevalence of the Internet and specifically the
World Wide Web into both the classrooms and
lives of students, access to music and lyrics has
been made easier.
The Affective Filter Hypothesis is one of five proposed
hypotheses developed by Steven Krashen. Basically,
it is an explanation of how the affective factors relate
to language learning. It is particularly appealing to
teachers because it provides an explanation to why
some learners learn and others do not.
Teachers have long recognized the need for students
to have a positive attitude in regard to learning.
Krashen (1982) explains that for optimal learning to
occur the affective filter must be weak. A weak affec-
tive filter means that a positive attitude towards learn-
ing is present. If the affective filter is strong the
learner will not seek language input, and in turn, not
be open for language acquisition. The practical appli-
cation of the Affective Filter Hypothesis is that teach-
ers must provide a positive atmosphere conducive to
language learning. Songs are one method for achiev-
ing a weak affective filter and promoting language
learning.
[1]
With the affective filter weak, Saricoban and Metin
(2000) have found that songs can develop the four
skill areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
Eken (1996, p.46) states that songs can be used to:
• present a topic, a language point, lexis, etc.
• practice a language point, lexis, etc.
• focus on common learner errors in a more direct
way
• encourage extensive and intensive listening
• stimulate discussion of attitudes and feelings
• encourage creativity and use of imagination
• provide a relaxed classroom atmosphere
• bring variety and fun to learning
Lo and Li (1998) offer similar suggestions, writing that
songs provide a break from classroom routine, and
that learning English through songs develops a non-
threatening classroom atmosphere in which the four
language skills can be enhanced. The belief that
songs provide enjoyment and develop language skills
is also noted by several other authors (Adamowski,
1997; Bechtold, 1983; Domoney & Harris, 1993; Grif-
fee, 1992; Guglielmino, 1986; Lems, 1984; Little,
1983; Monreal, 1982). The enjoyment aspect of learn-
ing language through song is directly related to affec-
tive factors.
(adapted from the Internet TESOL Journal. To view
the full article visit:
http://iteslj.org/Articles/Schoepp-Songs.html)
A MUSICAL EXPERIENCE
working individually, in pairs or in groups), as a
break signal between lessons or tasks, or even
to create energy before a particularly demanding
(The following article, which has been adapted,
activity and to enhance and support attention
first appeared in Issue 52 of the English teaching
and concentration.
Professional.)
Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelli-
gences identifies several different types of intelli-
Songs and music are an essential part of our
gences, including musical intelligence. Taking
life. We are surrounded by music and our life
into account and fostering the different intelli-
experiences and memories are very often
gences can improve learning. However, musical
connected to it. A tune or a melody can create
intelligence is too often ignored in the classroom
an atmosphere, make us feel relaxed or full of
and could be stimulated more by incorporating
energy, and bring to mind faces, words or
music into activities. This would also cater for
situations.
those learners who have a preference for audi-
tory input.
Music and learning theories
Listening to music activates areas in the right
Music as a support to learning
hemisphere of the brain which are connected to
Music can have an important role as a back-
the interpretation of meaning, feeling and the
ground to activities. Different musical styles such
emotions. Our facility for language is located
as rap, rhyme and jazz chants can be used, or
mainly in the left hemisphere, but when the proc-
specifically created, as a support to memorisa-
ess of language decoding involves the emotions,
tion.
the right hemisphere is also activated and plays
This can be done both for language aspects (vo-
a part in processing meaning. Moreover, music
cabulary) and cognitive aspects (content, lists of
activates other areas of the brain, including the
data, dates, etc). Instrumental pieces can be
limbic system, which is directly connected to
useful, but we can also present activities based
emotions and to long-term memory. Georgi Lo-
on songs, adding a linguistic aspect. The possi-
zanov’s Suggestopedia theory recommends the
bilities are manifold here, too.
use of particular kinds of music during some
Songs can be used:
phases of the learning process, in particular
pieces by Mozart, Haydn and Brahms. Research ● to introduce or expand a grammar topic,
theme, vocabulary area, etc;
shows that listening to this kind of music creates
the so called ‘Mozart effect’, whereby learning is ● to support rhythm and intonation;
enhanced. It has also been shown that music ● to support extensive and intensive listening
skills;
can contribute to the processes of visualisation
and creates alpha waves in the brain, enhancing ● to support reading skills;
concentration and intake of new information. ● to set off a class discussion;
Accelerated Learning, a methodology based on a ● to introduce creative or structured writing.
Songs offer great opportunities to develop auto-
multi-sensory and holistic approach, gives
matic and unconscious language learning. We
prominence, on the one hand, to the use of mu-
have already mentioned the fact that melodies
sic in the classroom following Lozanov’s ideas,
can support memorisation of new items, espe-
and, on the other, to the fact that music can be
cially for auditory learners or those with a strong
employed to create a relaxed and comfortable
musical intelligence. Songs can in this sense
learning environment where students can learn
also be a good alternative option to repetitive ex-
without negative pressure. Music can then be
ercises or pattern drills aimed at consolidating
used as a background to tasks (with students
pronunciation, new structures and vocabulary.

[2]
This is particularly true with young learners, but
music can also be used with older students.
As Tim Murphey points out, teachers often dis-
cover how quick students can be at memorising
song lyrics, even new items or chunks of lan-
guage whose meaning is unknown or unclear. I
remember at the age of five hearing a friend sing
some verses of Here’s to you – Sacco and Van-
zetti by Joan Baez. Without knowing a single
word of English or understanding the meaning of
what I was singing, I memorised these verses
because I liked both the melody and the sound of
the words. (I discovered what the song was
years later.) Once, during a teacher training
course, I learnt a song in Swahili; some 15 years
later, I can still reproduce it despite having forgot-
ten its meaning. The ‘melody in our mind which
won’t go away’ is certainly familiar to most of us
– something that advertising exploits very well by
using jingles taken from successful pop songs.
As we have seen, music can activate different
brain areas and amongst them the limbic system,
which is directly involved in long term memory. It
can, therefore, be an incredible ally in language
teaching. The kind of language used in songs is
generally simple, colloquial and often repetitive.
These are important aspects when teaching/
learning a foreign language. Songs can, there-
fore, support a textbook, enhancing it with com-
municative, lexical and pragmatic aspects of eve-
ryday language.
Songs as a link to real life
Teenagers are particularly attracted by music,
which is an integral part of their world. It can cre-
ate kinships and links that go beyond borders
and languages. It is a communication code in
itself, in which language is only one aspect, oth-
ers being notes, sounds and emotions. English
and American songs are an essential part of the
daily experience of any teenager, whether
French, Italian, English, Spanish or Croatian.
They are a source of authentic language and of-
fer an extraordinary learning tool within the class-
room. Using songs during lessons provides a link
with real life, thereby creating a different relation-
[3]
ship and perception of lessons and of the sylla-
bus. Using material from the outside world and
the inner lives of our students promotes a sense
of belonging to the learning community, and fos-
ters motivation.
When songs, as in the experience described be-
low, are chosen and presented by the students
themselves, we have a further added value: that
of acknowledging and giving prominence to the
different abilities of the learners, taking into ac-
count and developing their musical intelligence
and fostering their presentation and organisa-
tional abilities, skills which are often underused.
Another motivating factor is that these kinds of
activities involve negotiation of part of the sylla-
bus with the students. It is they who design the
activities and choose the contents under the dis-
creet guidance of the teacher. As Tim Murphey
says, ‘allowing them to choose gives them some
responsibility, involves them in the lessons more,
and gives school relevance to their everyday
lives and concerns.’ Such an approach can also
develop autonomy and critical sense, and bal-
ance the relationship between teacher and stu-
dent, promoting one based on mutual respect.
Lastly, designing teaching activities for a chosen
song makes the learners reflect upon the core
elements to be taken into account in preparing
and presenting tasks, both from a language and
a didactic point of view. Choosing one activity
rather than another has to be gauged on the
characteristics of the song and the singer or
group. This point clearly emerges from the expe-
rience described below: the students have de-
signed different activities and exercises, from the
dialogue among teenagers to introduce a group,
to cloze, crosswords and even translation exer-
cises involving the lyrics. It is interesting to note
that some types of exercises, such as the listen-
ing or translation tasks, seem to focus on difficul-
ties the students themselves have encountered
while preparing the tasks: these difficulties have
then been transformed into a learning challenge
for the rest of the group.

QUICK TOPIC INTRO AND
WARMER
Songs can be an effective
means of introducing a topic
leading into a whole class or
group discussion before be-
ginning the course-book unit.
Explain to the class that you
will play them 2 or 3 songs,
and that they should listen
very carefully and guess what
the topic of the week / day is
going to be. For example, if
you are about to teach a unit
covering ‘Houses’ play ‘Our
House’ by Madness or ‘Coun-
try House’ by Blur. It is not
necessary for the students to
understand every word, but
to be able to catch the gist
After they have listened to
both songs, ask them what
the topic is, and you have a
natural starting point to ex-
plore the topic further.
2 IDEAS FOR A TOPIC BUILD-UP
Idea 1 - Weather
Level: Elementary
Song: ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by The Beatles
Preparation: Cut up the lyrics - one line per slip. Make enough for each pair
of students in the class.
Procedure:
1. Distribute the cut-up lyrics to each pair. Tell them to listen to the song and
order the lyrics. Play the song. Monitor and check. You will probably need to play
the song two or three times, depending on their level. If the students like the
song, and like singing along, play the song again and they can sing along.
2. On the board write up the following questions:
What time of year is it (in the song)?
How does the singer feel? Why?
Students discuss the answers in pairs.
Get some feedback
3. Start the conversation one-to-one with one of the stronger students in the
class by asking her what time of year she likes and why?. Then on the board
write up the following questions:
What time of year do you like and why?
What is your least favourite time of year and why?
Students discuss their answers in pairs.
Circulate, helping students with language.
Feedback
Note: Students generally like this activity as by the end of the lesson they have listened to,
and understood a song, participated in a discussion and, most likely, learnt some new
vocabulary. It also plays to a variety of learner styles - naturalist, kinaesthetic, musical,
inter-personal, intra-personal, auditory
Idea 2 - Homelessness
Level: Intermediate +
Song: Sitting on the Dock of the Bay’ by Otis Redding
Preparation: Complete song lyrics.
Procedure:
1. On the whiteboard build up the scene by drawing and eliciting the following: bay, dock,
bench, a (old) man sitting on the bench, a man walking towards the bench, mountains, ships,
waves.
2. Once your scene is complete, elicit from the class where in the world they think it is. Answer:
San Francisco
3. Divide the class in half. Half the class remain seated, and the other half stand up, and walk to
one corner of the room. Instruct the students that those seated are the man on the bench. The
other half (standing) are themselves, and that they are out walking in the park when they see this
old man sitting on the bench. Tell them that he looks friendly, and they should sit down next to
him and strike up a conversation. They should try and find out about who he is, where he’s from
etc..The students who are seated should answer any questions that are posed to them.
3. Let it run.
4. When you see the conversations drying up, give out the lyrics, play the song and tell the stu-
dents to listen for any similarities between what they talked about and the song. After you have
listened, conduct a group feedback and ask them who they think the old man in the song is. In
case you didn’t realise, he’s homeless. From here you can launch into a discussion about home-
lessness. For further tasks, try the unit in Taboos and Issues.
Note: This topic can be useful for extending a unit on houses.
[4]
EXTENDING A TOPIC - GET IT OFF
SHORT BITS
YOUR CHEST Music For Moods
Try playing some relaxing,
Level: Pre-Intermediate +
soothing music in the back-
Song: ‘Ordinary People’ by John legend. Or, any song dealing with prob- ground whilst the students are
lems in a relationship working. Classical music
works best for this. Research
Preparation: The lyrics and worksheet (see Appendix)
has shown that Mozart can
Procedure: help students concentrate bet-
1. The purpose of this activity is to set the scene and provide inspiration for students to ac- ter. Well, it said so in Straight-
tively take part in a role-play between two lovers. Therefore, it is necessary for the students to be- forward Pre-Intermediate. Do
you believe everything you
come familiar with the song, and use this as a stepping stone. To familiarise students with the
read in coursebooks? Try it.
song, I edit the song, changing words or phrases that sound similar (see activity Nine Million Bi-
sexuals!). However, any number of tasks and activities work just as well - gapped text, ordering the
text, or simply listen and read and then discuss what the song is about.
2. Once the students are familiar with the song, and what it is about (a couple having relation-
ship problems), put the students in pairs, and get them to work together answering the questions
on the worksheet. The questions will hopefully generate a lot of discussion and recycling of ‘rela-
tionship’ vocabulary. Circulate and prompt the students with language and ideas.
3. Conduct a class feedback sessions, asking the students to tell the class a little about their

Music for Timing

Play some background music
whilst students are doing a
task and when you want them
to finish, turn off the music. It
can be an effective way to re-
gain control of a noisier class
after a speaking activity. Music
imaginary couples. It usually produces quite a bit of laughter. stops - they stop. An alterna-
4. Now tell the students that they are the couple and they should role-play the situation be- tive way is to tell the students
tween the man and woman and see if they can salvage their relationship. that you will bring the activity
NOTE: For teachers that think that using songs is light-weight, I know of one teacher that has
to a close when the song fin-
ishes.
successfully used this activity with a group of lawyers, who instead of role-playing the conversation
between the couple, had to draw up a pre-nuptial agreement between the couple. If you were
faced with this scenario, how would you have approached it? Suggestions on a postcard to...

[5]
INSPIRATION FOR WRITING - A FRIEND IN NEED
Level: pre-Intermediate +
Song: Should I Stay or Should I Go by the Clash. Or any song where the singer has a problem
Preparation: Complete song lyrics
Procedure:
1. Play song and ask students to write down any words they hear.
2. Ask students, in pairs or small groups, to compare notes and explain, if they can, what the song is about.
3. Give out full text of song and play again.
4. Ask the students what problems the singer has.
5. Students write a letter to the singer, offering advice.
6. Take in students texts, display around the room and ask the students to decide on which letter offers the best advice.
7. Use the students texts to find what areas of language need further work.

LYRICAL LETTERS
Level: Lower Intermediate - Advanced
Song: ‘Something happened on the way to heaven’ by Phil Collins
Materials: Gapped song lyrics presented in the form of a letter (see example in Appendix)
a recording of the song: optional, a questionnaire (see example below)

This activity begins by recasting song lyrics in the form of a letter, one which calls for a fairly
emotional response. Often students working individually will feel somewhat insecure about this. I’ve
found that making the letter writing a group task (as in Step 30 reduces this insecurity considerably and generally speeds things up. it also makes
it possible for you to help students more in the writing phase.

Preparation
Write out the lyrics of your song in letter form (see Appendix for an example). For best effect, it needs an address, the addressee’s name and
a recent date. It should, as well, be handwritten, and not typed. if you decide to use a questionnaire at Steps 6 and 7, produce one of those. Pho-
tocopy enough questionnaires for each group of 3-4 students.
Procedure
1. Ask students to read through the gapped ‘song as a letter’. (But don’t let them know it’s a song!) Suggest they note any vocabulary they
don’t understand.
2. Teach/elicit the meaning of each noted vocabulary item.
3. Put your students into small groups and ask them to consider the following questions:
• What is the relationship between the people mentioned in the letter?
• At what stage is the relationship
• What is the writer trying to say in the letter?
• What is the mood of the letter?
• How do you think the recipient would feel after reading the letter?
4. Bring the class together. Elicit the different groups’ answers and lead a discussion of them. Keep a record on the board of useful new lan-
guage for describing relationships. This may come in handy later.
5. Either in groups or in plenary, students offer guesses about which words could fill the gaps. In reacting to guesses try to clarify differences
in intensity or connotation of apparently similar words and relate these differences to what has already been decided about the mood of the letter.
6. Working collaboratively, groups of students now draft an appropriate reply. They should have enough vocabulary from the original letter and
from the board to create quite an emotional piece of writing!
Circulate and help keep the language accurate.
7. Groups exchange letters and read them. The groups can either award points (1-10), perhaps) or add comments about suitability of mes-
sage, originality, intensity of emotion, poetic quality, accuracy of language or whatever you decide to ask them to look for.
An alternative is for students to complete a questionnaire (which is then given to the authors of the letter being read) about their reactions as
readers.
Example questionnaire
• Are all questions and other key thoughts responded to?
• Is the reply more or less passionate than the first letter? Why do you think this is so?

[6]
 • Is the reply encouraging or not?
• Will the recipient think the writer took a lot of care not to hurt his/her feelings? Draw a wavy line under any bit that seems to you especially
gentle or considerate.
• Put a solid line under any other bits you especially like. Say why you like them.
• Do you think the writer has a poetic nature? Why?
• A split personality? Why?
• What do you think of the handwriting? Romantic? Hasty?
• Do you think the letter is well-constructed? Or is it more like a collection of unrelated points?
• How do you think the author feels about Phil?
Incidentally, if you decide to use questionnaires, it might be a good idea to hand these out at Step 6 in order to provide the letter writers with
additional guidance and motivation.
8. Explain that the letter is actually the lyrics to a song. Now, play it and get students to listen for what actually occurs in blanks. This is a nice
way to wind down from a period of fairly concentrated language work. The fact that students have been working with the song for a long time
beforehand means that comprehension of the lyrics when sung is a lot easier than would have been the case if you had just played it ’cold’.
Note
This song is called ‘Something happened on the way to heaven’ by Phil Collins from his album But Seriously (Copyright 1989, Philip Collins
Ltd, Hit and Run Music Ltd). A lot of his lyrics work well in this activity.

MUSICAL CONSEQUENCES
Level: Pre-Intermediate +
Song: 7 very different songs
Preparation: None other than cobbling together some music.

Procedure:
1. Explain to the students that they are going to write a story about a couple.. To help them come up with ideas they will hear seven extracts
of songs and they should use these for inspiration, to guide their writing.
2. On the board write the following - Describe the man. Play the first extract and encourage the students to close their eyes, listen to the
song, and using the song as inspiration create a mental image of a man. Play the song for about a minute and then allow the students to gently
return to this world and when they’re ready begin writing. Circulate, help and encourage.
3. Continue in the same fashion with the next six extracts, writing up the following:
• Describe the woman
• Where did they meet?
• Where did they go?
• What did he say?
• What did she say?
• What happened next? How does the story end?
4. Finally, students compare their stories with those around them.

NOTE
Teenagers, in particular, can be quite adverse to any writing. This can be enjoyable way to get them writing. With all age groups this can be
used to recycle and review a variety of lexis and grammar - physical descriptions, adjectives of personality, reported speech, past tenses etc..
The songs do not need to have any lyrics, but will need to be different in the mood they create - fast, slow, haunting, melancholic etc.

[7]
PRONUNCIATION - EVERY BREATH YOU FAKE
Level: Pre-Intermediate +
Materials: Photocopies of gapped text and a suitable song (see below)
Plus: Teacher’s knowledge of phonemic chart
Procedure:
1. Choose a song, preferably with multiple rhymes; ‘rap’ is excellent for this. Put a gap at the end of each line of the lyrics, and make one
copy for each student.

Example text:
Every breath you __________

Every move you __________

2. At the top of a small poster, write the phonemic transcription for the ending of one of the words that you have omitted. Repeat this for each
group of line endings.

Example poster

/eIk/

3. Divide the class into pairs and circulate the posters. The students have to write on the posters all the words they can think of which end
with the sound that has been indicated.
Put the posters up around the room, and give the students the gapped text of the song. They should circulate, trying to complete the gaps in
their texts by selecting the words from their posters.
4. Finally, play the song to check the answers.

PRONUNCIATION - PHONETICALLY TRANSCRIBED

Level: Elementary +
Song: ‘What a Wonderful World’ by Louis Armstrong
Materials: Complete song lyrics transcribed phonetically

Preparation
1. Select a suitable song - not too long basically
2. Transcribe the song phonetically.
3. Make one copy for each student in the class.

Procedure
1. Distribute the photocopies.
2. Students work either individually or in pairs and extrapolate the words
3. Play the song for the students to check their answers.

Note
A useful and fun revision/consolidation activity if you have recently being working on the phonemic chart.

[8]
INTENSIVE LISTENING - RUN AND GRAB
Level: Elementary + (depending on the song)
Song: ‘Hand in my Pocket’ by Alanis Morrisette (Pre-Intermediate +)
Materials: Gapped text, and word cards.

Preparation:
1. Choose a suitable song for the class you are teaching.
2. Take some of the vocabulary from the song and write them on small cards.

m a n p r e tt y
3. Stick them onto the whiteboard.
Procedure
1. Play the song once through to familiarise the students with the tempo and singer’s voice.
2. Divide the class into two teams.
3. Ask the students to come to the front of the class and form two orderly lines in front of the whiteboard - in their teams.
4. Explain to the class that they are going to have a race and as they listen to the song the person at the front of the queue should listen care-
fully and if they hear a word that is written on one of the cards, they should grab it. After they have taken a word, they should re-join the line, but at
the back. Play continues with student number two and so on.
5. The winners are the team with the most words.
6. You might want to get them to listen again if there are still words left on the board.
7. Give out gapped text and see how much of it they can fill in.
8. Play the song for the students to check their answers.
Variation
1. Instead of individual words write up chunks of text.
2. Include a few red herrings.
3. Include a few false friends - fit / feet - that work on minimal pairs.

NINE MILLION BISEXUALS IN THE GYM

Level: Any, depending on song
Song: ‘Nine Million Bicycles’ by Katie Melua
Materials: Doctored song lyrics - make one copy for each student in the class
Preparation
1. Choose a suitable song, generally slower songs where the singer has a nice clear voice work best.
2. Download the lyrics, listen to the song and doctor the lyrics words or expressions that sound ‘similar’ to the intended lyrics. See example in
the Appendix
Procedure
1. Hand out the doctored lyrics.
2. Play the song and ask the students to find the mistakes
Note
This activity works best if you set it up with a little anecdote. For example, very drunk last night and you’ve looked at it again today but...;you
wanted to use this song so you downloaded the lyrics but the person who did it must have been deaf...; you were on holiday / lived in a foreign
country and you bought this as a pirate CD and...

[9]
PICTURE GAPS
Level: Any - but works best at lower levels, and with younger students
Materials: A recording of the song and the lyrics
Preparation:
Type up a song, replacing the target vocabulary with small pictures.
Procedure:
1. Play the song and ask the students to sing along with it.
2. At the end, ask them to write down the words next to each picture.

LINE-BY-LINE MINGLE
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Materials: A recording of a song and a cut-up text (see below)
Preparation
1. Photocopy the words of a song and cut-up the song line by line.
Procedure
1. Give each line to a different student. If you have too many students for the lines of the song, you may have to allocate two students to a
line.
2. Ask the students to stand up.
3. Then ask them to stand in a line in the correct sequence, in order to form the lines of the song, in the correct order.
4. When the students have finished jostling for position, play the song, and see if the students want to move. You may need to do this more
than once.
5. Once the lines are in order, students should read the song aloud, saying one line each. They could even sing it, but don’t count on it.

WHERE ARE ALL THE NOUNS?

Level: Elementary onwards
Materials: A recording of the song and the words (see below)
Preparation
Type up the song, omitting words belonging to one grammatical category, for example nouns, verbs, or adjectives. Do not indicate where
these words have been omitted.
Procedure
1. Put the students into pairs, and give each pair the text. Ask them to put a cross wherever they think a word is missing.
2. Check together as a class.
3. Now working in small groups the students then brainstorm possible words for the gaps.
4. Play the song and check the answers. Discuss which of the alternatives that the students have created might be possible in the context of
the song and how these alternatives might change the meaning.

MY SONG
Level: Elementary onwards
Materials: None - students provide their own songs.
Procedure:
1. Ask your students to come in with their favourite song in English, and be prepared to talk about it.
2. They play the music to the class, and explain why it is important to them.
3. Let the other students ask questions.
This can be done, either as a single lesson, or as an ongoing series or ‘thread; through the term or course

[10]
CREATIVE WRITING - MY PERFECT DAY
Level: Intermediate +
Materials: ‘Just a Perfect Day’ by Lou Reed; complete lyrics; worksheet (see be-
low)
Procedure
1. Pair off students and ask them to describe their idea of a perfect day.
2. Get some feedback from the students.
3. Play the song and ask them for any similarities between their idea of a perfect
day and the singer’s.
4. Get some feedback. If the students found it too difficult, give out copies of the
lyrics and play again.
5. Ask them what they think of the singer’s ‘Perfect Day’.
6. Ask the students to look at the first verse of the song (if you haven’t given out
the lyrics, do so now) and analyse the form - how many syllables, which line rhymes
with which.
7. Get some feedback.
8. Tell the students that they are going to change the song, and write their own verse.
9. Monitor, assist, check, encourage, pacify, spoon-feed, etc...
10. Take in the texts and using the verses the students have created type up a new version of the song. So, student verse, original chorus,
student verse, original chorus etc...If you don’t have access to a computer, photocopy the students’ work.
11. Give the new lyrics out and the class can sing along. It helps to have the music, so you can either play guitar or alternatively use the in-
strumental version of ‘Perfect day’.
12. Finally, ask the students how it feels to have written their own song, and in English. Cue round of applause!

Worksheet

My Perfect Day

Just A Perfect Day,

__________________________________________,
__________________________________________,
__________________________________________.

Just A Perfect Day,

__________________________________________,
__________________________________________,
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Original Lyrics by ______________________________

[11]
THE ART GALLERY
Level: Intermediate +
IS IT ART?
Materials: pen, paper, colouring pencils, 6 different extracts of music (classical, easy-
listening, punk, slow, fast etc..)
Procedure
1. You will need at least 6-12 students, or more, for this activity.
2. Give each student a clean piece of A4 paper and some colouring pencils.
3. Tell them that you are going to play some extracts of music and as they listen they
should draw anything that comes into their head.
4. Play the first extract, and then give them 30 seconds after it has finished to continue
drawing.
5. Get them to pass their drawing to the person on their left.
6. Play the next extract and students continue the drawing.
7. Continue until they have heard all the extracts.
8. Divide the students into threes.
9. Each group will have three ‘pieces of art’. Explain that these are all works of art by the
same artist, and they represent a series. The students, working in their group, are agents for the
artist and they have create a biography for the artist, and will have to describe, and ‘sell’ their
art to the other groups who are ‘customers’.
10. Allow them enough time to concoct their stories. About 15 minutes is usually enough.
Circulate and encourage.
11. When all the groups are ready, take their art and pin them up on the walls. Nominate
one group to go first and to try and sell their paintings to the rest of the class - the customers.
Note
This can be used as a springboard for a discussion on art, and modern art in particular.
A fun activity which can be used to consolidate, and extend a coursebook unit on art, for
example Unit 4 in Straightforward Upper Intermediate.

Marla Olmstead
According to her parents, Marla
Olmstead began painting just before her
second birthday in early 2002 when her
father, Mark, gave her paint to divert her
from distracting him from his own
painting. Mark painted for a very brief
period after his father died, and makes
no claims of being an artist of any variety.
Eventually, her work was on display at a
local coffee shop. Soon after a customer
bought one of the paintings for $253, a
local gallery owner was shown one of her
works and eventually organized a show
at his gallery. From that point forward,
Olmstead's paintings began to sell
frequently.

[12]
SOMETHING SWEET
Level: Intermediate
Materials: Jig-saw reading
Song: Any (see below)
Preparation
Choose a band that your students are interested in, and make a biography of the band. Type the band’s website into a search engine or look
for information on Wikipedia. Using a Word-Processor software divide the information into 3 parts. Each part should be about 150 - 200 words
long. Label each part A,B or C. Make a worksheet which will test their knowledge and understanding of the texts.
Procedure
1. Divide the class into 3 groups. Give each group either A, B, or C. Group the students together so that all the As are together, Bs together
and Cs are together.
2. Give them a time limit of 5-10 minutes to read, understand and memorise the information on their sheets.
3. Re-group the students so there is a Student A, Student B, and a Student C in each group. Each student in turn tells, from memory, the
other students the information on their hand-out. Tell them that if they forget anything they can quickly look back at the text, but they are not al-
lowed to read aloud from the text.
4. When the students have all shared their information, give out the worksheet, and staying in their new groups, complete it together.
5. Finally, play one of the band’s song. The icing on the cake!
Note
Teenage students often don’t like reading (even though they spend an inordinate amount of time reading things on the web) but if you set this
up so they know at the end they will listen to a song, they will work well and quickly.

LINKS WITH MUSIC

Level: Intermediate
Materials: A sheet of poster paper or OHP transparencies
Focus: Ice-breaker
This activity is excellent for helping participants to learn about each other quickly. It will enable you to find out a lot about your students’ atti-
tudes and interests as well as about their language level. You can do this with a new class or one that you have had for a while.
Preparation
Think of links between music and yourself. These may be of various kinds. Think of:
• your favourite composer, instrument, song, singer, piece of music
• dates or occasions when you discovered a piece of music or a musician
• music you associate with important events in your life
• music/instuments played by your family or friends
Choose five or six of these links and, on poster paper or OHP transparency write a display like the example (see Appendix) Or make sure you
can write the display on the board really quickly. In any case, use of different colours and various kinds of lettering seems to produce the best
results. Have your class in mind when you make your choices. Ideally, some should be similar to those which people in your class might make. If
you don’t know the class yet, guess on the basis of age, background, and so on.

Procedure
1. Greet your class and suggest they ought to get acquainted with each other before starting to work or do more work. Tell them that you
would like them to do this through sharing memories and feelings about music.
2. Display your transparency or poster, or quickly write it all on the board. Tell your class that these are clues about links between you and
music. Invite them to try and guess what these links are by asking you ‘yes/no’ questions.
3. Begin. Qualify and elaborate your answers, e.g. ‘Well. yes, but it’s not really an instrument I play.’ ‘Well, yes, Belafonte fascinated me when I
was sixteen, as he fascinated all my schoolmates.’
4. When your clues have all been explained, ask your students each to prepare, on a sheet of paper, an arrangement of clues similar to yours.
5. They do the activity in pairs or small groups. The latter takes longer but spreads information around more.

Extension
6. Ask each pair or group to join up with another pair or group. Everyone says what they learned about their partner/another group member
during Step 5.

[13]
VISUALISATION
Level: Pre-Intermediate onwards
Song: Any emotive song without lyrics. Classical or film scores work best. On
the CD you will find ‘Ripley’s Rescue’ from the film Aliens
Materials: None
Procedure:
1. Tell the students that you would like them to close their eyes and concen-
trate on their breathing. You will play a piece of music and that they should let the
music flow over them. Whilst they listen, they should try and imagine a film playing
in their head. Warn them that they will later describe the images to their partner.
2. Begin. Play the music, and let it play for a few minutes.
3. When the music stops, let the students slowly come to.
4. Instruct them when they’re ready to turn to their partner and describe their
‘movie’.
Note
You might like to try this as a 4-2-1 activity. First the students tell it to a part-
ner for 4 minutes. Then they find a new partner and re-tell it again, but this time they have 2 minutes. Finally, they tell it a third time, to a new part-
ner, for 1 minute. The idea is that each time they tell the story the fluency increases. The first time is a dummy run, finding out what language they
need.

GUIDED STORYTELLING
Level: Pre-Intermediate onwards
Music: Film scores - music from the film Leon or The last Temptation of Christ.
Materials: None
Procedure
1. Instruct the students that together you and the class are going to tell a story. You will start the story going and along the way you will ask
them questions to help further the story.
2. Play the music.
3. Start by setting the scene. ‘It was a beautiful hot day, and you decided to go for a stroll along the beach. As you were walking along you
saw something glittering in the sand, you walked over to it, bent down and picked it up. It was......’ and elicit from the class what the object was.
Let them all volunteer ideas, don’t discourage but settle on one suggestion. Re-cap the story from the beginning, and then continue. ‘I carried on
walking along the beach when I suddenly felt like I was being watched. I turned around and saw....’Elicit from the class what you saw. Continue
like this.Describe, elicit, describe, elicit, re-cap and so on. Finally, bring the story to a close by getting the students to finish the story in pairs.
4. Ask each pair to tell their ending and find out if any of the other pairs had similar endings.
5. If you want to, you can ask the students to write the story up, either in or out of class.

ON THE CD
1. Our House by Madness
2. Country House by Blur
3. Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles
4. The Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding
5. Hand In My Pocket by Alanis Morrisette
6. Ordinary People by John Legend
7. Nine Million Bicycles by Katie Melua
8. Lemon Tree by Fool’s Garden
9. Should I Stay or Should I Go? by The Clash
10. Perfect Day by Lou Reed
11. Ripley’s Rescue by James Horner
12. What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong
13. Something Happened On My Way To Heaven by Phil Collins

[14]
APPENDIX
GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST
Sample worksheet for extending a (love) song into a role-play

Imagine the story.

Work with a partner and answer these questions with your own ideas.

You can imagine the singer to be a woman or a man.

What are the names of the two people in this relationship?

How old are they?

What are their jobs?

Where and how did they meet?

How long have they been seeing each other?

The singer says he/she “misbehaved”, how?

Why does the relationship “get more confusing everyday”?

The singer talks of a “rise and fall” – what are the best, and worst, moments they have spent to-
gether?

What exactly would the singer have liked from this relationship? List the things
the couple want from the relationship and the things they don’t want. Think of
concrete things as well as feelings.

Talk

Work with your partner and put yourself in their position. Will you salvage the relationship or go
your separate ways?

[15]
APPENDIX
LYRICAL LETTERS
8 Vernon Place

Canterbury, Kent

Tuesday 11th June 2009

Dear Rachel,

! We had a life, we had a love, but you don’t know what you’ve got till
you _______ it. Well, that was then and this is _________ , and I want
you back. How many times can I say I’m sorry?

! How can something so good go so bad? How can something so right

go so _________ ? Well, I don’t know, I don’t have all the
__________ . I want you back. How many times can I say I’m sorry?

! Well, you know , you can __________ and you can hide, but I’m not
leaving unless you come with me. We had our __________ but I’m on
your side. You’re all I need, please believe in me.

! I only wanted __________ to love, but something happened on the

way to __________ . It got hold of me and wouldn’t let go. I want you
back. How many times can I say I’m sorry?

! They say you can’t take it with you when you go - and I believe it. But
taking what I’ve got or being _________ with you, you know, I’d rather
leave it.

With all my love,

Phil

lose now wrong answers run problems someone heaven here

[16]
APPENDIX

Nine million bisexuals

There are nine million bisexuals in the gym.
That's a fat,
It's a thin we can't deny,
like the fact that
I will love you till I cry

There are twelve billion light bulbs on the hedge

That's a guess.
No-one can ever say they're blue,
but I know that,
I will always see the view

I've been warmed by the fire

of your laugh every day
so don't call me a lyre
just leave everything I say

There are six billion peepholes in the world

more or less
And it makes my fingers small
but you're the one that I laugh
the most of all

We'll hire a wire

with the whirl in our sight
and I'll mend a tyre
oh the laugh that you give me every night

There are nine million bisexuals in the gym

That's a fat
It's a thin we can't deny
like the fact that
I will laugh till I cry

And there are nine million bisexuals in the gym

and you know that I will laugh till I die

[17]