

Dialogues From Songs



FOCUS

:Speaking

AGE:

All

LEVEL:

Beginningandintermediate

MATERIALS

1.CDofsong,preferablyastorysongorasongwhichprovokesmentalimages.2.Songlyricsonprojectororhandout

STEPS

1.Teachkeyvocabularywordsthatarefoundinthesong.Useflashcardsorworksheetstoallowforadditionalvocabularypractice.2.Showlyricsontheoverheadprojector.ThenplaytheCD.Asstudentslistentothesong,theycanquietlyreadthesonglyricsontheoverheadorprojector.3.Tomakecertainstudentsfullycomprehendthesong’slyrics,gothroughthelyricswithoutthebenefitofmusic.Occasionallypause,thenaskcomprehensionquestions.Playthesongasecondtime.4.Dividestudentsintosmallgroupsofthreeorfour.Havestudentsdiscusswiththeirpeershowtheyplantorepresentthestoryindialogueform.Oncetheyhavecometoaconsensus,theywillthenwritedialoguesthatarebasedonthesong.Encouragecreativeinterpretationoftheseinstructions.Studentgroupsshouldthencreatetheirownpropsandrehearsetheirdialoguesduringtheallottedtime.5.Havestudentstaketurnsperformingtheirdialoguesfortheclass.Thisisagoodpreliminaryactivityforstudentswholackconfidencespeaking.Astheygainconfidencecanperformthissameactivitywithoutwritingoutthedialoguebeforehand.

Complimentary materials from –

www.forefrontpublishers.com

From a book manuscript on “Using Music to Teach English” by Suzanne Medina. Duplication of thesematerials is permitted

if copyright and contact information is retained on copies

. Only publication isrestricted. Copyright © 2009 by Suzanne L. Medina All rights reserved. No part of this document may bepublished without written permission. Contact: FAX (310) 514-0396ForefrontPub@ca.rr.com





Musical Discussion Circle

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FOCUS:

Speaking

AGE:

All

LEVEL:

IntermediateandAdvanced

MATERIALS

1.ACDofasongthatisonatopicofinteresttostudents.Forexample,thesong,“IhearditthroughtheGrapevine”dealswiththetopicofgossip.2.Handoutofsonglyrics3.Transparencyofsonglyrics4.Alistofquestionsrelatedtothetopic.Forexample,thefollowingquestionscouldbeusedtoengagestudentsinadiscussionon“gossip”:

*Whydoyoubelievepeoplegossip?*Whenhaveyouregrettedthatyougossipedaboutanotherperson?*Haveyoueverheardgossipaboutyourself?*Whatwasitandhowdiditmakeyoufeel?



STEPS

1.Organizestudentsingroupsofthreeorfour.Distributehandoutsoflyrics.Havegroupsdiscussthemeaningofthesonglyrics.Haveagroupsecretaryrecordanyquestionsregardingunfamiliarvocabulary,idioms,etc.whichmakethelyricsincomprehensible.2.Nowmeetwiththeclass.Projectthelyricsontheoverhead.PlaytheCD.Havestudentssilentlyreadthelyricswhilelisteningtothesongrecording.Nextaskstudentsifthereareanyneworunfamiliarvocabulary,idioms,grammar,etc.Askquestionstocheckcomprehensionofsonglyrics.Playthesongagain.3.Organizestudentsintwocircles,oneinsideoftheother.Thereshouldbeanequalnumbersofstudentsineachcirclesothatallstudentscanfaceastudentintheothercircle.Posethefirstquestion.Youmaywanttowriteitontheblackboard.(Continued)

Askstudentstodiscusstheiranswerstothefirstquestionwiththeirpartners.Allowafewminutesforeachmemberofthepairtoanswerthequestion.Thendirecttheoutercircleofstudentsrotateclockwisesothateachstudenthasanewpartner.Studentsnowdiscussthesamequestionwiththeirnewpartner.Repeattheprocessofrotatingandposingquestionsuntilallquestionshavebeendiscussedwithatleasttwopartners.4.Discusstheresponsestothequestionwiththelargergroup.

Complimentary materials from –

www.forefrontpublishers.com

From a book manuscript on “Using Music to Teach English” by Suzanne Medina. Duplication of thesematerials is permitted

if copyright and contact information is retained on copies