La Cité collégiale, Ottawa

USING USING MUSIC IN IN THE ESL THE ESL

CLASSROOMCLASSROOM

Mohammad Hashemiwww.reedpen.com

WHY SONGSWHY SONGS??

• Songs are:– Interesting and accessible– Motivating– Memorable– Linguistically, culturally, pedagogically rich

THE LYRICSTHE LYRICS

• Blanks– Grammatical– Lexical

• Scrambled lyrics• Song/music evaluation• Poetic devices

– Metaphor/simile/rhyme/rhythm/imagery/symbolism/– Irony/paradox/understatement/overstatement/…

• Paraphrase/summarize• Pronunciation• Sing

GRAMMARGRAMMARBASEMENT APARTMENT

SCRAMBLED LYRICSSCRAMBLED LYRICSIRONICIRONIC

POETIC DEVICES: RHYMEPOETIC DEVICES: RHYMEBIRD ON THE WIREBIRD ON THE WIRE

• Find the rhyming word • Like a bird on the wire • WIRE rhymes with CHOIR• I have tried in my way to be free. • Free with …THEE• Like a worm on a hook • Hook with …BOOK• if I have been untrue • Untrue with …YOU• Like a baby, stillborn • Stillborn with …TORN• But I swear by this song • Song with …WRONG• on his wooden crutch • Crutch with …MUCH• darkened door • Door with …MORE

POETIC DEVICES: IRONYPOETIC DEVICES: IRONY

• Ironic Music Video• Change the following into ironic situations:

– It's like rain on your wedding day– It's a traffic jam when you're already late – It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need

is a knife • Ed Byrne

 Song EvaluationListen to the song one more time. How would you rate this song? Circle the numbers 1= very weak , 5 =very strong) in front of the categories below.Song Evaluation Form:

This song starts in a very slow way, but all throughout the song the singer’s voice rises and falls. At times it sounds like he is shouting. Listen to the song one more time. As you listen draw a line on the graph below showing the rising and falling of his voice. The line that is in the graph is just an example.

PARAPHRASINGPARAPHRASINGBIG YELLOW TAXI BIG YELLOW TAXI

Human beings are strange. They don’t know the value of what they have until it’s __________. They cut trees and destroy nature to make more __________ lots, __________, boutiques and __________ hot spots. Then they take the cut trees, put them in a tree __________ and charge people __________ to let them see those same trees.

Farmers had better put __________ dangerous pesticides such as the DDT. I would rather have __________ on my apples than have perfect looking apples that are dangerous to people and the birds and the __________.

I myself am also guilty of not knowing the value of what I had until I lost it. Late last __________, I heard the screen door __________ and when I looked, I saw a big yellow taxi carrying my old __________ away.

PRONUNCIATION / SPELLING: PRONUNCIATION / SPELLING: HOMOPHONES & SEMI-HOMOPHONESHOMOPHONES & SEMI-HOMOPHONES

BUILDING A LESSON AROUND THE BUILDING A LESSON AROUND THE LYRICSLYRICS

• Warm-up exercises based on the theme of the chapter– Mostly in the form of quizzes to engage the

students.• Examples: • Forgiveness (page 2)• Personality (page 100)

SONG, SINGER, SONGWRITER SONG, SINGER, SONGWRITER BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND

– Summarizing– Paraphrasing – Note-taking– Mind mapping– Interviewing– Making timelines– Editing– Cloze tests

• Example: colloquialism (page 35) Stompin’ Tom

OTHER SKILLSOTHER SKILLS• Grammar (Communicative)• Parts of Speech• Reading

– Reading passages based on the song theme• Examples: page 58 (Superman), page 93 (Big Yellow Taxi)

• Listening– Author interviews– Listening based on the song themes

• Speaking/Idioms (Functional-Notional) based on the theme• Assignments • Writing

– Creative (poetry, short stories, songs, captions) example p. 160– Academic (page 149, interpreting visual data)

• Culture– Discussion based on cultural issues in the songs (page 15)

OPEN TO INNOVATIONOPEN TO INNOVATION

• Soundhound or Shazam• Karaoke

IT’S YOUR TURN NOWIT’S YOUR TURN NOW

• Develop a plan for a lesson based on Crash Test Dummies’ Superman’s Song. Include ideas for the following skills:– Song activities– Grammar– Reading Comprehension– Idioms & Vocabulary – Listening Comprehension– Speaking– Culture– Writing

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!

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