Peer Teaching - Using a Popular Song to Teach Grammar

Using a Popular Song to Teach Grammar

Peer teaching: Why and how to use music to teach grammar? Finding new and effective ways to teach grammar represents a challenging task for all teachers. How can we enable students to apply the rules accurately, meaningfully and appropriately? Keeping in mind that grammar is much more than form and that we should be keeping a balance between grammar and communication, we decided to use music, in particular pop music, as a backdrop for teaching grammar structure and vocabulary. We will show you one way to structure a lesson using music and we will show you why music is the perfect tool to teach grammar. In fact, even the Ministre de lducation, du Loisir et du Sport (MELS) has included the use of songs and rhymes for the first cycle, primary program (MELS, 2006). The benefits of the use of music in second language learning are multiple (Engh, 2013) (click here to have access to Enghs paper). Amongst the numerous reasons why we should use music, we will focus our attention on four of them. First, music has been proven to lower students' anxiety which is an essential condition to provide a favourable learning environment (Merriam, 1964; Coe, 1972; Claerr & Gargan, 1984; Wilcox, 1995, as cited in Engh, 2013). Second, research has shown that music has a positive impact on students' motivation which is also another essential condition for a favourable learning environment (Ndububa & Ajibade, 2006; King, 2010, as cited in Engh, 2013). Third, music is well suited for grammar teaching since it has been demonstrated that music has a strong impact on memory and on the brain since there is a strong cognitive relationship between music and language (Balch, Bowman & Molher, 1992, as cited in Engh, 2013). Vocabulary words part of the long-term musical memory are easily retrieved in contexts such as communicative interaction and memorisation (Fonseca Mora, 2000, as cited in Engh, 2013 ). An interesting feature of pop songs which facilitates the acquisition of grammar structure is the repetition of sentences and words and the significantly slower rhythm compared to the natural speaking rate ( the speed) (Murphey, 1992b, as cited in Engh, 2013). Finally, another important benefit provided by music is the fact that it is an excellent means to develop cultural awareness and to contribute to the development of the students' world-view (MELS, 2010). Furthermore, we believe that songs are perfect tools that can be used to teach many grammar notions at any given level (multipurpose). The next paragraphs will explain how we would structure a grammar lesson to teach the modal should combined with have and a past participle of a verb.

The general structure of our lesson

Having in mind the benefits of using music in an English classroom, we decided to create activities covering a normal period of 70 minutes at the secondary school level involving teaching a grammar notion through a popular song. We targeted the students in secondary 4 because our lesson asks for a relatively good command of the present perfect and the use of the modal should with an infinitive. Indeed, this lesson is intended to teach the modal should combined with have and a past participle of a verb. The students will have the opportunity to understand its meaning and the way it is used in the song When I Was Your Man by Bruno Mars. Indeed, Teaching Grammar, an essay by Diane Larsen-Freeman in the book Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, third edition (2001), shows the importance of including the three dimensional grammar framework, which comprises form, meaning and use (p. 252). A task ensuring the students understanding is planned towards the end of the lesson. We followed the steps of the structure given by Ms. Priego (2013) in the course DLA1019 TESL Program and Practice at the Secondary School Level for a task related to focus on form, which is Contextualize, Decontextualize and Recontextualize (p. 13). In the contextualization, we use the noticing technique by emphasizing a particular grammar notion in a text (idem). Moreover, by applying the inductive approach, we guide the students so that they succeed in inferring the grammar rule and the use of the structure should + have + past participle (idem). As a warm-up activity to introduce the lesson and the contextualization, the teacher asks the following question while pointing at a picture of Bruno Mars projected on a screen: Do you recognize this singer? and adds the following statement: I should have known this singers name but I forgot. As result, the teacher hints right away at the purpose of the lesson: teaching the structure should + have + past participle. When the students identify the singer as Bruno Mars, the teacher keeps on giving hints regarding the purpose of the lesson by saying Name me songs that he sings. I should have remembered the title of the song that I want to explore with you today. If you tell me some titles, I will recognize and remember it. When the title When I was Your Man comes up, the teacher acknowledges that this is the song that they will look at together. The warm-up activity should take approximately two minutes. The pre-activity starts when the teacher distributes a booklet of worksheets (see the Student Booklet and the answer key attached to this entry) and asks the students to look at the first page in it. There is a word bank with seven vocabulary words or expressions and a corresponding number of lines. The teacher projects on a screen the lyrics of the song with the underlined vocabulary words or expressions and asks the students to pair up and write down a definition for each word with a dictionary. The examples that are given by the teacher are tear me down, which means to destroy someone emotionally, and apologize, which means to express regret for doing or saying something wrong. These definitions are inspired from the ones in the Merriam-Websters Learners Dictionary online. The teacher leaves approximately seven minutes for the students to complete the task according to the provided examples and then allows five minutes for them to share and compare their answers as a whole group. Knowing these vocabulary words or expressions is crucial in order to understand the context of the song (regret regarding the way a past relationship was handled).

Afterwards, one of the main activities starts. The teacher turns off the projector and asks the students to turn to the second and third pages of the Student Booklet on which there are the lyrics with blanks where the structure should + have + past participle has been removed. We chose not to remove the past participles employed alone and implying the form should + have before them in order to avoid the students confusion. The goal is for the students to write the exact form that they hear on the line as they listen to the song. The teacher plays the song obtained through the official music video of the song, which lasts approximately four minutes. Then, the teacher projects the lyrics on the screen again for approximately one minute and the students correct themselves. A second main activity begins when the teacher asks the students to turn to the fourth page of the Student Booklet on which there are guided questions. These questions will gradually lead the students to figure out that the main theme of the song is regret. Students have approximately ten minutes to complete their answers in teams of four. These questions and the expected answers are the following: 1. Examine the title and the verb tense that is used. According to these details, who are the two people who play the main roles in this song? According to the title and the use the simple past, a man (Bruno Mars) and his ex-girlfriend play the main roles in this song. 2. What are the feelings expressed by the writer of the song? Give an example from the lyrics where these feelings are expressed. The writer of the song expresses regret and sadness. This is illustrated in this stanza: Although it hurts I'll be the first to say that I was wrong Oh, I know I'm probably much too late To try and apologize for my mistakes But I just want you to know

3. What are two examples of actions that are the cause of these feelings? The man (Bruno Mars) didnt buy flowers to his ex-girlfriend and he didnt spend enough time with her. (This kind of information can be found in the stanzas in which the structure should + have + past participle is used). The teacher leaves approximately seven minutes for the students to exchange as a whole group on their answers. The discussion ends when the link between the structure should + have + past participle and the expression of regret is established.

The teacher can then move on to the explanations of the structure. Here begins the decontextualization, which involves the formal teaching of the structure should + have + past participle through the deductive approach and practice out of the specific context used in the contextualization (Priego, 2013, p. 13). First, the teacher reminds the students that they already know that should + base form of the verb is used to give advice and that the present perfect is generally used to express the fact that a past event still has consequences on the present. Then, the teacher mentions that should + have + past participle combines these concepts in its definition. The students are asked to turn to the fifth page of their Student Booklet, where the structure is explained in a more detailed way. The teacher asks one student to read the following details aloud: We can use 'should have' to talk about past events that did not happen. We can also use 'should (not) have' to regret past actions. The modal auxiliary 'should' has a past form, 'should have', which is used before the past participle of a verb. When this past form is used, 'should' and 'have' are very often contracted to 'shouldve' (sounds like: 'shudov'). Then, the teacher shows examples of the affirmative form of the structure, both with and without contractions. These examples are written right after the information that the student just read. Another student continues to read aloud the following details: This past form may also be negative (should not have + the past participle); the full negative with 'not' is also contracted to 'shouldn't have (+ past participle)' very often. Here, the teacher shows examples of the negative form of the structure, both with and without contractions Again, these examples are written right after the information that the student just read. Afterwards, the teacher adds this important note: 'Should have' and 'shouldnt have' are used with all the personal pronouns (I, you, he/she/it, we, they). In order to make a link between the theory and the song When I was Your Man, the teacher explains that the man (Bruno Mars) mainly expresses his regret of being too late to do the things he should have done to save his relationship with his former girlfriend. The teacher projects the lyrics on the screen again and points at the chorus and the last stanza of the song, where regrets are obvious through the use of the studied structure. Finally, the teacher mentions that in order to apply the structure correctly, the students have to remember that the past participle is formed by adding -ed at the end of the regular verbs that they have already studied. As for the irregular verbs, the students can use the chart on these exceptions showing the infinitive form, the simple past form and the past participle form that is usually given at the beginning of the school year in class or in each students agenda. The theoretical explanations should take approximately eight minutes of the lesson. Finally, the teacher mentions that there is a mistake in the lyrics of the song regarding the structure should + have + past participle that was made to respect the rhythm of the song. The students are asked to find it, which is in the chorus in the form should have gave. Once the mistake has been found, the teacher acknowledges that the correct form is should have given. This short activity should last approximately two minutes. The decontextualization ends with the teacher asking the students to fill in the blanks in four sentences with the proper structure of the modal should when regret is expressed or when a past action did not happen (p. 6 in the Student Booklet). Then, the students are asked to write two personal examples of sentences in which regret is expressed or a past action did not happen in an everyday life situation (p. 6 in the Student Booklet). The teacher mentions that one personal example must be in the affirmative form and the other in the negative form. The teacher mentions the examples given at the beginning of the lesson with I should have known and I should have remembered. Once the students have finished, the teacher corrects the fill in the blanks exercise (ex: Amlie should have bought the iPod from the Apple Store.) and asks a few volunteers to share their personal examples with the class (ex: I should have talked sooner with my best friend about our quarrel.). This last activity and the correction should last approximately ten minutes.

Lastly, the recontextualization allows the students to use their newly acquired knowledge in context in an interactive grammar activity (Priego, 2013, Week 11, p. 13). As a post-activity, the teacher asks the students the following question: If you were in the shoes of Bruno Mars, what should you have done for your girlfriend or your boyfriend to keep a good relationship? The students are told to answer this question by completing the lyrics of the song with their own suggestions and by following the structure with embedded lines provided, which combines parts of the chorus, on the seventh page of the Student Booklet (ex: I should have cared more about his/her feelings.). This activity is done in pairs in order to create an interactive setting. The teacher leaves approximately ten minutes for the students to do this activity. Finally, the students hand in the copies of the Student Booklet to the teacher to ensure that every student understood the concepts of the form, the meaning and the use of the structure should + have + past participle. The teacher will correct the grammatical errors made in the fill in the blanks exercise (p. 6), the personal examples (p. 6) and the recontextualization (p.7). The students will get back their own corrected booklet to receive feedback on this lesson. In order to end the period, a wrap-up of approximately three minutes involves asking the students if they liked or disliked the activity. Also, the students are asked by the teacher to suggest titles of songs that they like and that would be appropriate to be used in order to teach grammar. The mention adds that after the structure should + have + past participle, other modals will be covered in the following classes. All in all, we believe that the structure should + have + past participle, which goes beyond the format should + base form of the verb and the present perfect regarding form, meaning and use, is well illustrated in the song When I Was Your Man by Bruno Mars. Indeed, this song offers a concrete context where the studied structure is a tool to express regret of failing to do actions that could have changed the outcome of a relationship. Moreover, since this song is very well known among teenagers, the students could find a personal connection with the content of this lesson. We intend to teach this lesson to teenagers in English as a second language (ESL) classrooms whenever we will have the opportunity to do so. References
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Downloadable Documents Student Booklet (PDF) Answer key (PDF) Use Music Teach English (PDF)

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