Dialogues From Songs

FOCUS:Speaking AGE:All LEVEL:Beginningandintermediate

MATERIALS

1.CDofsong,preferablyastorysongorasongwhichprovokesmentalimages. 2.Songlyricsonprojectororhandout
STEPS

1.Teachkeyvocabularywordsthatarefoundinthesong.Useflashcardsor worksheetstoallowforadditionalvocabularypractice. 2.Showlyricsontheoverheadprojector.ThenplaytheCD.Asstudentslistento thesong,theycanquietlyreadthesonglyricsontheoverheadorprojector. 3.Tomakecertainstudentsfullycomprehendthesongslyrics,gothroughthelyrics withoutthebenefitofmusic.Occasionallypause,thenaskcomprehension questions.Playthesongasecondtime. 4.Dividestudentsintosmallgroupsofthreeorfour.Havestudentsdiscusswith theirpeershowtheyplantorepresentthestoryindialogueform.Oncetheyhave cometoaconsensus,theywillthenwritedialoguesthatarebasedonthesong. Encouragecreativeinterpretationoftheseinstructions.Studentgroupsshouldthen createtheirownpropsandrehearsetheirdialoguesduringtheallottedtime. 5.Havestudentstaketurnsperformingtheirdialoguesfortheclass.Thisisagood preliminaryactivityforstudentswholackconfidencespeaking.Astheygain confidencecanperformthissameactivitywithoutwritingoutthedialogue beforehand.
Complimentary materials from

www.forefrontpublishers.com
From a book manuscript on Using Music to Teach English by Suzanne Medina. Duplication of these materials is permitted if copyright and contact information is retained on copies. Only publication is restricted. Copyright 2009 by Suzanne L. Medina All rights reserved. No part of this document may be published without written permission. Contact: FAX (310) 514-0396 ForefrontPub@ca.rr.com

Musical Discussion Circle

FOCUS:Speaking AGE:All LEVEL:IntermediateandAdvanced

MATERIALS

1.ACDofasongthatisonatopicofinteresttostudents.Forexample,thesong, IhearditthroughtheGrapevinedealswiththetopicofgossip. 2.Handoutofsonglyrics 3.Transparencyofsonglyrics 4.Alistofquestionsrelatedtothetopic.Forexample,thefollowingquestions couldbeusedtoengagestudentsinadiscussionongossip:

*Whydoyoubelievepeoplegossip? *Whenhaveyouregrettedthatyougossipedaboutanotherperson? *Haveyoueverheardgossipaboutyourself? *Whatwasitandhowdiditmakeyoufeel?

STEPS

1.Organizestudentsingroupsofthreeorfour.Distributehandoutsoflyrics.Have groupsdiscussthemeaningofthesonglyrics.Haveagroupsecretaryrecordany questionsregardingunfamiliarvocabulary,idioms,etc.whichmakethelyrics incomprehensible. 2.Nowmeetwiththeclass.Projectthelyricsontheoverhead.PlaytheCD.Have studentssilentlyreadthelyricswhilelisteningtothesongrecording.Nextask studentsifthereareanyneworunfamiliarvocabulary,idioms,grammar,etc.Ask questionstocheckcomprehensionofsonglyrics.Playthesongagain. 3.Organizestudentsintwocircles,oneinsideoftheother.Thereshouldbean equalnumbersofstudentsineachcirclesothatallstudentscanfaceastudentinthe othercircle.Posethefirstquestion.Youmaywanttowriteitontheblackboard. (Continued)

 Askstudentstodiscusstheiranswerstothefirstquestionwiththeirpartners.Allow afewminutesforeachmemberofthepairtoanswerthequestion.Thendirectthe outercircleofstudentsrotateclockwisesothateachstudenthasanewpartner. Studentsnowdiscussthesamequestionwiththeirnewpartner.Repeatthe processofrotatingandposingquestionsuntilallquestionshavebeendiscussed withatleasttwopartners. 4.Discusstheresponsestothequestionwiththelargergroup.

Complimentary materials from

www.forefrontpublishers.com
From a book manuscript on Using Music to Teach English by Suzanne Medina. Duplication of these materials is permitted if copyright and contact information is retained on copies. Only publication is restricted. Copyright 2009 by Suzanne L. Medina All rights reserved. No part of this document may be published without written permission. Contact: FAX (310) 514-0396 ForefrontPub@ca.rr.com

Par ty Time

FOCUS:Speaking AGE:All LEVEL:Beginningandintermediate

MATERIALS

1.CDofsong 2.Handoutsofsonglyrics 3.Listofminidialoguesthatyoucreatedandwhicharebasedonsonglyrics.

STEPS

1.Identifyseveralsentencepatternsthatarefoundinthesonglyrics.Createatwo lineminidialogueforeachpattern/routine.Youmayneedtoaddasentencein createthistwopersondialogue.Makeyourminidialoguelinesinterestingand humorous. 2.Distributehandoutsofsonglyrics.Playthesongrecordingasstudentsreadtheir lyrics.Discussanyunfamiliarvocabulary,verbidioms,etc. 3.Presentoneminidialoguetotheclassatatime.Writeitontheblackboard.Make certainthatstudentscomprehendthemeaningofeachline.Havethempractice sayingtheminidialoguelinesinunisonseveraltimes. 4.Havestudentpairsstandaroundtheroomastheymightataparty. 5.Havestudentspracticetheirtwolineminidialoguewiththeirpartners.After rehearsingwiththeirpartnerseveraltimes,theyshouldfindanotherpartner,then continuepracticingtheminidialoguelines.Encouragestudentstochangepartners severaltimes.Onceaminidialoguehasbeenrehearsed,encouragestudentstovary theirminidialoguelinesslightly. 6.RepeatSteps1to4fortheremainingminidialogues.
Complimentary materials from

www.forefrontpublishers.com
From a book manuscript on Using Music to Teach English by Suzanne Medina. Duplication of these materials is permitted if copyright and contact information is retained on copies. Only publication is restricted. Copyright 2009 by Suzanne L. Medina All rights reserved. No part of this document may be published without written permission. Contact: FAX (310) 514-0396 ForefrontPub@ca.rr.com