I've had a lot of fun this week teaching my students how to play the Cup Game. It was a great opportunity for the lower levels to feel like they could do something in my class just as well as the higher levels. The lesson is about 15 minutes of songs/videos, 15 minutes of gap-fill, reading, speaking, etc; and 15 minutes of practicing the cup game.
I did this with 30-35 girls in each class; I was afraid it would be too difficult to move desks around and crazy to pass out cups... but, actually, they pay great attention because they really want to learn it. Even my co-teachers joined in to learn how to play! And when I had special education students, I was pleased to see that many of them could do this just fine; if they weren't as able, they at least kept up with passing the cup in the game, so they could participate.
I made this Prezi for it:
http://prezi.com/omth8ehm0rqa/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copyYou can click through and use materials however you like. As for me, this is what I did:
1. Introduce the lesson as something "special and fun, with a funny video at the end" to pique their interest.
2. Show the first clip of Becca's audition in Pitch Perfect. (Uh, there's a bit of a cleavage issue with this video in Korea, but I just ignored it and none of my girls passed out in the end.)
3. Some will recognize Anna Kendrick from Twilight, but most don't, so I show just a little of the clip of her in Twilight. They usually have a collective "light-bulb" moment here and recognize her.
4. I explain that she has risen in popularity in America since her part in Twilight, because of her role in Pitch Perfect, singing and dancing. The short "Cup Song" became very popular, so she made the music video...
5. Play the music video. Kids are enthralled; many start tapping on their desks along to the song, wanting to learn it.
6. I go over some of the vocab in the song, introducing it first, having them repeat it twice. Then I click back to the beginning of the vocab and have them say the vocab from memory. Most of it is pretty easy and they already have it after that first time through.
7. We read the gap-fill sentences as a class. (But you could have them do this on their own, or make a worksheet of it.) The gaps are at the end of each sentence, so you can count off for them to all read, and when they reach the end, they each take their own time to figure out which word to choose.
8. After that, I pass out the lyrics and we do a gap fill with the music. I play it once through, all the way. Then again, pausing between paragraphs to let them look at the screen and see what words they missed the first time through. Then I play it through a third time, pausing after each stanza for us to read together or repeat each line as its sung. We watch one more video of an acappela cover version of the song and I encourage them to sing along if they can, but most can't at that point.
9. Then I go through and have them repeat the "Clap, tap, grab..." words so they know what I am saying when I teach them the game.
10. Then I whip out the cups (I keep them hidden in my desk--I bought 50 at HomeMart for under ten bucks) and tell them to stand in a big circle. Once they are standing in a circle, then it's easier just to pull as many desks as needed (one desk per student is too much, so there are always extras left in groups in the center) to have a surface in front of them. (Make as small a circle as possible, so they don't have to reach too far to pass.)
11. I teach them the easy part first, "Clap, clap, tap, tap, tap, clap, grab, move..." and have them repeat until they've got it. (This takes no time at all.)
12. Then I teach them the hard part. Specify which hands ("raise your right hand in the air... ok, use it to grab the cup like this...") to help them learn the motions with more ease. Give it in bits and repeat slowly. Then I tell them the last move "Cross/Pass" is when they pass it to their right. We practice passing for a few times, otherwise the game is messed up if they don't realize how/when they need to do it. Then we put it all together and slowly repeat it over and over. I usually give them about 5 minutes to practice on their own and help one another learn it, then we practice again as a group. When they get too fast and it falls apart, just start again, as slow as possible, so the ones who are having a hard time with it can join in again.
All in all, it's usually about 15 minutes of the Cup Game. If you say the single-syllable words for the movements, they get a little English out of it. But, mostly, it's just for fun. I'm planning on using a follow-up class to practice it more and do it to the music, practicing the words again so that some can sing along if their level is high enough.
When I've got about 6 minutes of class left, I tell them their "homework" is practicing the cups, so we can do it again next class with the music and singing. We move the desks back and sit down again. I close with the last video of Anna Kendrick coming to Korea to meet K-Pop group F(x), which has Korean subs and is SO funny, (although some classes think it is for real, so they don't start laughing until the end.) It's a good 5 minutes long, but totally awesome for them to see "the cup girl" collide with their culture, I think.
Definitely a lesson you can tailor to your class and use some parts and not others. My husband actually did the same lesson with his high school guys and they loved it, too!
Here is a playlist of all the YouTube videos, if you just want that material:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLljL4xhPfigILJZOl4DkHVWZn-D3UfVD4Gap-fill for lyrics is attached.
