La Cité collégiale, Ottawa USING MUSIC IN THE ESL CLASSROOM MUSIC Mohammad Hashemi

WHY SONGS? Songs are: –Interesting and accessible –Motivating –Memorable –Linguistically, culturally, pedagogically rich

THE 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

GRAMMAR BASEMENT APARTMENT BASEMENT APARTMENT BASEMENT APARTMENT You live ---- out where the street ends / --- a basement apartment ---- one your friends /And the tap drips all night /Water torture the sink. The furnace is burning / But it's still cold I think I can smell the bleach /That they use -----the hall /But it can't clean the dirt of me It's seeping the door /And the floor /It's starting to hurt / Every time I breathe

SCRAMBLED LYRICS IRONIC Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly He won the lottery and died the next day It's a black fly in your Chardonnay It's a death row pardon two minutes too late And isn't it ironic... don't you think Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you It's like rain on your wedding day It's a free ride when you've already paid It's the good advice that you just didn't take Who would've thought... it figures An old man turned ninety-eight He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye And then meeting his beautiful wife He waited his whole damn life to take that flight And as the plane crashed down he thought "Well isn't this nice..." And isn't it ironic... don't you think It's like rain on your wedding day It's a free ride when you've already paid It's the good advice that you just didn't take Who would've thought... it figures A traffic jam when you're already late When you think everything's okay and everything's going right And life has a funny way of helping you out when You think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up In your face A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife It's meeting the man of my dreams And isn't it ironic...don't you think A little too ironic...and, yeah, I really do think... It's like rain on your wedding day It's a free ride when you've already paid It's the good advice that you just didn't take Who would've thought... it figures Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out Helping you out

POETIC DEVICES: RHYME BIRD 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: 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 Evaluation Listen 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.

PARAPHRASING BIG YELLOW TAXI BIG 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: HOMOPHONES & SEMI-HOMOPHONES ANGEL Spend awl you're thyme weighting Four that second chance Four a brake that wood make it okay Theirs always sum reason Two fill nut good in off And its hard ad thee end off the day Eye need sum destruction Oh beautiful release Memory sips from my vanes Let me bee empty And wait less and maybe Isle fined sum piece to knight

BUILDING A LESSON AROUND THE LYRICS 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 BACKGROUND –Summarizing –Paraphrasing –Note-taking –Mind mapping –Interviewing –Making timelines –Editing –Cloze tests Example: colloquialism (page 35) Stompin’ Tom

OTHER 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 INNOVATION Soundhound or Shazam Karaoke

IT’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

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