** From the JLP Resource Book**
I've included this here because the ideas are usable, although nobody cares about Westlife anymore. Use it as inspiration to choose other songs, and change the lyrics and vocab accordingly.
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Strip Songs Level: Any
Aims: Encourage careful listening and develop associative learning skills
Materials: stereo, envelopes, word strips with group numbers on them such as group #1, group #2, etc. (helps prevent the groups from mixing up their strips).
1. Pre-teach vocabulary from the song through the use of a collocation exercise. Write a group of four words on the board and ask students which word does not belong. Ask students why the other three words are similar.
2. Tell students to get into groups, take the word strips out of the envelopes and divide them among their group evenly. Make sure that students have their strips face up and not all over the place. Tell students to build their song as they hear it from beginning to end.
3. Play the song at least three times. Walk around the classroom and provide direction and feedback when necessary. Make a competition out of it. The first group that finishes everything correctly gets a prize!
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Musical Mistakes Level: Any
Aims: Improve students listening and reading skills through music.
Materials: lyrics handout (
www.lyrics.com), stereo, copy of song.
Vocabulary:
mistake, wrong, right (and any difficult vocabulary found in the lyrics)
Steps:
It can also be used as an entire lesson if the song has difficult vocabulary or complex meanings.
1. Introduce the artist by playing the “Who am I?” game. Have students identify if you are a group, male, female, where you are from, how old you are etc. You may have to look on the Internet for info on singers which students seem to like, yet we know nothing about (Westlife… Westlife… Westlife…).
2. Once they guess who the singer is, show them a picture for interest sake. Play the song. Handout the lyrics of the song and tell them that they must find the mistakes. For lower level students, provide a choice of 2 words to help them identify the correct answer. Higher level students or adults can be given the lyrics with hidden mistakes (spelling, grammar) in which they have to identify and correct individually or a group. Play the song again and give them a second chance to correct the lyrics.
3. Discuss/explain the meaning of the song and talk about what kinds of emotions the song evokes. Adults can discuss the literary/poetic devices used such as alliteration, metaphors, similes, personification, imagery, rhyming scheme etc. You may need to crack out the ‘ole English 101 text for that!
