Workshop on using
songs in the secondary
classroom
Language Learning Support
Section
January 22nd 2008
Why?
Why?
• to promote the use of
Language Arts in
teaching English.
• to equip teachers with the
necessary knowledge
and skills for using
language arts texts and
activities in their lessons
• to enable them to benefit
from each others’
experiences by
encouraging sharing
among schools.
Language Arts
Network
Who?
• There are currently 61
members from 27 schools.
• All members are from
secondary schools
supported by the
Language Learning
Support Section.
2
What?
What?
• Workshops and
sharing sessions
relevant to Language
Arts:
– Two-part workshop on
poetry
– Workshop on songs
– Sharing on using TV
advertisements for
teaching and student
performance (June
2008)
How to
join?
• Use the form in your
pack
• The information is
useful for our
planning!
3
Activity One
Bingo Game - Instructions
• You will listen to 6 songs
• When the music is playing,
you make new friends
• When the music stops, you
talk to one new friend and
fill in one bingo box
Make more
friends and
Share ideas
4
Activity 2:
Understanding the Features of
Poems and Songs
5 mins
Match the list of terms used in
discussing poems and songs
with the definitions
5
Terms used in Discussing
Poems and Songs
assonance
e.g.
The repetition of similar vowel
sounds followed by differing
consonant sounds.
geek
I’m a little boy with glasses, the one they call a geek,
A little girl who never smiles ‘cos I got braces on my teeth
teeth.
[from “Don’t Laugh at Me” by Steve Seskin and Allen Shamblin]
6
imagery
Use of words to create mental pictures
or vivid sensory experiences for
the
reader. Most images are visual,
but
imagery may also appeal to the
senses
of smell, hearing, taste, or
touch. Such
images can be created
by using figures
of speech like
metaphors, similes
onomatopoeia,
personification, etc.
e.g.
e.g.
Longer
Longerthan
thanthere’ve
there’ve been
been fishes
fishesin
inthe
theocean
ocean
Higher
Higher than
thanany
any bird
birdever
ever flew
flew
Longer
Longerthan
thanthere’ve
there’ve been
been stars
starsup
upin
in the
theheavens
heavens
I’ve
I’vebeen
been in
inlove
love with
with you.
you.
[from
[from“Longer”
“Longer”by
byDan
DanFogelberg]
Fogelberg]
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Activity 3:
Analysing a Song
‘Don’t Laugh at Me’
Written by Steve Seskin & Allen Shamblin
Sung by Peter, Paul and Mary
8
Complete
the Analysis
Form
10 mins
9
Understanding Meaning
Bullying / Discrimination -- Different
victims of bullying pleading with the
bullies to stop bullying them
Theme/ We should respect people who are
Message different from us because we are all
equal
Topic
Voices
Mood
Victims of bullying -- a little boy with
glasses, a little girl with braces on her
teeth, a kid being excluded on the
playground, a single teenage mother, the
beggar on the corner, the fat, the thin, the
short, the tall, the deaf, the blind
Serious, sad
10
Activity 4B:
Using songs in English teaching
Work
in groups
and match
Teaching
activities
&
the activities
with
their
their focuses
teaching purposes
10 minutes
11
Using songs in English teaching
Any activities for
teaching with texts can
be used with songs.
12
Why these activities?
1. There are many different ways of
exploiting a song.
2. There’s more to using a song than what’s
in the lyrics.
13
Using songs in English teaching
Phonics  Spelling
14
Using songs in English teaching
Task 3
Identifying the speakers
Critical thinking
skills
15
Using songs in English teaching
16
Using songs in English teaching
Meaning & pronunciation of the word
Study skills
Culture of other countries
e.g. research
17
Using songs in English teaching
Before listening
Making predictions from the song title /
words taken from lyrics
Sequencing jumbled lines
Guessing missing words in gapped
lyrics
Correcting ‘misheard’ words in lyrics
18
Using songs in English teaching
While listening
Completing the gaps in lyrics
Correcting ‘misheard’ words
Sorting out jumbled lyrics
Ticking pictures of what they hear
Sequencing pictures/words
Answering T/F questions
Matching half-sentences
19
Using songs in English teaching
After listening
Listening again and singing along
Focusing on vocabulary/language
patterns/literary elements, etc.
Acting out/doing a role play
Discussion/presentation
Writing a review/responses to song
Retelling/rewriting/summarising the story
Conducting research on the background of
song/songwriter/singer, etc.
20
“Que Sera Sera”
Experience Sharing Session
• The school: Stewards Pooi Tun
Secondary School
• Level: S.1
• Module: Yesterday, Today and
Tomorrow
• Guest speaker: Ms. Joanna Leung,
Panel Head
21
Introduction to the song
Meaning
Language & Structure
• Topic: Future,
Dreams
• Message: We don’t
need to worry too
much about the future
as it is not ours to see.
• Voices: 4 voices
• Mood: Cheerful, lively
3 Verses
Refrain
Visual image: rainbow
Rhyme
Repetition of structure
22
Qué Será, Será (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)
Pre-listening task:
• Show pictures of some very well-known
people when they were young. Ask
students to guess who they are.
Do you think they knew
how famous they would
become when they were
small?
23
Listen to the song:
Understand the
song:
Voices
24
Study the
poetic device
Understand
the message
Make self-reflection
25
Speaking task:
• Fast-forwarding
your life
• Imagine that you
are now 30 years
old. Think about
what you and your
life will be like at
this age.
• Play the role of
yourself as a 30year-old person
and introduce
yourself in 1 minute.
26
Why is the song used in this module?
Modular Design:
Theme:
Wonderful things – Yesterday, Today,
Tomorrow
• Motivate learning
a) Yesterday: Old buildings
interest
b) Today: Famous / successful
• Cultivate positive
people
attitudes
c) Tomorrow: Dreams and plans • 3 tenses covered
Tasks:
a) A letter to the Chief Executive
b) Interviewing people
b) Profile writing
•
Talks about future
& dreams
• Develop extension
activities
27
Did students like the song?
• Good melody
• Enjoy singing the
song
• Easy to understand
the words
• Can understand the
meaning behind the
song under teacher’s
guidance
• The pre-listening task
can draw students’
attention successfully
28
Understand the message
Provide choices for No.7
Class discussion on No.8:
• Guide students to think about the
questions together
• Encourage students to give
different answers to the questions
• Choose the most sensible answer to
the question.
• Positive value and attitude
education
Think independently for
No.9
29
Understand the poetic devices
Who’s talking?
(voices)
• Work out one or two
verses with students
• Guide students to think
about the questions
Repetition
• Students can find out
the repeated lyrics
• Encourage discussion
for the key message of
the repeated lyrics.
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Oral Presentation
More able students:
• Focus a lot on sharing
their future career
• Feel shy to talk about
their family planning or
lovers
My family
& Friends
My Job
Less able students:
• Interested in sharing their
family plans
• More creative ideas
31
Adaptations
•
•
•
The mind-map could widen students’ ideas
Good for them to do planning
There were too many points and the
presentation is not focused
• Students did not do enough to elaborate their
ideas
• Questions were given to prompt the students
give elaboration
Suggestions:
1. Provide an example to demonstrate how to
elaborate ideas
2. Ask students to focus on 1 or 2 bubbles only
32
Extension activities
• My future dream
– sharing ideas about their future
• Mr Donald Tsang
– a reading task on one of the famous people
from the pre-reading
• Interviewing a teacher
– from reading to speaking
– develop students’ questioning skills
• Profile writing
– writing activity based on the interview
33
My Future Dream
• Speaking skills
• Pair work
• Form questions using
“Will you have / be”
• Note-taking skills
34
Reading Task:
Mr. Donald Tsang
• Good timing - Chief
Executive Election
(current issue)
• Students would like
to know more about
Donald Tsang
• Fill in Tsang YamKuen’s profile
35
Interview a teacher
•
•
Teachers appreciated their performance
The interviews were conducted smoothly
and systematically
Suggestions:
a) Less able students – Class interview
b) More able students – Group interview
36
Facilitating factors
•
•
•
•
Choose the right song
Good planning
Good collaboration among team members
Flexibility at implementation stage
37
Practical Session
Instructions
1. Read the analysis of the song
assigned to your group .
2. Complete Parts A & B.
3. Choose ONE teaching objective
from Part B and design an activity for
your target students.
39
Instructions
Screen
1
1. Form a NEW group
according to the
NUMBER on your label.
2. In the new group, tell
each other the activity
you designed on your
song earlier.
2
8
7
3
6
4
5
40
Suggested activities:
My Heart will Go on
Pre-listening
While-listening Post-listening
• Widen students’ • Have a general 1. Guide students
perspectives
idea about the
to understand
about love
song
the main theme
• Love can be
• Who’s speaking?
of the song
sweet, bitter
• What is the song 2. Interviewing the
and painful
about?
elderly Rose
• Love needs
3. Writing a song
patience,
mutual trust,
review
support and
care
41
Suggested activities: Jamaica Farewell
Pre-listening
While-listening
Post-listening
Objectives:
• Developing writing
Objectives:
Objectives:
skills: Understanding
• Developing
• Developing
the use of different
listening skills:
reading skills:
senses in writing
Making
Understanding the
descriptions
predictions about
main idea of each
verse
Pre-task:
the song
•
Task:
Task:
• Reading a poster • Drawing pictures
about the song
to show
understanding
Identifying details from
the lyrics that use
different senses in
describing the place
Task
• Rewriting the lyrics or
writing a description of
H.K. using senses
42
Hints for choosing songs
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Can you hear the words?
Will students like it?
Is the level of difficulty suitable?
Is there any useful language content?
Is the content suitable and relevant to students?
Will it produce a response?
Does the language/content fit your teaching
purpose and/or theme?
• What can you do before, during and after
listening?
• Warning! Check carefully for unsuitable
language and content!
43
Useful Resources
• Websites
– lyrics
• www.metrolyrics.com
• www.lyrics007.com
• www.lyricsfreak.com
– video
• www.youtube.com
– music download
• www.music.download.com
– worksheets and lesson ideas
•
•
•
•
•
•
www.musicalenglishlessons.org
www.isabelperez.com/songs.htm
www.esl-galaxy.com/music.htm
www.songsforteaching.com (written for teaching purposes)
http://www.eslprintables.com/printable.asp?id=14955
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/listentry/using_songs.s
html (British council - ideas for tasks)
44
Useful Resources
• Books
– Music and Song (Oxford English Resource
Books for Teachers) by Tim Murphey: OUP
– Heinemann Hits (photocopiable) by K Ludlow
and P Reilly: Macmillan Education
– Singing Grammar (photocopiable) by Mark
Hancock: Cambridge ELT
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