English 9GYM Evangelisches Schulzentrum Muldental Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Dear 9GYM,

I hope you are all doing well!

Here are the tasks for the next two weeks …

Please …
1. practice your „music“ vocabulary words.

2. complete the worksheet from the last lesson.

I highly recommend you to do it - it will help you with analyzing English texts in general
(music, poetry, short stories) and also prepare you for a class test that we might write
this school term.

I decided to grade the tasks for this and the next week, so we already have one
„Leistungskontrolle“ done. The tasks are due1 on Friday 27th, 2020. Please do both.

present your song!

task A: hand in a presentation and analysis/interpretation of a song of your choice.

Please write a full text (full sentences!).

• If you are going to write your text on a computer, please use word or pages (no „.pdf“,
please), so I can do online-corrections and feedbacks :)
• The song needs to be in English.

write your own verse!

task B: choose a topic that is important for you or for your school/ the public.
Write at least one verse about that topic.

Kriterien zur Bewertung task A:

- Habt ihr euch ausgiebig mit dem Song beschäftigt und könnt erklären, welche Botschaft der Song
vermittelt?
- Habt ihr Hintergrundwissen recherchiert?
- Könnt ihr Besonderheiten des Songs darstellen (Stilmittel, ein bestimmter Sound, die Art und
Weise wie ein Thema in dem Song verpackt wird)
- Könnt ihr sinnvoll begründen, warum ihr diesen Song ausgewählt habt?
- Ist der Text sprachlich gelungen? (60%)

You will find help for the tasks on the worksheets below.

1 it needs to be turned-in at that date …

English 9GYM Evangelisches Schulzentrum Muldental Tuesday, March 17, 2020

This will help you with task A:

HELP, PLEASE!

What is figurative language?!?!?!?

Figurative language helps listeners/readers to imagine or interpret what an author means with
an expression or statement.

It is when you describe something by making a comparison to another thing.

1. Read the table with examples for figurative language.

figurative language explanation example

simile uses the words like or as to My younger brother is a slow as a

compare two things sloth in the morning.

metaphor compares two things by saying Ben is a machine in the weight

one is the other room.

hyperbole exaggeration I have a million things to do….

onomatopoeia a sound word Beep, bang, ring

personification gives humans qualities to things The darkness has changed my

day into night.

alliteration repeated sounds at the I finally found the photograph!

beginnings of words

2. Watch the following video and try to identify the „simile“, „hyperbole“, „personification“,
„onomatopeia and Idioms in Taylor’s, Harry’s, Shawn’s etc. songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls00WrpTp88

(Mrs. Leonardo - Simile, Metaphor, Hyperbole, Personification, Onomatopoeia, and Idioms in Popular
Songs…)

3. Read the examples of figurative language in the quizlet.

https://quizlet.com/28368347/song-lyrics-featuring-figurative-language-flash-cards/
English 9GYM Evangelisches Schulzentrum Muldental Tuesday, March 17, 2020

How do I start ?!?!?!?!?

If you don’t know how to start, complete this table first …

English 9GYM Evangelisches Schulzentrum Muldental Tuesday, March 17, 2020

What should I write in my analysis/presentation and

how should I structure it?!?!

You can structure your text like this. You do not need to …
step 1: first things first …
• pick a song of your choice

• write down a youtube-link, so we can find your song

• copy the the title and the lyrics of the song

step 2: present your song

• why did you pick that song?
• did anybody show you that song? Did you find it yourself?
• what does it mean to you?
• what do you like about that song?
• does the song talk about any topics that are important right now? (for you or in
general…)

step 3: give information about the artist and interesting facts about the song
• who wrote the song? When was it published?
• did the singer write the song on their own? Did another songwriter write it?
• how was the songwriter inspired? Why did the artist write the song?
• any other interesting facts about the song?

step 4: describe the sound/genre

• what genre is the song
• what does it sound like? Acoustic… heavy bass … are some instruments
dominant?
• what is the mood of the song?

step 5: analyse the song

• what is the structure of the song (chorus, verse, chorus, or verse, verse, bridge,
chorus?)
• what is the song mainly about?
• who is really talking? Is the singer telling their own story or someone else’s?
• are they talking about the past, their current state of mind, or an imagined future?
• are we hearing someone’s inner monologue, someone narrating a story, or a
conversation between two or more people?
• what figurative language (check the help-worksheet, first …) does the artist use to
get across his/her/their message? Why do they use them?

step 6: evaluate the song.

English 9GYM Evangelisches Schulzentrum Muldental Tuesday, March 17, 2020

• Do you agree with the message of the song?

Language help for analysing and presenting your song:

The song relates to my personal life because ….

What I personally like about the song is that …

What makes this song meaningful to me is that …

When I listen to the song it reminds me of … makes me feel like

The song talks about / addresses / discusses …

What is interesting about the song is that …

The authors uses ….. to show that ….

The song tells us that …/ tells a story about …/

In the verse/ chorus / line xx/ the author / lyrical I / clarifies that …

… asks the listener to …

The author refers to …

What the author means is that …

The author does a great job in … (showing that …)

The xx (instruments/ heavy beats/ slow rhythym …) in the song creates a(n) xxxx
athmosphere/ mood ..

The verse takes turns with the chorus …

All in all, I would say that …

I agree/ disagree with the message of the song because ….

English 9GYM Evangelisches Schulzentrum Muldental Tuesday, March 17, 2020

HELP, PLEASE!

task B:

1. What are important topics for yourself/ at your school/ in public that you could
write about?:

1. _____________________________
2. _____________________________
3. _____________________________

2. Don’t know how to start? Do ‚songing‘.

Pianist and rapper Chilly Gonzales created a technique to help train students at his
Gonzervatory ‘school’ called ‘songing’, which he says can help with the songwriting
process.

1. Write down as many possible song names as you can in a few minutes. They don’t
have to be ‘good’ or make sense; it’s just a question of putting down the first thing that
comes into your head, repeatedly. Don’t question it. Just give it a go.
2. Once you have 10-20 written down, see if any of them stand out to you and feel like
they could actually be the name of a song you would want to write. Then take it from
there. Write a verse to fit the name.

Let me know if you have any questions!