MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION
DEPARARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
WITH THE BEATLES (The Beatles in EFL classes)
Diploma thesis
Brno 2007
Written by: Supervisor: Eva Minaříková Mgr. Jaroslav Suchý
1
Bibliographical description MINAŘÍKOVÁ, Eva. With The Beatles (The Beatles in EFL Classes): Diploma Thesis. Brno : Masaryk University, Faculty of Education, Department of English Language and Literature, 2008. 124 p., 7 p. appendices. Supervisor Mgr. Jaroslav Suchý.
Annotation This diploma thesis seeks to explore the potential for using The Beatles as a cultural phenomenon in EFL classes. It offers a range of lesson plans built on Beatles' materials that draw on reasearch conducted in the public courses of Brno language schools. The lesson plans are aimed at (young) adult learners and make use of a variety of teaching techniques supported by language teaching theory. The proposed lessons do not have a single aim but offer activities to practise different skills and language functions.
Anotace Tato diplomová práce zkoumá možné využití skupiny The Beatles jakožto kulturního fenoménu ve výuce angličtiny. Nabízí řadu připravených hodin, které vužívají materiálů spojených s The Beatles a které navazují na výzkum, jež byl proveden ve veřejných kurzech brněnských jazykových škol. Hodiny jsou zaměřeny na dospělé studenty a staví na řadě výukových metod podpořených didaktickou teorií. Navržené hodiny nemají jediný cíl, ale nabízí aktivity k procvičení různých dovedností a jazykových funkcí.
Keywords The Beatles, lesson plans, culture, music, songs, communicative activities, EFL
Klíčová slova The Beatles, plán hodiny, kultura, hudba, písně, komunikativní aktivity, výuka angličtiny.
2 Declaration
I declare that I have written my thesis on my own and that I used the sources listed in the bibliography. I agree that the work will be kept in the Masaryk University library for study purposes.
Brno, 15th April 2008 Eva Minaříková
3 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor for his kind and valuable advice and guidance. I could also not have written this thesis without the help of my colleagues who did not hesitate to discuss and criticise my lesson plans. I must acknowledge the support of my students, who agreed to be my guinea pigs and stayed with me from the beginning until the very end. Finally, I would like to thank my proof-reader for guiding me through the traps of the English language.
4 Contents 1.THE BEATLES AS A CULTURAL PHENOMENON...... 7
1.1 THE EARLY BEATLES...... 7 1.2 AT THE TOP ...... 8 1.3 BREAK-UP...... 9 1.4 SOLO CAREERS...... 9 1.5 INFLUENCE...... 9 2.THE BEATLES IN EFL CLASSES – MY RESEARCH...... 10
2.1 THE QUESTIONNAIRE...... 10 2.2 EVALUATING THE QUESTIONNAIRE...... 11 2.3 RESPONDENTS...... 12 2.3 HOW WELL-KNOWN ARE THE BEATLES?...... 13 2.4 HOW POPULAR ARE THE BEATLES?...... 16 2.5 WHAT INFLUENCE HAVE THE BEATLES HAD ON STUDENTS' LEARNING?...... 18 2.6 HOW POPULAR WERE THE BEATLES LESSONS?...... 22 2.7 USING SONGS AND THE BEATLES IN PROSPECTIVE LESSONS...... 23 2.8 WITH THE BEATLES – AN INTENSIVE COURSE...... 25 2.9 OUTCOME OF THE RESEARCH...... 27 3 PLANNING THE LESSONS...... 27
3.1 OBJECTIVES FOR THE LESSON...... 28 3.2 USE OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS IN THE CLASS...... 28 3.3 TEACHING CULTURE ...... 29 3.4 REASONS FOR THE BEATLES...... 30 3.5 METHODOLOGICAL BACKGROUND OF USE OF SONGS...... 31 3.6 METHODOLOGICAL BACKGROUND OF ACTIVITIES...... 33 4 LESSON PLANS...... 35
4.1 GENERAL REMARKS...... 35 4.2 ORGANISATION OF THE LESSON PLANS...... 36 4.3 ALL MY LOVING...... 38 4.4 ALL TOGETHER NOW...... 43 4.5 ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE...... 50 4.6 BINGO...... 56 4.7 FREE AS A BIRD...... 63 4.8 HELTER SKELTER...... 70 4.9 HER MAJESTY...... 80 4.10 I'M SO TIRED...... 87 4.11 INTERVIEW WITH PAUL...... 95 4.12 RAIN...... 100 4.13 REVOLUTION...... 110 4.14 SUMMARY - LESSON PLANS...... 116 CONCLUSION...... 117 BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 119 LIST OF APPENDICES...... 125 APPENDICES...... 125
5 Introduction „Ultimately, the Beatles are second to none in all departments. “
John Leiber 1,2
When I started thinking about the topic for my thesis, I wanted to do something I would enjoy. I enjoy teaching and I love The Beatles – so I decided to combine these two things. I believe there is hardly anyone who has never heard about The Beatles (at least of those people from our cultural background). As John Leiber says, they are second to none. So why shouldn't we use this great potential and bring it into our classrooms? A great deal has been already said and written about the benefits of using songs and music in our lessons. I would like to go beyond this. I would like to exploit The Beatles as a phenomenon, as a cultural milestone of the 20th century and use them not only to teach grammar, vocabulary and skills, but also to provoke thinking, discussion and to facilitate learning in general. As I work for a language school, the original idea for this thesis was to focus on learners who actually ended their compulsory education a long time ago and are now required or disposed to learning English later in their lives. I wanted to prepare a special course for them, based solely on Beatles materials. During the research and work on this thesis the idea did not prove to work very well (see The Beatles in EFL Classes – My Research), so I decided to change the whole concept. The focus on adult learners remained, but I included also young adults into the scope of interest. The next important change was to abandon the thought of a consistent course and instead to set out to prepare only individual lesson plans. So the new aim of my thesis is to use the great potential The Beatles have for EFL classes and to prepare a set of lesson plans using material connected with The Beatles (not only their songs) that are aimed at adults and young adults at language schools. To prove that these lessons did not appear out of nowhere I would like to
1 http://www.dailycelebrations.com/beatles_quotes.htm 2 Although the web site I found this quote on says it was by John Leiber, I suppose there was a mistake and the actual author is Jerry Leiber, an influential American songwriter, author of songs such as Hound Dog and Jailhouse Rock. Paul McCartney and John Lennon both paid tribute to him, acknowledging his great influence on their music. The Beatles covered some of his songs (e.g. Kansas City, Young Blood, Searchin', Three Cool Cats). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Leiber)
6 provide some theoretical background to the activities as well as a record of how well they worked in real lessons. My objective will be to make the lesson plans to be prepared as practical as possible in order to make them useful in real language schools.
1. The Beatles as a Cultural Phenomenon
"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." Decca Recording Co. upon rejecting the Beatles, 19623
Although rejected at the beginning (a decision which Decca Recording Co. undoubtedly later regretted), The Beatles became one of the most successful bands ever. Their entry in the Oxford Companion to Popular Music states: British rock group. Any history or sociological survey of Britain in the 1960s would have to include a section on the phenomenon of the Beatles. Clearly the most important group in the history of pop music, their influence is incalculable. They were to the British pop music industry what Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan were to America in the 1950s and 1960s respectively. They created the pop boom in Britain, simultaneously overcoming the half-century dominance of American popular music, moving the focus of the English music scene away from London, with its glib songwriting professionals and bland performers. (Gammond, 1993: p. 46)
In this chapter, we will briefly look at The Beatles from a biographical point of view to establish a backdrop to the activities. Most of the things mentioned in this chapter are related to the lesson plans. Reference is given when such a relationship occurs (information taken from MacDonald, 1997, if not stated otherwise).
1.1 The Early Beatles
The Beatles grew up and met in the city of Liverpool in the North-West of England. During their initial attempts at success as The Quarry Men (Lennon,
3 http://www.famous-quotes-and- quotations.com/decca_recording_co_rejecting_the_beatles_1962.html
7 McCartney, Harrison) and The Silver Beetles, they had their first concerts in Liverpool and in Scotland in 1960. This initial stage involved changing the members and names. In August 1960 they were booked for 48 concerts in Hamburg and changed their name to The Beatles. They came back from Hamburg at the end of 1960 and the year 1961 saw them become more and more popular. They needed a car to take them from one performance to another. Neil Aspinall became their roadie (see Rain). In April, they returned to Hamburg, but got their big break in November back in Liverpool when one Brian Epstein saw their concert in the Cavern Club. He became their manager and, although his initial attempt to secure a deal (with Decca) was rebuffed, they finally got a contract with Parlophone in 1962. In August 1962, Ringo Starr joined the band. The Beatles were then complete (Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Starr – the band members as requested in the research).
1.2 At the Top
In March 1963 the great success came. Please Please Me became UK number one. All the members were in their early twenties and the decision was taken to crack America. When they arrived at Kennedy Airport in February 1964, they were greeted by a hysterical crowd. They played on The Ed Sullivan Show and were watched by 73 million people. Their opening number was the song All My Loving (see p. 38). By August 1966, they had had two films and several number ones on both sides of the ocean. In 1967, McCartney, aged 25, admitted taking LSD – a confession that caused a major stom at the time. In 1968 The Beatles and their wives and girlfriends flew to India to meditate with Maharishi Maheshi Yogi (see I'm So Tired). In the same year the film Yellow Submarine had its premiere (see All Together Now). In September, the recording of the album The Beatles (known as The White Album) started (see I'm So Tired, Revolution). In March 1969 McCartney married Linda Eastman. Eight days later, Lennon married Yoko Ono.
8 1.3 Break-up
In April 1969, The Beatles began to record Abbey Road (the last album they would commence together - see Her Majesty) and, in 1970, their final album, Let It Be, was released. All of the members started working on their solo projects. Nothing happened for the entire year until, on 31st December 1970, McCartney sued the other members for the dissolution of The Beatles' contractual relationship. This date is considered the official end of The Beatles.
1.4 Solo careers
The Beatles will exist without us. George Harrison4
All the members subsequently pursued their own paths. Starr recorded Sentimental Journey, Harrison All Things Must Pass, and Lennon The Wedding Album. Their careers are very well known and their personal and professional lives have all been the subject of intense media interest for over half of a century, not least when the world looked on in horror at the murder of John Lennon in 1980. Despite this tragedy, the remaining members of the group reunited for the Anthology project (see Free as a Bird). Any further reunion is highly unlikely given Harrison's death through lung cancer cancer in 2001.
1.5 Influence
To fully credit The Beatles' influence on popular music and society in general is almost an impossible task. So, instead, I will just cite a quotation by Billy Corgan, the vocalist and lead guitarist of The Smashing Pumpkins:
4 http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgeharr177111.html
9 You can't be greater than Elvis, change things as much as The Beatles, or be as original as Led Zeppelin. All you can do is rip them off.5
2. The Beatles in EFL Classes – My Research
Having established my goal as the assistance of adult learners through the use of Beatles materials in EFL classes, some important questions arose. The most important questions I asked were whether there really is a high number of (older) adults in language schools – which was basically my principal presumption. Furthermore, the next presumption that needed to be confirmed was the fame of this band. Is it really true to claim that nearly all people know The Beatles? Having confirmed my main premises, I also wanted to know whether the use of The Beatles in lessons is beneficial and appealing for the students. At this stage, I also wanted to find out whether a course based solely on Beatles materials would be interesting for the students. To find answers to my questions, I decided to design a questionnaire for students in language school courses (see Appendix 1). In the next sub-chapters, I will describe the progress of my research in detail.
2.1 The Questionnaire
In designing the questionnaire, I decided first to ask general questions about The Beatles, then continue with the students' existing experience with The Beatles in language learning. As the next step, I wanted to investigate the perspective of using songs and especially The Beatles in lessons. At the end, I included questions about the intensive course I wanted to create and the viability of its implementation. For the questionnaire see Appendix 1. Individual items will be discussed in following sub-chapters together with the results. I tried to make the questionnaire useful for language learning. It is designed to be used as a communicative activity. Students interview each other and write down their 5 http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/viewquotesabout/the_beatles_423
10 partner's answers (except for questions 2 – 4). Then they exchange the questionnaire sheets and fill in questions 2, 3, and 4. As most of the items in the questionnaire are written as statements, students are forced to change them into questions. This activity worked quite well in my classes. Students did not feel that they were wasting time and were more than willing to participate in the research. As I wanted to get results from even lower level students, I tried to write it in simple English. Furthermore, I created a worksheet that would prepare elementary students for answering my questions and for the communicative use of the questionnaire (see Appendix 2).
2.2 Evaluating the Questionnaire
As the main premise for my thesis is that The Beatles should be more appealing for older students, for my interpretation of the questionnaire I divided the respondents into groups according to their age. I decided to draw the first line at the age of 25 (approximate age when university students graduate, as I consider this a significant milestone in life – although I am aware that not all respondents are university students / graduates) and then every ten years to investigate the changes in opinions that come with the increase in age. I divided the groups as follows: ● 18 – 25 years ● 26 – 35 years ● 36 – 45 years ● 45+ The individual items of the questionnaire will be dealt with in six groups (see sub-chapters 2.3 -2.8). The sub-chapters are again divided into smaller units. Each unit begins with one actual item from the questionnaire and gives results and an explanation. Every sub- chapter dealing with the questionnaire itself contains a short introduction and a short summary.
11 2.3 Respondents
The data for my research was collected from public classes held in the afternoons and evenings, as well as from the post-secondary courses of two language schools in Brno. The total number of respondents was 48. The age and gender distribution of the participants is shown below:
Age Women Men Total 18 - 25 18 10 28 26 - 35 9 3 12 36 - 45 5 3 8 45 and more 0 0 0 Total 33 16 48
The respondents level is shown in the following graph.
Respondents' Level of English
100,00% 4%
90,00% 14%
80,00%
18% 70,00% Adv anced Upper- 60,00% intermediate Intermediate 50,00% Pre-intermediate Elementary 40,00% 53% 30,00%
20,00%
10,00% 10% 0,00%
Graph 1
12 2.3 How well-known are The Beatles?
The first set of questions was aimed at the „fame“ of The Beatles. The very first question had a clear result – all 48 respondents know The Beatles. As I had predicted this outcome, I wanted to investigate it a little bit further. I asked the respondents to name three of The Beatles' albums, three of their songs, and the members of the band.
I know these albums by the Beatles (Write down the names.):
Although all the respondents said that they know The Beatles, about half of them were not able to name any of their albums (see Graph 2). The percentage of „no album“ was about the same in all age groups. The highest number of respondents who were able to name three albums was in the age group 36 – 45. The album Yellow Submarine appeared 7 times in the questionnaires of the youngest group. In the second group, the most mentioned album was Help!. The age group 36 – 45 remembered albums Yellow Submarine and A Hard Day's Night the best.
Albums the respondents know
100% 4% 8% 10% 90% 18% 17% 14% 80% 38%
70% 17% 32% 3 albums 60% 27% 2 albums 50% 25% 1 album 0 albums 40%
30% 58% 46% 49% 20% 38% 10%
0% 18 – 25 26 – 35 36 – 45 All respondents
Graph 2
13 I know these songs by the Beatles (Write down the names.):
The number of songs the students were able to name was considerably higher (see Graph 3). In total, about 50% respondents knew all three songs they were asked to provide. The rate of people with three songs rose slightly with age. Only about 10 % of all repondents were not able to name at least one song by The Beatles. The song that appeared the most in the questionnaires was definitely Yesterday (37 times). Other songs a lot of respondents remembered were Help! and Yellow Submarine. There were no special preferences in the different age groups.
Songs the respondents know
100%
90%
80% 43% 50% 47% 70% 63% 3 songs 60% 2 songs 50% 1 song 25% 8% 16% 0 songs 40%
30% 33% 25% 27% 20% 21%
10% 11% 8% 13% 10% 0% 18 – 25 26 – 35 36 – 45 All respondents Graph 3
The members of the band were: (Write down their names.)
In the following item, the respondents were asked to name the members of the band (see Graph 4). Quite a high number of students were able to name all four members of the group (if we take the group as it was for most of its existence, not the
14 members before Ringo Starr joined The Beatles, see page 8). Only a few of them, however, were able to spell their names properly. The lowest rate of respondents to name all four members was in the youngest group. They cannot spell the name of Ringo Starr (*Star). When they named only three members, they always forgot George Harrison. The member they remembered the best was Paul McCartney.
Members the students remembered
100% 8% 6% 90% 18% 25% 80% 33% 70% 50% 4 members (correct spelling) 36% 60% 4 members (wrong spelling) 3 members 50% 50% 2 members 29% 1 member 40% O members 18%
30% 25% 16% 14% 20% 13% 8% 10% 17% 14% 13% 8% 0% 18 – 25 26 – 35 36 – 45 All respondents
Graph 4
In general, we can say that the claim the respondents know The Beatles was true. Although not many of them can actually name their albums, a high percentage of them know their songs and the members of the band. In my opinion, this illustrates that the Beatles' names are common knowledge, even though their mispelling might suggest that people are not fully aware of why they know them.
Higgins: Where does one buy a lady's gown?
Pickering: Whitely's, of course.
Higgins: How do you know that?
Pickering: Common knowledge.
(My Fair Lady6)
6 http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/m/my-fair-lady-script-transcript.html
15
2.4 How popular are The Beatles?
We're more popular than Jesus. -- John Lennon, 1966 7
In the second set of questions, I wanted to find out how popular The Beatles are. As I supposed a high number of respondents would like them, I went on to ask about how frequently the students listened to their songs and albums the students.
I like / don´t like their music. (Circle your answer.)
Only two students from all the respondents claimed that they did not like The Beatles. Both of them were from the age group 18 – 25. In my original presumptions, I expected much higher number of negative responses in this age group as The Beatles could now be perceived as somewhat old-fashioned and outmoded.
I have …….. Beatles´albums at home. (Please write down the number.)
I remembered their songs but I had never owned a Beatles album. Sheryl Lee 8, 9
Graph 5 shows that about 50 % of the respondents do not own any of The Beatles' albums. Four students from the youngest group claimed that they have all of their albums. When I inquired further, it appeared that they have one CD-ROM with all the albums and lyrics.
7 http://music.aol.com/feature/famous-quote-john-lennon 8 http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/sheryllee337763.html 9 Sheryl Lee is a German born American actress. She played Astrid Kirchherr in the film Backbeat about The Beatles' early days in Hamburg.
16 Albums the respondents own
100% 8% 14% 13% 90% 4% 25% 4% 8% 80% 4% 25% 14% 16% 70% All albums 25% 4 albums 60% 11% 12% 3 albums 50% 2 albums 8% 1 album 40% O albums 30% 63% 54% 51% 20% 42%
10%
0% 18 – 25 26 – 35 36 – 45 All respondents
Graph 5
I listen to the Beatles (Choose one please.): 1. every day 5. only when I hear one of their songs 2. 2 – 3 times a week on the radio 3. once a week 6. other: ………………… 4. once a month
Graph 56clearly shows that only few students actually listen to The Beatles more than once a month. Surprisingly, these 2 students were from the youngest group. Another surprising fact was that the highest rate of deliberate listening to the band was also in the youngest group (about 30 %). Respondents who chose „other“ usually meant now and then, or sometimes. It is clear that most of the respondents just listen to The Beatles when they happen to hear one of their songs on the radio.
17 Frequency of listening to The Beatles
100% 6% 11% 90%
80%
70% Other 54% 75% 60% 65% By chance Once a month 92% 50% Once a week 2-3 times a week 40% Every day
30%
20% 29% 24% 25% 10% 7% 8% 0% 4% 18 – 25 26 – 35 36 – 45 All respondents
Graph 6
To sum up, the majority of the students claimed that they like The Beatles' music, but only a small percentage delibarately seek their music. Against my assumptions, the most positive results were in the youngest group.
2.5 What influence have The Beatles had on students' learning?
I translated Beatles songs for my English class. Christian Lacroix10,11
The next area I wanted to explore was the actual effect The Beatles have on students' learning. I divided this into three groups – a phrase the students remember from The Beatles' songs, a lesson with The Beatles' song they remember and an article about The Beatles they can remember from an EFL class.
10 http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/christianl273973.html 11 Christian Lacroix is a famous French designer, born in 1951.
18 Can you remember a word or a phrase from one of their songs (other than the name of the song)? (Please give an example and translate or explain in English)
About the same number of respondents (50%) in each group can remember a word or a phrase from a Beatles' song (see Graph 7). Nevertheless, the younger the students were, the more some of them could actually translate the phrase more or less correctly into Czech. The songs the students remembered the most were again Help! and Yesterday. Respondents usually translated the phrases All my troubles seemed so far away and Help! I need somebody.
Phrases the students remembered
100% 8% 90% 18% 29% 80% 50% 42% 70% 29% 18% 60% Phrase + Translation Phrase 50% No answer 40% 30% 54% 50% 50% 53% 20% 10% 0% 18 – 25 26 – 35 36 – 45 All respondents
Graph 7
I can / cannot remember a lesson (with a song) about the Beatles in my English class.
Only about a half of the students remembered a lesson based on The Beatles' songs (see Graph 8). The rate of respondents that actually remembered a lesson rose as the demographic decreased in age.
19 Lesson the respondents remember
100%
90%
80% 43% 53% 70% 58% 75% 60% No 50% Yes
40%
30% 57% 47% 20% 42% 25% 10%
0% 18 – 25 26 – 35 36 – 45 All respondents
Graph 8
Which song was it? (Circle or give your own answer.) I can´t remember. / It was ……………………………………………
Only two students who claimed to remember a lesson based on a song by The Beatles did not remember which song it was. The most mentioned songs were Yesterday, Help!, I'm So Tired, and Don't Bother Me. The last two songs are not very well known, but I used them in my classes before I actually started to write this thesis, which may be the reason why the students remembered these songs.
I can / cannot remember an article about the Beatles in my English class.
Only a very small number of respondents could remember a lesson with an article about The Beatles (see Graph 9). This is quite surprising, as The Beatles appear in many textbooks (articles, pictures, or questions in quizzes).12
12 Prospects advanced (Wilson, et al, 2001: p. 44-45), Horizons 3 (Radley, Simons, Campbell, 2005: p. 88, 92), New Cutting Edge Elementary (Cunningham, Moore, 2005: p. 60), New Cutting Edge Pre- Intermediate (Cunningham, Moore, 2005: p. 132-133), Inside Out Pre-Intermediate (Kay, Jones, Kerr, 2002: p. 46)
20 Article the respondents remember
120%
100%
80%
No 60% Yes
40%
20%
0% 18 – 25 26 – 35 36 – 45 45 and more All respondents
Graph 9
What did you learn about the Beatles in the article? (Circle or give your own answer.) I can´t remember. / I learned that …………………
All of the respondents that remembered an article about The Beatles in their English class also remembered some information from that article. Some of the mentioned topics were their life and career, Paul and Linda McCartney, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and McCartney's daughter being a fashion designer.
In general, it is difficult to say whether the lessons based on articles about The Beatles are less of an incentive for remembering or just scarce. However, the students remembered lessons based on a song much more than on an article. In the next sub- chapter we will explore how popular those lessons were.
21 2.6 How popular were The Beatles lessons?
In this sub-chapter we will look at the success Beatles-based lesons had in EFL classes. I asked the respondents whether they liked the lessons based on the song (first item) and the article (second item).
I liked / didn´t like the lesson (with the song) because: (Circle your answer and give reason please.)
Only one respondent from each age group stated that they did not like the lesson based on a song by The Beatles. The reason in the youngest group was that the student would rather choose a song by Kylie Minogue. In the other groups the negative attitude was caused by not being able to understand the song and lyrics as the listening was difficult and not clear. This fault could, however, be corrected by choosing right song and using good sound equipment. On the other hand, the vast majority found the lesson agreeable. In their explanations the respondents said that they found it relaxing, funny, interesting and easy to understand (!). They liked listening to the song, translating and explaining the meaning of the lyrics. In their opinion it it was not boring and brought a special atmosphere into the lesson.
I liked / didn´t like the lesson (with the article) because: (Circle your answer and give a reason, please.)
Most of the students answered that they liked the lesson (about two thirds). For the reason they named e.g.: I like their music, their life is interesting, it is interesting to get information about famous people. The last reason is obvious as magazines about famous people (Bravo, Blesk, Rytmus života, etc.) are very popular in our country.
22 To sum up, the lessons based on The Beatles proved to be popular with the students. As opposed to my initial presumptions, they seem to be successful in all age groups.
2.7 Using songs and The Beatles in prospective lessons
The next set of questions was directed towards the use of songs in general, and The Beatles' songs in particular, in English classes. I was interested as to whether students would like songs to be included in their lessons and why.
I like / don´t like it when our teacher uses songs in the class because : (Circle your answer and give reason please.)
Graph 10 clearly shows that attitudes towards using songs is generally positive. Nevertheless, the positive aproach falls with increasing age. Reasons for negative answers were difficulties with understanding and the strangeness of English songs. However, some Czech songs are undoubtedly strange, too. Reasons for positive reactions were more or less the same in all age groups. The main reasons were: I like music; I can remember words from songs; it is useful for my English; lessons with songs are more interesting and agreeable; songs create a relaxing atmosphere; it is interesting to read the lyrics; it is simple to learn phrases from songs; it is different and refreshing; it is good for listening; it is an interesting way to listen, understand, and learn grammar. Many of these reasons match Tim Murphey's reasons why songs are important in language learning (1992: p.6-7).
23 Use of songs in classes
120%
100% 14% 25% 80% 38%
No 60% Y es
100% 86% 40% 75% 63%
20%
0% 18 – 25 26 – 35 36 – 45 All respondents
Graph 10
I would / wouldn´t like to work with Beatles´ songs in our class because: (Circle your answer and give reason please.)
The reaction to using The Beatles' songs was more negative than to using songs in general. My presumptions were again proved incorrect, as the negative attitude seemed to increase with increasing age (see Graph 11). Negative reasons were mostly connected with personal preferences (I don't like The Beatles. They are not modern.) On the other hand, 75% respondents would still like to use The Beatles songs in their lessons. The reasons they stated were connected with personal preferences (I like their music) and The Beatles' fame (They are famous. I am familiar with them, as everyone is. I would like to learn more about them.). The Beatles-specific reasons were that their music is good and optimistic, their lyrics are interesting, and their English is nice and easy to understand.
24 Use of The Beatles' songs in classes
120%
100% 17% 21% 24% 80% 38%
No 60% Yes
83% 40% 79% 76% 63%
20%
0% 18 – 25 26 – 35 36 – 45 All respondents
Graph 11
Although my premises about using songs with older students were proved incorrect, the claim that The Beatles phenomenon and their songs are still appealing and have potential for language teaching and learning was proved right.
2.8 With The Beatles – an intensive course
After discovering all those things, I wanted to explore my initial idea about an intensive course based solely on The Beatles' materials.
I would / wouldn´t like to take part in an intensive course based only on Beatles material (songs, video, articles, interviews, …) because:
Despite my initial enthusiasm, I found out that almost no students would want to take part in such a course. What was even more surprising, the rate of negative answers was almost the same in all the age groups (about 10%, see Graph 12).
25 The Beatles intensive course
120%
100%
80%
No Yes 60% 83% 89% 88% 88%
40%
20%
17% 11% 13% 12% 0% 18 – 25 26 – 35 36 – 45 All respondents
Graph 12
I would not pay for such a course. / I would pay a maximum of …………. CZK for 36 lessons (45 min) of the Beatles intensive course. (Please circle or write down the price.)
Even though some of the students would like to take part in The Beatles course, none of them would be willing to pay for it.
I don´t know how much I pay. / I pay ………………. for 1 lesson (45min) of this course. (Please circle or write down the price.)
I added this item asking about the price of the students' current course to my questionnaire just to make the question about how much the students would pay for The Beatles course easier and to give them some price to relate to. I did not analyse the prices as it is not relevant to my research.
26 2.9 Outcome of the Research
Outcomes of this research were somewhat surprising to me. I expected to get the more positive answers the older the students were. This presumption proved to be wrong in most of the items. In some of the questions it was even the other way round (see Graph 8 for instance). In general, the reactions to using The Beatles songs in classes were positive, whereas the reactions to an intensive course based only on The Beatles' materials were very negative. With this result I found it necessary to abandon my initial idea to develop a course based only on The Beatles and rather develop single lesson plans for use in General English classes. I also changed my mind about the age distribution and decided to include young adults into the target group for these lessons. Further description of my new goal is provided in the next chapter.
3 Planning the Lessons
As I mentioned in the summary of the research, I was forced to dismiss the idea of a course based entirely on The Beatles and focus rather on preparation of individual lesson plans. This, however, had several advantages. First of all, I was now able to include several levels of English. Furthermore, I was not forced to connect the lessons and develop a whole course project. The third reason was purely practical – it was easier to try out and evaluate single lessons than a consistent course. The lesson plans I prepared are meant as either a whole lesson or as its supplement. I leave it to the consideration of individual teachers as to how to use these activities best and, if necessary, what to connect them with. In this chapter, I will describe some general objectives and theoretical background for planning my lessons in general. In the next chapter, I will introduce individual lesson plans.
27 3.1 Objectives for the Lesson
The first objective of each lesson is very clear – to make use of The Beatles to bring realism to the classes (other reasons will be discussed in Reasons for The Beatles). I decided to include their songs, videos, quotes, and articles about them. The next step would be to develop activities suitable for a certain level that would incorporate several language skills. Usually there is a principle grammar/functional/vocabulary focus. Another goal is to make the activities as interesting as possible and motivating for adults and young adults. I want the students to learn, be motivated, and have fun. As all the groups of adults are very different – some very communicative and impulsive, whereas others are rather calm – I sometimes provide two options: one for normal classes and one for livelier ones. In the next sub-chapters I will describe some common theoretical ground for the following lesson plans.
3.2 Use of Authentic Materials in the Class
One of the reasons why I hose to use The Beatles' materials is definitely their authenticity. There is a discussion as to how authentic EFL materials should be. Cunningsworth and Tomlinson (1984: p. 52) point out that many tapes that accompany English textbooks are recorded by professional actors which results in an unreal feel of those materials and sometimes „overpronunciation“. Using authentic songs can clearly prevent this from happening. On the other hand, it is quite clear that we cannot expose our students to an overwhelming piece of difficult authentic language. I believe songs (and I hope to prove this in the next chapter) are easily adaptable to different levels. At this stage, I would like to cite Lake and one of his reasons for using songs: One corollary to the monitor model involves the “i-plus1” formula. According to Krashen, the input that the language student receives should be a little beyond his or her current level of understanding. In other words,
28 the language that the learners are exposed to should be close enough to their own level of competency “plus-one” or just a bit more of the next level.
Song lyrics often work this way because students will pick up the chorus much sooner than the verses of a song. The chorus is a hook to the plus-one feature of many parts of the verses. (Lake, 2002-2003: p. 104)
Another advantageof using authentic materials to an appropriate degree is their motivational character. Cunnigsworth and Tomlinson (1984: p. 27) highlight the benefits of using authentic materials in the class. Clearly all teaching material, particularly at the earlier stages of learning, cannot and should not be composed of authentic language. It is, however, beneficial to the learner's confidence and motivation, and therefore to his overall learning performance, to be able to cope with a limited amount of authentic language. (Cunningsworth, Tomlinson, 1984: p.27)
Furthermore, authentic materials are not just about language but usually also introduce authentic culture. Every teacher is familiar with the concept of realia – physical objects such as postcards, photographs, images, and symbols associated with the target culture. Images and symbols may be found in song lyrics, idioms, and certain words and expressions. These items are not just useful as language- teaching material. Familiarity with them offers learners a cultural currency which helps them to feel more confident and to sound more fluent in the target culture. (Tomalin and Stempleski, 1993: p. 39)
This idea of being fluent not only in language, but also in the target culture, will be investigated in the following sub-chapter.
3.3 Teaching Culture
Teaching culture in EFL classes has recently become popular. As Tomalin and Stempleski show (1993, p. 39), it is supposed to make our students more confident about the new culture whose language they are learning. Johnson (2005), however, argues that the viewpoints of the teacher and their students are different. Teachers think that having cultural knowledge will make the students interact with the community and communicate more effectively, but the students' point of view is somewhat different. Although they believe there should be some cultural component in the class, they see explicit cultural lessons as just a way to timproving their language proficiency.
29 As one student said, "I am not concerned about culture except that it helps me know English. I think there should be some culture, but mostly English. Understand English more easily." The students appear much less overtly concerned about acclimating and more concerned with learning English. (Johnson, 2005)
In my lesson plans I tried to meet both these requirements. I based the lessons on authentic materials with an element of culture, yet they also focus on language learning and development of skills at the same time. One important aspect of using culture in EFL lessons helped me in this. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, I observed that students and teachers "forget" they were studying a language when cultural issues arose in class. If forgetting is a sign of internalizing a new language and if culture is a means to do this, perhaps it is not hegemonic to use it, but rather pedagogically sound. (Johnson, 2005)
I believe using culture, i.e. The Beatles, will make students forget they are actually studying a language and make them use it.
3.4 Reasons for The Beatles
Everybody's born knowing all the Beatles lyrics instinctively. They're passed into the fetus subconsciously along with all the amniotic stuff. Fact, they should be called "The Fetals".
Sliding Doors (1998)13
In my research I showed that the students favour using The Beatles in class. However, it is not just a subjective phenomenon. Peter Viney14 expressed his optimism towards using 1960s music in teaching English as a foreign language in his article in Modern English Teacher (2006): Some books will shove in Yesterday in an Elementary Past simple lesson, ignoring the problems with vocabulary and all the other structures. I like a song to be at least 50% transparent, and like many others have found 60s songs a better source of simpler lyrics. This is not just our age! (Viney, 2006: p. 53)
13 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120148/quotes 14 Peter Viney is author of many textbook and videos adapted for use in EFL classes. He co-wrote textbooks such as Grapevine, Survival English, in English, or Streamline.
30 This understandability was also expressed by the students themselves in the questionnaire. The previous sub-chapters described the benefits of using authentic material and culture in EFL classes. The Beatles have both these characteristics. They are major (possibly the best known) representatives of the UK music market and something of a national treasure to the British. Using pop songs as realia in EFL classs has obvious appealing aspects, such as being authentic texts from anglophone popular culture (music being a major UK expor as well), source material for cultural and global studies, and as literary texts. (Jannuzi, 2006: p. 58)
I believe it is clear that The Beatles have the best constellation of characteristics we have discussed. There is one more significant asset. They are real. Although the group fell apart in 1970, their songs are still played on the radio and they are still the centre of media attention.15 This reality of their existence - of which the students are probably constantly reminded - is the last but definitely not the least benefit The Beatles can bring into our classrooms. It follows that a major means of encouraging personal involvement and commitment is a fairly simple one: get the students to talk about themselves and other real people and to discuss real topics that are of immediate interest. (Cunningsworth, Tomlinson, 1984: p. 60)
3.5 Methodological Background of Use of Songs
Music is three-dimensional. A song is more than just words and notes on paper. Music is an environment that expresses emotion and conveys a message. Could this be part of what Plato had in mind when he said, “Music is a more potent instrument than any other for education”? (Lake, 2002-2003: p. 102)
This quote illustrates one of the principle reasons for the use of songs in English classes. I believe the topic of songs has already been covered several times (see Pospíchalová, 2005; Rosová, 2007), so I will just briefly mention some points that I find essential and that laid the theoretical background for my own lesson plans. 15 Most recently noticeable in the huge media coverage of the divorce between Sir Paul McCartney and the former model, Heather Mills – a divorce believed to be one of the most expensive in history.
31 The definitive comment on using songs in EFL teaching is pehaps made by Cranmer and Leroy in their book Musical Openings (1995): The idea of using music in the teaching of languages is not a new one. As long as people have learnt languages, songs have played an important role in the learning process, not only in the classroom but in the world outside. Music is such a fundamental manifestation of culture and of the human need to communicate that it is inextricably associated with language. (Cranmer and Laroy, 1992: p.1)
Having said this, let us have a look at the psychological grounding for the use of songs. The humanistic movement in education focuses on including the whole personality of the learners into the class. Essentially it (i.e. humanistic movement) is concerned with developing and bringing into play all aspects of the learner's personality, and not just the cognitive or intellectual side. Consequently a good deal of emphasis is placed on the expression of feelings and attitudes on the part of the learner, together with a sense of sharing and supportiveness in the class as a whole. (Cunningsworth, 1984: p. 60)
Music enables us to do this as it stimulates students cognitive, affective, as well as conative sides, and so fulfills the demands of humanistic (holistic) approach to teaching. Moreover, it enhances imagination and conjures up images and feelings in our students' minds, which helps generating language (Lowe, 2007: p.9). The songs can promote the learning of different parts of the language. Except for grammar, vocabulary and skills, it is a great tool for teaching and learning correct pronunciation and the natural sound of speech. Song, which combines both music and language, can be very helpful in teaching students how to express emotion in the new languge – and how to speak with a comprehensible accent. A good song highlights the rhythm, the melodic shape and the important words. When the words are memorized, they deeply influence the way we speak the new language, making it more natural, more charged with emotion – and easier for others to understand. (Lowe, 2007: p. 7)
Lowe also highlight yet another asset of songs – if the song is appealing and catchy enough, it can become an Ohrwurm (a German word, in English it means a song that is „stuck on someone's eternal jukebox“): But the real benefits of songs are long-term. The words stick in the memory: they help us to think in the new language: they deeply influence the way we talk in the language, making our speech more natural, more tinged wit emotion – and more comprehensible. Once absorbed into the long-term
32 memory, songs help to give our speech colour, emotion and imagination. (Lowe, 2007: p. 9)
To sum up, I would like to illustrate the use of songs and music on a real example given by Lake (2002-2003): After using music at lest once a week for most of the school year, I asked one of the advanced adult ESL students to write down a summary of how the music approach helped her. I changed nothing that she wrote down.
Music
Helps with pronunciation.
Helps with understanding the vocabulary out of the context.
Lets see the beautyness and variety of the English language.
Lets get more interest at the English language.
Lets feel success after many repeating of the songs.
Improves the solidarity feeling of the class.
Offers the possibility to learn more about the American country (either because of the names in the words or because of the thoughts).
Furthers the acoustic learning so that the student understands the American people better.
Helps with grammar.
(Lake, 2002-2003: p. 109)
3.6 Methodological Background of Activities
In my lesson plans I tried to include all the principles I have mentioned in the previous sub-chapters. I tried to focus not only on grammar and vocabulary, but also on real language (as songs are a great source of colloquial language) and communicative skills. The
33 activities are very different in each lesson plan but all of them have some kind of speaking practice or communicative rehearsal (see All Together Now or Rain). English should come over as a means of conveying messages of consequence and relevance an as a means through which one's experience is enriched and widened. It could well be presented as a „window on the world“. (Cunningsworth, 1984: p.59)
To try and achieve this goal, I attempted to include students' opinions, attitudes, and feelings into the lesson and give them space to express themselves. Students bring a lot with them. They all have their own ideas, opinions, experiences, and eareas of expertise. All of this is important to them. What they need from the English language classroom is the language to express all this, and thereby themselves, in English. (Campbell and Kryszewska, 1992: p. 5)
Lewis (2000) describes a different role of a teacher: Instead of being facilitator, the teacher should be first and foremost a language provider and the expert who helps students notice useful and interesting language. (Lewis, 2000: p. 66)
I believe this applies a great deal when using songs in the lessons as the lyrics are full of interesting forms and it is up to the teacher to highlight the ones that are particularly appropriate and useful for the given class. In my lesson plans I sometimes prompted the teacher to focus students' attention on a particular feature (that is usually used later on) but there are many different features and forms that can be of use (such as revision of grammar, enrichment of vocabulary, introducing a particular phrase etc.). When the lesson plan is based on a song, I attempted to follow Lowe's criteria for using songs:
● the melody must be catchy, and easy to remember;
● the words must be memorable and worth remembering;
● the song must not offend (some rap songs may be unacceptable in some classrooms); and
● - last but certainly not least – the diction of the singer must be crystal clear (some pop songs used with modern EFL courses fail this test).
(Lowe, 2007: p. 9)
34 To conclude, my general objective as far as designing material is concerned was described by Cunnigsworth: Other points that we should look for in teaching materials are variety and pace, attractive appearance and feel, activities leading to personal involvement and „self-investment“ in the learning process, and activities with a competitive or problem-solving element in them. (Cunnigsworth, 1984: p. 59)
Methodology, content and other consideration will be discussed in the introduction to individual lesson plans in the following chapter.
4 Lesson Plans
4.1 General Remarks
I described the general background of activities included in my lesson plans in the previous chapter. In this chapter, I would like to introduce the individual lesson plans together with some theoretical considerations and practical evaluation. However, I would like to highlight that these lesson plans are not meant to be rigid law that must be obeyed under any circumstances. It has been said before that every student brings his own opinions, attitudes, and experience into the class, as every teacher does. Moreover, each class as a unit has special needs and only they and the teacher know what is best-suited for them and what works the best. When I asked my colleagues to test my lesson plans, I provided them with detailed Teacher's Notes but at the same time encouraged them to adapt their lesson to their unique class setting. The testing and adaptations will be discussed in each sub- chapter. Good teaching materials should indeed inspire both teacher and students. The teacher should be encouraged to move away from dpendence on the material which he is using, towards a more creative and indepenent relationship in which imagination and an understanding of the students' difficulties and interests come into prominence. (Cunningsworth, 1984: p. 65)
35 … there is a clear move away from dependence on the pre-determined content and format of published materials: every class will bring its own unique mix of individuals and their past experiences, every lesson will generate a unique set of needs. (Campbell and Kryszewska, 1992: p. 3)
4.2 Organisation of the Lesson Plans
In this sub-chapter the layout and organisation of individual lesson plans and their presentations will be introduced. Each lesson plan has the same name as the song it is based on. If the lesson is not based on a song, the activity has a name that best describes its nature. The presentation of each lesson plan follows the same pattern. First, after the main heading, there is some theoretical background and general considerations about the content, aim, and objectives of the particular lesson. Teacher's Notes and worksheets did not appear out of the blue and are based on books and web pages. As I did not want to disturb the layout of those parts, I include the bibliography for the whole sub-chapter at this place. The background information to the songs and activities is mainly taken from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Being aware that it is not considered a reliable source, in many of the introductions to lesson plans other sources are cited including some basic facts about the song (usually overlapping with the Background note in Teacher's Notes). This double check should ensure the accuracy of the information provided. The theory is followed by Teacher's Notes. I decided to keep the operative version of this part. That is why the Teacher's Notes begin with a new heading on a separate page and also the font and layout is different from the standardised norm for diploma thesis. The structure of the Teacher's Notes was taken from Reward Resource Pack (Kay, 1997) and Inside Out Resource Pack (Foster, 2002). I added a short background to each activity to introduce the song and its use in the class as I am aware not all the teachers will be familiar with The Beatles' songs at great length. This item was inspired by Cultural notes in Speak Out in English (Perclová, Tyller, Wisniewska, 1997).
36 Teacher's Notes also include Answer Key, where applicable. Teacher's Notes are followed by a set of worksheets that are marked with letters (as referred to in the Teacher's Notes). I found it necessary to include them into the text (not to leave them to appendices) as they are vital to this thesis and to keep the original layout of those worksheets. I tried to design them in an attractive and appealing way, and so used different types and sizes of fonts and layouts. Each worksheet has its separate page. The final part consists of comment on feedback I received. I will describe the success and progress of the individual lessons as conducted by myself or some of my colleagues. As a basis for this part I use a feedback form. Each of the teachers that tested my lesson plans were asked to complete this form (see Appendix 3). I attempted to adhere to this pattern in all the following sub-chapters. The lesson plans are introduced in alphabetical order.
37 4.3 All My Loving
This lesson plan is based on one of the older The Beatles' songs. It is about a man making promises to his love before he leaves for a journey. The song is full of future forms and clearly shows that „will“ in English is used for making promises. I set out to exploit this potential. There is a gap-filling excercise based on antonyms. Antonyms are one of the ways to facilitate learning of vocabulary. Furthermore, antonyms help with the meaning of the gaps and students can at the same time focus on the correct grammar – mostly „will“. The whole lesson plan is based on making promises. Students discuss what promises they make and keep. They are asked to write down some promises and also to do a role-play where they attempt to persuade the other people to promise them something (and they have to promise something in return). Promises are part of everyday speech and an important function of „will“. It enhances the real world usage of a grammatic form and connects the classroom with students' everyday experience. When given the opportunity to talk about their feelings and attitudes, students tend to want to communicate because they can convey things which are important to them and which are of immediate relevance to their present lives. (Cunningsworth, 1984: p. 60)
Bibliography – Teacher's Notes and Worksheets WIKIPEDIA CONTRIBUTORS. All My Loving [online]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2008 [cit. 2008-03-30]. Available from:
38 All My Loving
Level: Pre-intermediate and above Aim: To practise using „will“ for promises Grammar and functions: Future – use of „will“ Vocabulary: General Time: 30 minutes Organisation: Pairs, Groups of four
Material: ● CD with the song All My Loving (With the Beatles) ● Worksheet A – one copy per student ● Worksheet B – one copy per group of 4 students (cut out the cards)
Background: Paul McCartney wrote this song initially as a poem while he was shaving. It was meant to have a „country and western“ sound. It was the opening number for their performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The song is about promises a man gives his love before he leaves for a journey. In the first stage of the lesson, you will work on using „will“ as a means of expressing promises. In the second stage, there will be a role-play about making promises before a long journey.
Procedure: 1. Introduce the song. Distribute Worksheet A. Ask the students not to look at the lyrics and answer the questions in task A. Play the song. Let the students discuss their answers in pairs and check with the whole class. If the students are not sure at this point, let them answer the question after step 2. 2. Students in pairs should fill in the lyrics – find the opposites and use the correct tense (if applicable). Listen again and check. Check the answers with the whole class. Ask them why the singer uses will (for promising). Draw the students' attention to „while I'm away“ and use of the present tense in time clauses. 3. Work on task 3. Students individually write similar promises. 4. Roleplay - Divide the class into groups of 4. Set the scene. Tell the students that they are now a family. The daughter is going away to study in Spain for 6 months. The family are saying their goodbye. Distribute the cut up cards from Worksheet B. The aim of the game is to make the others promise the things on
39 the card. Students can make up some additional information. There is only one rule – you promise something only if the other person promises something in return. The aim is to get all three promises. Focus the students on acting as if they really were the person – using the actual language the person would use. (Example: „Mum, could you please return the books to the library? I have forgotten.....“ - „Yes, of course. But promise me you will be very careful. And you won't forget to text me every day!“ - „O.K., mum. You know I'm careful!“)
5. Discuss the game. Were your students able to persuade the family members to do what they wanted them to? Why/why not? Does it work like this in normal families. 6. Follow-up – ask your students to imagine they are going away for a long time. Let them write down the things they would ask from their family.
Answer Key: A) The singer is probably leaving for a journey and promises his girlfriend that he will think of her. B) Close your eyes and I'll kiss you, Tomorrow I'll miss you; Remember I'll always be true. And then while I'm away, I'll write home ev'ry day, And I'll send all my loving to you.
I'll pretend That I'm kissing the lips I am missing And hope that my dreams will come true. And then while I'm away, I'll write home ev'ry day, And I'll send all my loving to you..
All my loving I will send to you. All my loving, darling I'll be true.
40 Worksheet A
All My Loving The Beatles
1. Do not look at the lyrics. Listen to the song and answer these questions: What situation is the singer in? What is he promising?
7. Find opposites of the words in italics and put them in the correct form.
...... (open) your eyes and I'll kiss you, Tomorrow I...... (catch a train) you; Remember I'll always be ...... (false). And then while I'm ...... (here), I ...... (read) home ev'ry day, And I...... (receive) all my loving to you.
I ...... (be honest) That I'm kissing The lips I am missing And hope that my dreams ...... (leave)true. And then while I'm ...... (here), I ...... (read) home ev'ry day, And I...... (receive) all my loving to you.
All my loving I will send to you. All my loving, darling I'll be true.
3. Imagine you are in the same situation. Write 5 promises to your „love“.
41 Worksheet B
You are Jen, the daughter and you want: You are Sybill, the mother and you ● your mother to give the books you have want: forgottton to return back to the library ● your daughter to take care and ● your father to fix the shelves in your text you every day room. He has been promising this for a ● your husband to promise you will year. visit Jen ● Your younger brother not to touch any of ● your son to look after Jen's your things hamster
You are Chris, the younger brother You are Henry, the father and you want: and you want: ● your daughter to bring you some typical ● your sister to send you a book Spanish food about the famous football stadium ● your wife to promise she will not worry in Barcelona about Jen ● your mother to allow you to use ● your son to help more with the your sister's room while she is housework now the daughter is going away away ● your father to let you visit your sister alone
Worksheet B
You are Jen, the daughter and you want: You are Sybill, the mother and you ● your mother to give the books you have want: forgotten back to the library ● your daughter to také care and ● your father to fix the shelves in your text you every day room. He has been promising this for a ● your husband to promise you will year. visit Jen ● Your younger brother not to touch any of ● your son to look after Jen's your things. hamster
You are Chris, the younger brother You are Henry, the father, and you want: and you want: ● your daughter to bring you some typical ● your sister to send you a book Spanish food about the famous football stadium ● your wife to promise she will not worry in Barcelona about Jen ● your mother to allow you to use ● your son to help more with the your sister's room while she is housework now your daughter is going away away ● your father to let you visit your sister alone
42 This activity was tested by one of my colleague teachers in a language school. There were six elementary students, with an average age of 36 (15 to 48). The activity took only 20 minutes (in contrast to the plan that said 30 minutes). The main benefits for the students were that they refreshed the use of will and learned a new structure – I want you to... The students understood everything and were generally satisfied. They would only have changed the order of the task in WS A – they would like to do task 2 before task 1. The teacher did not understand the activity from Worksheet B. She said it was not clear how the students are supposed to make the others promise the things. In response to this I rewrote the instructions and added some examples. I consulted with the teacher once more and the task became obvious. If the teacher uses the activity again, she will comply with the students' wish and deal with task 2 (WS A) before task 1 as it is easier for the students to understand when they can read the lyrics. This change would probably be appropriate for elementary students. Although the activity was aimed at pre-intermediate students, it also worked with those of a lower. However, if used with higher levels, I would recommend adhering to the original order of tasks as it makes the listening more demanding.
4.4 All Together Now
I believe Lennon and McCartney had elementary EFL students in mind when they wrote this song. It has very simple lyrics, a catchy tune, and a lot of words elementary students are supposed to study. It was inspired by songs and rhymes girls say in the playground when playing with the skipping rope (Turner, 1999). As it precisely follows all the criteria set for songs (see p. 34), I decided to exploit it in several different ways. This lesson plan is focused on revision, correct pronunciation, and the drilling of chunks.
43 The first activity was inspired by the tune and rhythm of this song. It is designed to wake students up, make them move and relax, and revise vocabulary: numbers, letters, and colours. The second activity aims at correct and precise pronunciation. It aims to make students aware of the fact that small mistakes in pronunciation can result in great differences in meaning. By writing mistakes into the song (words that sound similar but mean something completely different) the students realise the importance of attention to detail when it comes to pronunciation. Teachers may decide to go further and also introduce words that sound the same but are spelt differently and have different meanings (homophones). The third activity develops the pronunciation practice further and focuses on longer units. The lyrics are divided into sequences that should be pronounced together. Students definitely find this natural to achieve in Czech but implying this in English is more difficult. The rhythm of the song will help them to pronounce together what belongs together. Adding rhythm and melody to chunks of language invites rehearsal and transfers words into long-term memory. (Lake, 2002-2003: p. 109)
Making use of the chunks mentioned by Lake might also bring great results. As Lewis points out in the following citation, students may benefit from acquiring chunks. In most classes learners will already know many individual words , so in these circumstances, they may need to learn about „putting them together“ in standard collocations, but this is part of the necessary artificiality of language teaching. It would unquestionably be better if learners had acquired the words together as a single chunk – a single choice – in the first place. If you learn initial reaction (one item) it is easy to split the chunk apart, and acquire initial and reaction, to more items. If you learn the two words separately, you must also learn a third item, the correct collocation. Separating collocations into their component words is easy; it is considerably more difficult to put words together to form natural collocations. (Lewis, 2000: p. 132)
I believe that at early stages, learning of communicative chunks (such as Can I have... ?) will make the students more fluent and confident in their speech because if they internalize the chunk they will not have to search for individual words and grammar means to put them together anytime they need to use this (quite highly
44 frequented) chunk. That is why the last activity is simply a communicative drill that is hidden in a game.
Bibliography – Teacher's Notes and Worksheets WIKIPEDIA CONTRIBUTORS. All Together Now [online]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2008 [cit. 2008-03-30]. Available from:
45 All Together Now
Level: Beginner, Elementary Aim: To revise vocabulary of colours, numbers and alphabet, train pronunciation of chunks and drill the phrase „Can I have...?“ Grammar and functions: Can I...?, pronunciation of „chunks“ Vocabulary: Numbers, Alphabet, Colours Time: 50 minutes Organisation: Pairs
Material: ● CD with the song All Together Now (e.g. Yellow Submarine) ● Cards with numbers, letters and colours – cut out (one set for the whole class) ● Worksheet A (one copy per student) ● Worksheet B (one copy per student) ● Worksheet C – cut out (one set for the whole class) ● Blue tack / magnets / pins
Background: A jolly song with simple lyrics which was written to remind people of the kind of song children (mostly girls) sing in the playground in games with a skipping rope. The lyrics consist of the beginning of the alphabet, numbers, and colours. The phrase „Can I...“ is repeated several times. In this activity students will revise the mentioned topics and practise the phrase „Can I have...“.
Procedure: 1. Give out the number, letter and colour cards (one card from each category for 1 student. If you have fewer students, you can give each of them more than one card from each category. These cards should not follow each other, however.). Make sure every student knows how to say his card in English. 2. Explain to the students that they have to raise their card and / or stand up when they hear their number/letter/colour. Play the song. 3. Give out blue tack/magnets and tell the students they have to tack their card on the board as soon as they hear it in the song. Play the song again. 4. Check the correct order on the board. Then let the class say the whole alphabet, go on with the numbers and list as many colours as they know. 5. Give out worksheet A. Tell the students that there is one word in each line different from the song. Let them find it and correct it (they can work in pairs) before the listening. 6. Play the song and let the students correct the rest of the words.
46 7. Let the students check with their partners. Check with the whole class. Ask them whether the mistakes are real words or just misprints. Draw their attention to small differences in spelling and pronunciation that can cause big differences in meaning (e.g. three X tree X free). Elicit more pairs like this. If you wish you can also include words that sound the same but are spelt differently (e.g. I X eye). 8. Ask the students why there are the slashes in the song. Explain that they divide units that we have to read together so that we do not sound like robots. Let the students read the lyrics silently. 9. Now practice pronunciation with your students. Divide the class into pairs. Students will read the lyrics together. They will take turn after each slash. Encourage them to clap/tap the rhythm. Monitor the class. You can ask one of the pairs to show their performance to the whole class. (Variation: Sit in a circle. Each student reads one unit. The students need to keep the rhythm.) 10. Draw their attention to Can I ....?. Explain the situation where you can use „Can I have ...?“. Elicit examples of such sentences. 11. Give out worksheet B. Check that everyone understands the words. Distribute the cards from worksheet C evenly among the students. Tell the students that their task is to get the whole shopping list in worksheet B. They will collect the items by asking the other students Can I have .....? If the student has the card with the thing, he / she answers Yes, of course. The student who asked then notes down the name next to the item on the shopping list. The person who first has the complete shopping list is the winner. 12. Follow up – ask the students to prepare a short shopping dialogue.
Answer key:
All Together Now The Beatles
One, two, three, four Can I have a little more? five, six, seven eight nine ten I love you.
A, B, C, D Can I bring my friend to tea? E, F, G H I J I love you.
Sail the ship, Chop the tree Skip the rope, Look at me
All together now....
Black, white, green, red Can I take my friend to bed? Pink, brown, yellow orange and blue I love you
All together now....
Sail the ship, Jump the tree Skip the rope, Look at me All together now....
47 48 49 I again asked one of my colleagues to try this plan out in her lesson.There were four beginners in the class, average age of 45 (20 to 48). The activity took 60 minutes (including revision and singing the song). The teacher understood the instructions very well. The students appreciated a new activity, singing the song, and the use of a laptop. In the teacher's opionion, the main benefits were revision of difficult letters (G, H, J), colours, and pronunciation of „three“ (th x f x t). The only problem in the lesson was the actual understanding – students did not hear the colours properly as the teacher did not find a suitable recording of the song and played the song online from YouTube.com. When revising the lesson, the students remembered the colours and letters very well nevertheless. They did not recollect words such as chop, jump, and sail. The teacher suggests the use of drawing or acting out some activities from the song (such as chop the tree) for revision. This song seemed to be quite successful. I believe it a great success that the students actually demanded singing the song which does not often happen with adult students.
4.5 All You Need Is Love
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt!
Lucy Van Pelt in Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz16
This song was originally ordered by the BBC for the programme Our World – a programme for viewers from five continents. Over 400 million people watched The Beatles performing this song on this occasion (Harry, 2000: p. 24). That is the reason why the message was required to be simple and powerful. This lesson plan is rather traditional with focus on grammar. On the other hand, it uses the „message“ in this song and encourages the students to think about what is imporant for them, what THEY need.
16 http://www.famous-quotes-and-quotations.com/chocolate-quotes.html
50 The song is introduced by discussion about what is significant for the learners in their lives. Then they proceed straight to the grammar work. It is a revision of past participle forms connected with the pre-listening activity. The next stage is to decide which form of which verb fits best in each gap in the song (students must choose between infinitives and past participles). After the grammar work and interpretation of the song, students are asked to express the same or similar sentiments in their own words. They are encouraged to prepare a short but powerful speech, similar to that a politician would make.
Bibliography – Teacher's Notes and Worksheets WIKIPEDIA CONTRIBUTORS. All You Need Is Love [online]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2008 [cit. 2008-03-31]. Available from:
51 All You Need Is Love
Level: Pre-intermediate and above Aim: Revision of the passive voice (connected with „can“ - e.g. can be done) by completing active and passive sentences, revision of past participle forms of regular and irregular verbs. Grammar and functions: Passive voice Vocabulary: General Time: 45 minutes Organisation: Individuals
Material: ● CD with the song All You Need Is Love (e.g. Yellow Submarine) ● Worksheet A (one copy per student) ● Worksheet B (one copy per student)
Background: The Beatles were commissioned by the BBC to write a song for UK's contribution to Our World, the first global television link. It wa required to include a simple message that would be understood by viewers of all nationalities. The message is quite obvious – All you need is love. The song is full of passive forms connected with modals. This activity is focused mainly on grammar and revision of the passive voice in a rather classical way.
Procedure: 1. Write „I need ...“ on the board. Ask the students what word they would fill in. Get answers from all students and write them on the board. Now ask the students to choose one of these words (but not their own) and tell you why they chose it. Note the results on the board. At the end, choose the three most popular words and take a vote. 2. Find out whether the students know what the Beatles think. 3. Tell the students the real name of the song. Give out worksheet A. The students should fill in the past participles of the verbs and also guess which of these words will appear in the song (no matter the form).
52 4. Tell the students to tick the verbs they heard in the song. How many of their guesses were correct? 5. Give out worksheet B. Tell the students to fill in the verbs from WS A into the song (in the correct form, of course). 6. Listen and check. Let the students check with their partners. Then check with the whole class. 7. Follow up – The Beatles were musicians and expressed their thoughts and opinions through songs. Imagine that you are a politician and want to express the same thing. Convert the song into a short political speech.
Answer key: Part A All you need is ______
Infinitive Past Participle Will it appear in the Did it appear in the song? song? do done Yes sing sung Yes see seen Yes say said Yes play played Yes love loved Yes make made Yes save saved Yes know known Yes bring brought NO show Shown / showed Yes mean meant Yes
Part B Words missing in the Worksheet B are underlined There's nothing you can do that can't be done. Nothing you can sing that can't be sung. Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game It's easy. There's nothing you can make that can't be made. No one you can save that can't be saved. Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be in time It's easy. There's nothing you can know that isn't known. Nothing you can see that isn't shown. Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be. It's easy.
53 Part A All you need is ______
Infinitive Past Participle Will it appear in Did it appear in the song? the song? do sing see say play love make save know bring show mean
------
Part A All you need is ______
Infinitive Past Participle Will it appear in Did it appear in the song? the song? do sing see say play love make save know bring show mean
54 Part B
All You Need Is Love The Beatles
There's nothing you can do that can't be ...... Nothing you can ...... that can't be sung Nothing you can say but you can learn how to ...... the game It's easy Nothing you can make that can't be ...... No one you can save that can't be ...... Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time It's easy
Chorus: All you need is love All you need is love All you need is love, love Love is all you need
(Chorus)
Nothing you can ...... that isn't known Nothing you can ...... that isn't shown Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're ...... to be It's easy (Chorus repeated)
55 I tested this lesson twice in my classes. The first time was in an upper- intermediate class of two students (aged around 24). It took only about 25 minutes. The students found the grammar part very simple. However, they did not understand the lyrics very well. Some items had to be cleared (constructions such as „Nothing you can see that isn't shown“). The students also had great difficulties in expressing themselves as politicians. As a result they produced only one sentence – a similar or explanatory slogan. The second time the lesson was tested in a pre-intermediate post-secondary class of 8 students. They enjoyed the initial discussion and came up with different things. The grammar part was somewhat challenging for them as the constructions are not very clear. Students liked the song but did not actually complete the last activity – they produced (similarly to the first group) only explanatory slogans. The last activity should perhaps be enriched by allowing students to talk about the topics they find important. Another alternative follow-up might be: Imagine you are an artist that was commissioned to write a song, poem, speech or draw a picture that would give all the people in the world (just like The Beatles were) – you have exactly the same instructions as The Beatles had, only 40 years later. Present this message to your colleagues.
4.6 Bingo
This lesson plan is aimed at listening and understanding, even though it is not based on a song. Students have to listen to a coded name of a song, decode the message, and find the song in their bingo grid. The whole activity is basically a game that arouses the competitive instincts of the students and makes them focus on listening and correct understanding even more. As the songs are described in a similar but not identical way, synonyms are often used to assist in the acquisition of new vocabulary in a slightly passive way (if they do not write them in the bingo grid, they see them and hear them, but do not make any actual effort to learn them). This exposure to language is very much discussed in books on second language acquisition.
56 According to Stephen Krashen's input hypothesis, L2 acquisition takes place when a learner understands input that contains grammatical forms that are at „i + I“ (i.e. Are a little more advanced than the current state of the learner's interlanguage). … According to Krashen, then, L2 acquisition depends on comprehensible input. (Ellis, 1997: p. 47)
The follow-up is intended to stimulate students to use their language. It is a very challenging task. Students need to go through a lot of their internal language reserves to describe the things and are motivated as the results will be used in the future for their colleagues. Language practice is doubled in learner-based teaching because learners are involved in preparing as well as using the practice materials. They are clearly interested in how others will use what they have repared. (Campbell and Kryszewska, 1992: p. 9)
57 The Beatles Bingo
Level: Intermediate and above Aim: To practise seeing the connection between sentences with the same meaning but different formulation Grammar and functions: General Vocabulary: General Time: 15 minutes Organisation: Individuals
Material: ● 1 worksheet for each student ● cut up bingo cards with descriptions
Background: This activity is based on reformulating the names of The Beatles' songs. It tries to make the students see the connection between sentences with similar meanings but different forms.
Procedure: 1. Elicit some names of The Beatles' songs. 2. Distribute the worksheets. Tell the students you are going to play Bingo. Their first task is to prepare a bingo grid. They have to choose songs from the list and put them in the grid (that means all students will have different grids). 3. Draw the cards and read out loud the descriptions. If the students have the song that is being described in their grid, they cross it out. As soon as they have crossed out a line or a column, they should call out BINGO. 4. Check with the group that the student has really crossed out only the mentioned songs. 5. Follow-up – divide students into groups and let them prepare similar lists and description cards for another group. Possible topics might be names of books, titles of films, other songs.
58 The Beatles Bingo
Write one song from the list into each box:
List of songs:
1.Across the Universe 20.Your Mother Should Know 2.Ain't She Sweet 21.I Feel Fine 3.Birthday 22.I'm Only Sleeping 4.Little Child 23.I Want To Hold Your Hand 5.Let It Be 24.The Fool on the Hill 6.Money 25.I'm Happy Just to Dance with 7.All Together Now You 8.Back in the U.S.S.R. 26.Help 9.Hello Goodbye 27.Here, There, and Everywhere 10.Her Majesty 28.Slow Down 11.Honey Pie 29.Good Night 12.Rain 30.Fixing a Hole 13.She Loves You 31.Drive My Care 14.Hello Little Girl 32.She's Leaving Home 15.I'll Follow the Sun 33.Sun King 16.Tell Me Why 34.Girl 17.The End 35.Any Time at All 18.When I Get Home 36.Bad Boy 19.I'm So Tired
59 Small kid Again in Russia Water falling from the sky (Little Child) (Back in the U.S.S.R.) (Rain)
Everybody at the same The day you were born on Bee product cake time at this moment (Birthday) (Honey Pie) (All Together Now) 60
Pieces of paper used for Isn't she cute The queen of England paying in shops (Ain't She Sweet) (Her Majesty) (Money)
Over the whole world Leave it alone Hi Bye (Across the Universe) (Let It Be) (Hello Goodbye) Your mother is supposed The madman on the small Give me the reason to be aware of this mountain (Tell Me Why) (Your Mother Should (The Fool on the Hill) Know)
I long to grasp the end of I will run after the star of I'm very exhausted your arm our solar system (I'm So Tired) (I Want To Hold Your (I'll Follow the Sun) Hand) 61
As soon as I come from Hi small female child I'm just not awake work (Hello Little Girl) (I'm Only Sleeping) (When I Get Home)
The woman has romantic Finish I am O.K. feelings for you (The End) (I Feel Fine) (She Loves You) She's running away from Don't be so fast Naughty male kid her house (Slow Down) (Bad Boy) (She's Leaving Home)
In this place, in another place and all around Steer my automobile Around the clock (Here, There, and (Drive My Car) (Any Time at All) Everywhere) 62
Give me a hand Repairing a cavity Female child (Help) (Fixing a Hole) (Girl)
I am satisfied only to party with you Sweet dreams Solar Monarch (I'm Happy Just to Dance (Good Night) (Sun King) with You) This activity was used twice again in my own post-secondary classes. Once in an intermediate group of about five students. It took about 45 minutes with the follow-up. Students enjoyed the game very much and wanted to prepare a new bingo individually. The other group was pre-intermediate of about ten students. The activity took about 20 minutes as we first had to explain some words from the song titles. The students found the descriptions of the titles a little bit too challenging and decoded them as a whole group. This, however, had a motivational moment as well, as every student wanted to be the first one to discover the correct title. The competition of the game was there anyway and the students did not want to stop playing till all of them could shout BINGO. The follow-up was assigned as a voluntary homework. For an example of the outcome, see Appendix 4.This Bingo game was prepared by one of my post-secondary students who agreed to using her work in my thesis only if I mention it was prepared by the best student in the class.
4.7 Free as a Bird
This is a song that reunited The Beatles. All the living members came together and worked on John Lennon's song. They even included his vocals recorded on a home- made demo tape (Turner, 1999: p. 227). Most of the activities are inspired by Tim Murphey's book (1992: p. 104 – 106). They are designed for pre-intermediate level, although they may be a little bit challenging for the students. The lesson plan is based not only on the lyrics but mainly on the video accompanying the song. The visual input is used as stimulus for speaking. The activity is carefully staged. First the video is introduced by only a short sequence from the beginning that should allow the students to guess the name (or topic) of the song. Then a lexical preparation follows. As I have mentioned above, this activity may mean a challenge for the students, so we want to equip them first with adequate word power. Nouns are introduced in a typical word-picture matching excercise. Verbs are introduced in a gap-fill list when students have to mime the verbs to each other. I believe this learning by doing can prompt them while watching the video later.
63
Introduced in the right way, both for receptive and productive purposes, aspects of nonverbal communication can add an extra dimension to language learning and be immense fun to practise in the language classrom. (Modern English Teacher, 2006: p. 32)
After the preparation, the video itself comes. As only some of the students can actually see the screen, curiosity arises and so greater demand is placed on the people describing the events. The „blind“ students have to, on the other hand, pay attention as they are asked to summarize the piece at the end. I decided to watch the video without sound the first time so that the students are not confused and distracted by the lyrics. Only during the next stage students listen and watch at the same time. I believe students might be curious at the end what is actually sung in the song. That is why I also included reading and the discussion of lyrics after the second preview. The whole activity was motivated by the following citation: Music with words uses both brain hemispheres. Emotion and language are one in a song. When coupled with visual images, music becomes a very powerful learning tool. (Lake, 2002-2003: p. 107)
Bibliography – Teacher's Notes and Worksheets WIKIPEDIA CONTRIBUTORS. Free as a Bird [online]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2008 [cit. 2008-04-01]. Available from:
Pictures were searched for in Google Images.
64 Free as a Bird - Video
Level: Pre-intermediate and above Aim: To practice description of places and situations Grammar and functions: Present continuous Vocabulary: General Time: 40 minutes Organisation: Pairs
Material: ● Free as a Bird video (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D196- oXw2k&NR=1) ● Worksheet A – 1 copy per student ● Worksheet B – 1 copy for a pair (cut in halves) ● Worksheet C – one half per student
Background: The song was recorded in 1995. The Beatles re-united for their Anthology and recorded this song with original John Lennon vocals. The video is seen „from the point of view of a bird in flight“. It contains many allusions to other Beatles' songs (up to 100, e.g. Strawberry Fields Forever, Helter Skelter, Eleanor Rigby, Penny Lane).
Procedure: 1. Tell the students they are going to watch a music video. At this stage, play the first thirty seconds of the video without the sound. Ask the students what perspective the video is seen from (a bird). If they do not know, play the first twenty seconds with sound (you can hear the bird's wings). Tell them to guess the name of the video. 2. Vocabulary preparation – Distribute Worksheet A. Tell the students these words will appear in the song. Ask them to match the words with the pictures. 3. Vocabulary preparation 2 – Divide the class into pairs. Distribute Worksheet B.Tell the students that this is a list of actions that will happen in the video. Each of the students has only half of the list, though. Their task is to mime the words on their list to their partner. They cannot speak during this activity. Help the students with unknown words. 4. Students stay in these pairs. Now seat them in such a way that only one student from each pair can actually see the screen. Tell the students that the ones who can see the screen are going to describe the places, actions, and
65 situations that happen in the song. Remind them of correct use of present continuous and „there is / there are“. The „blind“ students have to listen and make notes so that they are able to summarize the video at the end. 5. Play about 30 seconds of the music video without sound. Ask the blind students to summarize this extract. Now the students change places and roles. „Blind“ students now can see the screen and their task is to describe the video. 6. Repeat this procedure approximately every 30 seconds. 7. At the end, ask the students to summarize the whole video again. 8. Ask the class what type of music would fit this video. Elicit adjectives that would describe the music. 9. Play the music video with sound for everyone to see and hear. Discuss the difference between the expectations and the real music. Get feedback on the song. 10. Give out Worksheet C and discuss the lyrics with your students. 11. Follow up - Write „Free as a bird“ on the board. Ask the students to write a short paragraph on what this phrase means to them. What is for them to be „free as a bird“?
66 Worksheet A Free as a Bird
Match these words with the pictures. workers, crowd, music club, gate, nurse, hat, car crash, helter skelter, terraced houses, mask, roof, gravestone, cemetery, elephant, zebra crossing, audience
67 68 Worksheet C Free As A Bird Free As A Bird Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey
Free as a bird, Free as a bird, it's the next best thing to be. it's the next best thing to be. Free as a bird. Free as a bird.
Home, home and dry, Home, home and dry, like a homing bird I'll fly like a homing bird I'll fly as a bird on wings. as a bird on wings.
Whatever happened to Whatever happened to the life that we once knew? the life that we once knew? Can we really live without each other? Can we really live without each other?
Where did we lose the touch Where did we lose the touch that seemed to mean so much? that seemed to mean so much? It always made me feel so... It always made me feel so...
Free as a bird, Free as a bird, like the next best thing to be. like the next best thing to be. Free as a bird. Free as a bird.
Home, home and dry, Home, home and dry, like a homing bird I'll fly like a homing bird I'll fly as a bird on wings. as a bird on wings.
Whatever happened to Whatever happened to the life that we once knew? the life that we once knew? Always made me feel so free. Always made me feel so free.
Free as a bird. Free as a bird. It's the next best thing to be. It's the next best thing to be. Free as a bird. Free as a bird. Free as a bird. Free as a bird. Free as a bird. Free as a bird.
69 This activity was tested in a post-secondary pre-intermediate group of 9 students. It took 45 minutes including a follow-up discussion. A homework task called If I were free as a bird, I would … was set because the class were currently working on the second conditional. Students understood everything. They were able to guess the perspective by viewing the beginning of the video without sound. There were no problems matching the words with the pictures. Some of the verbs that should have been mimed were somewhat difficult and students looked them up in a dictionary, occasionally using words and not only mimes. While watching the video, students were active and were able to use most of the words from the vocabulary preparation, although I sometimes prompted them. When they were supposed to summarize, they were capable of using the past simple and continuous appropriately and helped each other. At the end, they guessed the mood of the song very well and we had a short talk about the lyrics and what it meant with some background explanation (recorded in 1995). Although I used many of my lesson plans in this group, they enjoyed this activity as it made them talk and react quickly. They also appreciated that they used the words from Worksheets A and B in the speaking. The class setting was not that difficult, even though the classroom is quite small and we had only a laptop to watch it on. The speaking students were standing and blind students were sitting close to each other, which made the viewing easier even with the small screen. In general, I can say this activity was successful and enjoyable for the students.
4.8 Helter Skelter
This song is McCartney's attempt to produce as much noise as possible and is not highly acclaimed by music critics (MacDonald, 1997: p. 244). It inspired Charles Manson and his family to commit a series of atrocious murders. It is a highly controversial song. This lesson plan plays with this controversy and with the twisted mind of Charles Manson.
70 The introductory part consists of discussion on influence of songs and music on our lives. The first listening is very brief. Students are asked to produce only one word that comes into their minds while listening. The second listening draws on this feeling and encourages students to use their imagination while describing a person that would like this song. Many people see images in music even unprompted. More importantly for us as language teachers, music acts as a key to the imagination, even with many people who claim to have no imagination at all. (Cranmer and Laroy, 1995: p. 1)
After this follows discussion of the lyrics and their meaning. Their relative meaninglessness in connection with such provocative music is, in my opinion, a great source for discussion. The ambiguity inherent in what (if anything) music actually conveys provides an instant talking point as soon as there are two or more listeners. For no two people will hear a peice of music in quite the same way, not only because they are different people but because their moods and even physical states may be different. (Cranmer and Laroy, 1995: p. 2)
Discussing the lyrics also draws on the results of my research where students claimed they liked talking about the lyrics and finding their meaning (see Research). Now the students get a text about Helter Skelter and Charles Manson. I collected the information from several sources (see Bibliography – Teacher's Notes and Worksheets) and integrated it into a text that tries to connect the provocative dynamics of the song with the repulsive crimes comitted by the Family. The text consists merely of passges of text from Wikipedia. I used this source on purpose, as I believe students will have to work with Internet resources very often and Wikipedia is one of the first places students will probalby visit when searching for information. After reading for basic understanding checked by first set of questions students are asked to work in small groups and read the text aloud. Although reading aloud might not be perceived as a very usefull skill, I believe it has some assets – students learn to connect chunks that are very important in normal speech. They focus on sounding natural and how to make themselves sound natural. Teachers should read texts aloud in class so that students hear the text correctly chunked. In class we should do no unseen reading and less silent reading. The reason students find unseen reading so difficult is because they don't recognise the chunks – they read every word as if it were separate
71 from every other word, so during silent reading students may be chunking totally wrongly. And mis-chunking matters...... Students cannot learn from input which they mis-chunk. (Lewis, 2000: p. 56)
Furthermore, they check they can pronounce the words in the text. To keep other students busy and interested in the article, every member of the group has a specific role and responsibility. This intensive group work with individual responsibilities should result in the following - all the students pay attention and help each other. Learner-based teaching encourages students to work together and learn from each other. Activities are structured so that learners have to pay attention to what their colleagues are saying. They can teach and correct each other. Working together, the class can pool whatever individual linguistic resources they have, and work towards creating „group grammars“ and „group lexicons“. (Campbell and Kryszewska, 1992: p. 9)
This reading also involves investigation of the text and leads to better understanding that can be than followed by discussion that draws on the text but goes beyond it. It is prompted by the second set of questions. If we believe that reading is an interactive process in which the reader constructs meaning with the text, then we need to help our students learn to do this. This means moving beyond a literal understanding of a text, and allowing our students to use their own knowledge while reading. It may be challenging, however, for beginning and intermediate students to create their own understanding, if they are accustomed to reading word-for-word and focusing on meaning at the word- and sentence-levels. (Day, 2005)
Bibliography – Teacher's Notes and Worksheets WIKIPEDIA CONTRIBUTORS. Helter Skelter [online]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2008 [cit. 2008-04-01]. Available from:
72 Harry, 2006: p. 341-342, 492-493 Turner, 1999: p. 186-187
Pictures taken on 1st April 2008 from: http://members.tripod.com/TheBellhop/images/charlienring.jpg http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/crime/serial-killers/charles-manson/manson- mugshot.jpg http://www.nelincs.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/53AD7640-2791-4C9F- BEE7-5E316C52DB64/0/pic16.jpg
73 Helter Skelter Level: Intermediate and above Aim: Discussion on influential work of arts, reading for comprehension, reading aloud, team work Grammar and functions: Stating opinion Vocabulary: General Time: 60 minutes Organisation: Groups of three or four
Material: ● CD with the song Helter Skelter (White Album) ● Worksheet A – one copy per student ● Worksheet B – one copy per student ● Set of 4 cards for each group with functions: Radio Presenter; Pronunciation Police; Master of Dictionaries; Professional Translator ● Worksheet C – one cut out copy per group of three or four students
Background: Paul McCartney wanted to write a song that would be raw and loud. He composed Helter Skelter that later became known as the motive for terrible murders. Charles Manson and his Family wanted to provoke a racial war, Helter Skelter. They were inspired by The Beatles' songs and believed The Beatles are sending them messages. In this activity, students will express their opinion about the song, find out about its influence and then discuss how influential music is these days.
Procedure: 1. Write the word SONG on the board. Ask the students why we listen to music. What are the reasons? Does music affects us? How? Can it affect our mood? Our thoughts? Our acts? 2. Tell the students they are going to listen to a song that affected many people. Their task is to listen and note down one word that comes into their mind. (Listen to only an abstract of the song – 30 seconds to 1 minute.) 3. Second listening – ask the students to imagine a person that would like this song very much. What is the person like? How does the song affect this person? What emotions can it evoke in this person? And in other people? 4. Give out the lyrics (worksheet A) . Discuss the meaning of Helter Skelter. Do the lyrics mean anything to you? 5. Now the students are going to read about the background of the song and its effects. Ask them whether they have ever heard of Charles Manson. Divide them into groups of three or four. Hand out worksheet B. First they have to answer the questions below the text as quickly as possible. Check with the whole group. 6. Give out “function cards”. Tell them that they will change roles after each paragraph. Every role has a great responsibility. Radio Presenter reads the paragraph aloud (watching out for correct pronunciation, chunks, and intonation). Pronunciation Police is there to help him – he/she underlines in the text words that he/she believes were pronounced incorrectly. Master of Dictionary searches for unknown words in the dictionary. Professional
74 Translator then at the end translates the paragraph into Czech. Encourage the students to help each other and help them with pronunciation where necessary. 7. Let the students discuss the second set of questions. 8. Give out cut out worksheet C (see material). Let the students match the original lyrics with Charles Manson’s false interpretation. Check with the whole class. 9. Tell the students to imagine they are a pop group who wrote a song that caused similar crime. They have to come up with a press release to comment on this event. Prepare the press release – either written or spoken. 10. Follow up/homework – write about the song that you find the most influential and why (you could include some of these songs later in your lessons).
75 Helter Skelter Worksheet A The Beatles
Helter Skelter Go helter skelter helter skelter helter skelter Yeah, hu, hu When I get to the bottom I will you won't you want me to I go back to the top of the slide make you Where I stop and turn I'm coming down fast but don't and I go for a ride let me break you Till I get to the bottom and I see Tell me tell me tell me the you again answer Yeah, yeah, yeah You may be a lover but you ain't Do you don't you want me to no dancer love you I'm coming down fast but I'm Look out miles above you Helter skelter Tell me tell me come on tell me helter skelter the answer helter skelter and you may be a lover but you Yeah, hu, hu ain't no dancer Look out cause here she comes
When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide Where I stop and turn and I go for a ride Till I get to the bottom and I see you again Yeah, yeah, yeah
Well will you won't you want me to make you I'm coming down fast but don't let me break you Tell me tell me tell me the answer You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer
76 Helter Skelter Worksheet B Helter Skelter – Music behind the Murder "Helter Skelter" is a song written by Paul McCartney,credited to Lennon/McCartney, and recorded by The Beatles on The White Album. It is a product of McCartney's deliberate effort to create a sound as loud and dirty as possible. McCartney claimed that he was "using the symbol of a helter skelter as a ride from the top to the bottom—the rise and fall of the Roman Empire—and this was the fall, the demise." The Beatles recorded the song multiple times during the The White Album sessions. After the eighteenth take, Ringo Starr flung his sticks across the studio and screamed, "I've got blisters on my fingers!“ According to Ringo, "'Helter Skelter was a track we did in total madness and hysterics in the studio. Sometimes you just had to shake out the jams." Helter Skelter was one of several White Album compositions taken by Charles Manson as elaborate prophecy of a war to arise from racial tensions between blacks and whites.
Charles Manson Charles Manson was born in November 1934 to a promiscuous sixteen-year-old girl. He never knew his father and his mother was a drunkard. At the age of 13 he started his criminal career. By the age of sixteen he had lived with his mother, foster parents and in a selection of caretaking schools and other institutions. By the mid-1960s, Manson became obsessed with the music of the Beatles.
The Family Having been released from prison, Manson, age 32, headed for San Francisco and there gave birth to what would soon be called "The Family." Manson became the unquestioned head of the Family. He dominated their lives, even to the point of telling Family members who they must have sex with. To some members of the Family, Manson represented a "Christ-like" figure. He encouraged such talk, sometimes asking a Family member, "Don't you know who I am?" Since 1967, when Sgt. Pepper album was released, Manson believed the Bealtes were sending him coded messages through their songs. He saw a connection between the Beatles and the angels St. John talks about in his Apocalypse. Shortly after the Christmas in 1968, he brought the White Album to his Family. He studied it carefully, discovering many new
77 „messages“. So, for example, in the song Happiness Is a Warm Gun, the Beatles tell the black race directly how to get rid of the whites: „bang bang, shoot shoot“. Not knowing the British English meaning of Helter Skelter (in American English, this word is used for chaos or confusion, in British English it also describes an amusement park slide), he called so the new war between blacks and whites.
The Murders Wanting to provoke this racial war between blacks and whites, he sent members of his hippie Family on a murderous mission. Following his orders, they killed the pregnant actress Sharon Tate (wife of the famous director Roman Polanski) and three of her friends (the so-called "Tate murders"). Then they went to the home of Rosemary and Lena LaBianca and killed them too (the "LaBianca murders"). All the victims were shot and stabbed many times. Quotes from the Beatles´ songs were found at the crime scenes, written in blood.
The Trial Being pronounced guilty of several murders, Manson and three of his female helpers were sentenced to death. Manson did not actually kill anyone. He was the mastermind behind the murders. The death penalty issued before 1972 were changed into life sentences in California. Charles Manson now lives in California's Corcoran State Prison and is probably the only prisoner snowed under with mail. He is said to receive over 60,000 letters a year, mostly from young people wishing to join his Family.
Manson and the Music Industry It seems hundreds of musicians, most unknown or minor, have recorded songs related to Manson. Neil Young is probably the best known, and, in addition, he knew Manson. System of a Down wrote the song ATWA on their Toxicity album about the media's viewpoints on Manson. The list seems endless. Guns 'n Roses attracted the most attention when they recorded a song authored by Manson. Part of the profits would have gone to him but legal action diverted them to victim Frykowski's son, instead. Task 1 Read the text very quickly and answer these questions: 1. Who is Charles Manson? 2. What is Helter Skelter? 3. Which musicians were inspired by Manson? Task 2 Study the text more carefully and discuss these questions in your group: 1.Do you know any similar story? 2.Do you know any other songs, films, books or pictures that influenced the world or caused some very important events? 3.Imagine you were the judges. What sentence would you give Charles Manson?
78 79 This lesson plan was tested in an intermediate post-secondary group of 4 students (only girls). The lesson took about 40 minutes The students did not like the song very much, but were able to imagine a person who would like this song and provided a good profile of such a person. The reading activity was not very enjoyable for the students as the original idea was to let students read aloud in groups – one student was reading and the others were supposed to correct her.This did not prove to work very well as some of the students were not paying attention and the one who was actually correcting the pronunciation worked rather as a disruptive element. Despite this the article provoked animated discussion about who is more guilty – Charles Manson or the people who actually killed the victims. As the reading activity was not as successful as it could be I decided to change the activity towards greater inclusion of all group members by giving each of them personal responsibility. I have not tested this new version. However, I intend to use it in my future lessons.
4.9 Her Majesty
More than two thirds (68%) [of British people] still support the idea of a monarchy. 17
This song was basically an accident. Paul McCartney recorded this song alone before the others got into the studio and wanted to exclude the recording from the album. The sound engineer, however, was instructed never to throw anything The Beatles recorded away and put the song at the end of the album, with a twenty-second pause after the last song. So Her Majesty closes the album Abbey Road – The Beatles' last album. (Harry, 2006: p. 342) As the song is only 23 seconds long with very simply lyrics, I decided to turn it into an elementary lesson. It was very easy to come up with a combination – I decided to connect Her Majesty with talking about Queen Elisabeth II. and her family. It is
17 http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=10334&pt=e
80 something we do not have, something exotic, something we find extraordinary. The British have their queen, princes and princesses – they effectively live in a „fairy tale“ world from our perspective. This fact raises our curiosity and interest. We read about the Queen in the newspaper, hear about her on the radio – she is a celebrity. This has, of course, great potential for an EFL lesson. First, it motivates the students, and – as we discussed in the chapter Teaching Culture – makes them feel more comfortable with the English speaking environment. When we live in a particular country, we automatically become exposed and accustomed to a range of images and symbols embedded in songs and pictures, places, and customs. These images and symbols include famous people in the culture, and architectural and landscape features such as the White House in Washington and the white cliffs of Dover. Familirity with these images helps students to feel more confident and become more fluent. (Tomalin and Stempleski, 1993: p. 15)
The activity is divided into several stages. The preparation is based on providing adjectives to describe the Queen. Then the students listen for the adjectives that Paul McCartney uses. Work on lyrics is followed by revision of vocabulary for family members. This vocabulary work is complemented by the introduction / revision of possessive forms. These two items together are consolidated in a simple drill activity (Variation 1) or a slightly more demanding activity connected with asking questions to find the true identity of students' partners. I believe this combination of song and a „fairy tale“ monarchy topic might be successful in making the students speak and practise given vocabulary and grammar. The connection between family trees and pictures of royal family members will hopefully be motivating for the students and stimulating for their memory.
Bibliography – Teacher's Notes and Worksheets WIKIPEDIA CONTRIBUTORS. Her Majesty [online]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2008 [cit. 2008-04-02]. Available from:
81 Her Majesty
Level: Beginner Aim: To revise family vocabulary and the possessive 's on the example of the British Royal Family Grammar and functions: possessive 's Vocabulary: family Time: 25 minutes Organisation: Groups of three or four / Pairs
Material: ● CD with the song Her Majesty (Abbey Road) ● Worksheet A – one copy per student ● Worksheet B – one copy per group / pair ● Worksheet C – one cut-out copy per group or pair
Background: Her Majesty is The Beatles' shortest song (only 23 seconds). The lyrics are very simple and Paul McCartney first thought the song was not good enough and should have been destroyed, but by accident it got onto the Abbey Road album. The aim of this activity is to introduce the British Royal Family and, using this example, revise possessive 's and possessive adjectives together with the vocabulary connected with families.
Procedure: 1. Show your students picture of the queen and ask them who it is and what to call her in English (Queen Elizabeth II., the Queen, Her Majesty). 2. Ask students which adjectives they would use to describe the Queen. Let them discuss them in pairs. Elicit the answers and write them on the board. 3. Tell the students that Paul McCartney wrote a song about Her Majesty. Tell them to listen and find out what adjective he uses to describe her. 4. Check with the whole class. 5. Give out worksheet A. Tell them to fill in the words under the lyrics into the text. 6. Listen and check.
82 7. Now you are going to work on the Royal Family topic. Ask your students which other members of the Royal Family they know and what is their relationship to the queen. 8. First, revise these words with your students: mother, father, sister, brother, cousin, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, father-in-law, mother-in-law, sister-in- law, brother-in-law, husband, wife, ex-wife, ex-husband, daughter, son, step mother, step father, step daughter, step son.
Variation 1: 9. Divide students into groups of three or four. Give each group the Royal Family Tree (Worksheet B) and a set of cards (Worksheet C). 10. Ask the group to choose one of the cards. The person on the card will be the person they relate the others to. They put the rest of the cards face down. One of them takes one card and has to describe the relationship of this person to the person on the main card. Example: The main card is Prince William. The next card is Princess Anne. The student has to say: Princess Anne is William's aunt. 11. They keep turning the cards. When they have finished, they choose another main card and start again.
Variation 2: 9. Divide students into pairs. Give each pair the Royal Family Tree (WS B) and a set of cards (WS C). 10. One of them chooses a card and this is his new identity. The other student chooses another card and does NOT show it to their partner. The first student has to ask questions and find out who his/her partner is. Example: Student 1 chooses Prince William. Student 2 chooses Princess Anne. Student 1 has to ask questions like: Are you a man? How old are you? Are you my cousin? Are you my father? And find out who Student 2 is. Then they change roles and play again.
11. Follow-up – draw your own family tree.
83 Her Majesty Worksheet A The Beatles Her Majesty
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl, but she doesn't have a lot to ...... Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl but she changes from day to ......
I want to tell her that I love her a lot But I gotta get a bellyful of ...... Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl Someday I'm going to make her mine, oh yeh, someday I'm going to make her ......
Say, mine, wine, day ------Her Majesty Worksheet A The Beatles Her Majesty
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl, but she doesn't have a lot to ...... Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl but she changes from day to ......
I want to tell her that I love her a lot But I gotta get a bellyful of ...... Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl Someday I'm going to make her mine, oh yeh, someday I'm going to make her ......
Say, mine, wine, day
84 85 86 Her Majesty lesson plan was tested at the Brno University of Technology in a class of first-year students (11 boys and 1 girl). These students are complete beginners. The activity took 20 minutes together with a follow-up activity (drawing and then describing their own family tree to their partner). Although some of the students were originally not familiar with the name Paul McCartney, they tried very hard to come up with adjectives to describe the Queen (old, rich, nice, …). Some of them were able to identify the adjectives that McCartney uses in the song (pretty nice) during the first listening. The gap-fill activity was easy for them. Although they knew only basic words for family members (mother, father, sister, brother), we worked on others as well and they seemed to cope with them very well and used them in the following exercise (choosing a card and relating the person to the Queen, then relating two cards together). They seemed to enjoy the activity of looking for the people in the family tree very much – it was not only a language, but also a general challenge. They participated in the describing their own family tree eagerly and did not notice that it was time to finish he lesson.
4.10 I'm So Tired
We have all smiled at the tourist menu which offers cow tail soup or the student who talk about silly cow disease. We are familiar with the concept of communicative competence, but we need to add the concept of collocational competence to our thinking. (Lewis, 2000: p. 48)
These words perfectly descibe one of my aims while planning this activity. I was inspired when we discussed a lexical approach in our methodology classes and realised that songs are an inexhaustible supply of fixed expressions. For collocations, I chose a song written by John Lennon while meditating in India. It was one of his favourite songs because of the expressivity of its sound and vocals (MacDonald, 1997: p. 263). The very first part is a running dictation. It introduces the background of this song. The form of a running dictation was chosen because it wakes the students up, they practise reading, writing, spelling (e.g. Maharishi Maheshi Yogi), train their memory, and switch on to English. In addition, it adds a competitive element.
87 It is quite easy to believe that John Lennon is terribly tired while listening to this song. And the song is full of expressions connected with sleep. So my choice was obvious – take the expressions from the song and add some more for students to find about the meaning, and listen for them in the lyrics. The next stage is really up to the teacher. I suggest working on three categories, as defined in these citations: An idiom is an expression which is relatively fixed and allows little or no change. It is often metaphorical: He put the cat among the pigeons; Don't count your chickens. Not all idioms are as pictorial as these two examples. We could think of catch the bus or fired with enthusiasm as idioms because of the inherently metaphorical use of catch and fire. (Lewis, 2000: p. 50)
Phrasal verbs contain a verb plus one or more particles: make up a story, put the light out. The meaning may or may not be obvious from the individual words. Again, learners may have no trouble with the literal put the cat out but cannot relate that to put the light out. (Lewis, 2000: p. 51)
A collocation is a predictable combination of words: get lost, make up for lost time, speak your mind. Some combinations may be very highly predictable from one of the component words – foot the bill, mineral water, spring to mind. Some strong collocations have the status of idioms – shrug your shoulders – they are not guessable an are non-generative. (Lewis, 2000: p. 51)
Work on these items is designed to make students aware of these phenomena and so structure the knowledge they already have. I believe collocations and fixed expressions are essential in language learning as they usually cannot be guessed and have no equal counterweight in Czech. Furthermore, the use of colloction promotes natural sound and fluency (as discussed in the introduction to lesson plan All Together Now). Collocation allows us to think more quickly and communicate more efficiently. (Lewis, 2000: p. 54)
I have mentioned before that Lennon really does sound exhausted in the song. This creates quite a real opportunity to take a pity on him and give him some advice. Possibly every person has some piece of advice to give someone who cannot fall asleep. Students activate their knowledge of „advice giving devices“ in English in a natural way. It should probably be summarized at the end. The next activity, a chain drill, is aimed at practising this language function.
88 The variation of Agony Aunt is very popular with students. It connects real life experience (presumably everyone has read such a page in a magazine at a certain point) with practising language we aim at. Young adults usually have a lot of fun writing the letters and replies as they imitate teen magazines and fake teenage problems. I believe this activity connects several useful elements and is real-life oriented which should enthuse the students.
Bibliography – Teacher's Notes and Worksheets WIKIPEDIA CONTRIBUTORS. I'm So Tired [online]. 2008 [cit. 2008-04-02]. Available from:
89 I'm So Tired
Level: Pre-intermediate and above Aim: To get students acquainted with the concepts of phrasal verbs, idioms and collocations and practice giving advice Grammar and functions: Giving advice Vocabulary: Phrasal verbs, collocations and idioms Time: 45 minutes Organisation: Pairs, individuals
Material: ● CD with the song I'm So Tired (The White Album) ● Worksheet A – 1 copy for the whole class ● Worksheet B – 1 copy for each student ● Worksheet C – 1 copy for each student
Background: This song was written when The Beatles were meditating in India with Maharishi Maheshi Yogi. John Lennon wrote it for his soon-to-be wife. He is complaining about not sleeping and being tired. It is a very slow and sentimental song full of very nice phrases (from a teacher's point of view). In this activity students first work on the meaning of these phrases and get acquainted with the terms phrasal verb, collocation, and idiom. Next, they work on giving advice language and practice it in a game.
Procedure: 1. Cut out Worksheet A and put the cards in different places in the classroom (or outside the classroom). 2. Tell the students they are going to listen to a song. But first they have to find some important information about it. 3. Running dictation - Divide the students into pairs. Tell them that there are six cards in the classroom (or outside). One of them will be a secretary and the other one a secret agent. Secret agents have to find the cards that are in the classroom, remember the information (word by word), and dictate it to their secretaries. At the end, both of them have to have a look at the sentences and put them into the correct order. The first pair to finish are the winners.
90 4. Ask the students to guess what the name of the song is. Tell them the real name. 5. Distribute worksheets B. Ask the students to match the phrases and the explanations. Check with the whole class. 6. Now tell the students to predict which of these phrases will be mentioned in the song. 7. Listen and check. 8. Write these three categories on the board: Phrasal verbs, Collocations, Idioms. Write one example for each category. Elicit the „definitions“ of these categories. Ask the students to put the phrases from Worksheet B into appropriate categories. Check. In pairs, they should provide at least three more examples for each category. 9. Distribute Worksheets C. Tell the students to fill in the gaps with the expressions from Worksheet B. Listen and check. 10. Write „I'm so tired.“ and „I haven't slept a wink“ on the board. Ask them to look at the lyrics again and find the solutions John Lennon offers. Ask them to provide more advice. 11. Elicit different ways of giving advice. (Here you can also work on modal verbs and their meaning, e.g. must is stronger than should.) 12. Tell each student to come up with a problem (a single sentence) and write it down, e.g. „I had an argument with my best friend“. One of the students reads his/her sentence and calls on another student. The student then has to give some advice (focus their attention on the expressions you elicited before), read his/her problem, and call on another student. (If you have a small ball, the students can throw the ball instead of calling on each other. It makes this activity much more exciting.) 13. Alternative – Agony Aunt. Tell the students to remember the „problem pages“ in magazines. Their task is to write a letter to an Agony Aunt, making up a new identity and describing their problem in detail. Collect these „letters“ and re-distribute them. Now the students are Agony Aunts and have to answer the „letters“. (This can be done as a homework.)
Answer Key: Worksheet B 1.j, 2.i, 3.b, 4.g, 5.k, 6.h, 7.e, 8.f, 9.a, 10.d, 11.c Phrases from the song: 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11
Worksheet C Phrases as follow: slept a wink, on the blink, drink, set on, insane, peace of, upset, insane, peace of mind
91 92 Worksheet B I' m So Tired
1. Daydream A) Haven ' t slept at all
2. My mind is set on you B) Have a very bad dream
3. Have a nightmare C) Become mad
4. Peace of mind D) Feel very sad
5.Is on the blink E) Prepare a glass of alcohol
6. Sleep like a log F) Sleep very well and long enough
7.Fix a drink G) State of feeling calm
8. Have a good night ' s sleep H) Sleep very deeply
9. Haven ' t slept a wink I) I think of you only
10. Feel upset J) Be deep in thoughts , in a different world
11. Go insane K) Does not work
------
Worksheet B I' m So Tired
1. Daydream A) Haven ' t slept at all
2. My mind is set on you B) Have a very bad dream
3. Have a nightmare C) Become mad
4. Peace of mind D) Feel very sad
5.Is on the blink E) Prepare a glass of alcohol
6. Sleep like a log F) Sleep very well and long enough
7.Fix a drink G) State of feeling calm
8. Have a good night ' s sleep H) Sleep very deeply
9. Haven ' t slept a wink I) I think of you only
10. Feel upset J) Be deep in thoughts , in a different world
11. Go insane K) Does not work
93 Worksheet C
I´m SoTired The Beatles
I'm so tired, I haven't ______I'm so tired, my mind is ______I wonder should I get up and fix myself a ______No, no, no
I'm so tired, I don't know what to do I'm so tired, my mind is ______you I wonder should I call you but I know what you'd do You'd say I'm putting you on But it's no joke It's doing me harm, you know I can't sleep I can't stop my brain, you know it's three weeks I'm going ______You know I'd give you everything I've got for a little ______mind
I'm so tired, I'm feeling so ______Although I'm so tired, I'll have another cigarette And curse Sir Walter Raleigh He was such a stupid get You'd say I'm putting you on But it's no joke It's doing me harm, you know I can't sleep I can't stop my brain, you know it's three weeks I'm going______You know I'd give you everything I've got for a little ______give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind
94 I used this activity twice in my post-secondary classes. In the intermediate group there were about 5 students. They liked the song and did not complain about not understanding the recording or anything else. They appreciated the fixed expressions and were able to provide some more examples for each category. The lesson plan was, however, not finished. We did not do the part with giving advice. In the pre-intermediate group there were 9 students. They liked the slow parts of the song but had trouble with understanding the quicker parts. They knew the category phrasal verbs and were able to supply a few of them. They were not familiar with the other categories and expressed a wish to work on them more in other lessons. I believe this is a great success as they seemed to find those things important. We focused also on the part with giving advice as we were currently discussing modal verbs. They enjoyed the Agony Aunt activity a great deal and were able to produce nice letters and replies. I find it important to draw on this activity in the subsequent lessons and provide more examples of chunks.
4.11 Interview with Paul
This activity is based on names and quotes from The Beatles' songs. It introduces an imaginary interview with Paul McCartney. The objective of this lesson is recognising different English tenses. At first, students discuss a typical interview. Then they are asked to „be a star“ - to make up an imaginary identity. Then a „question-answer“ session at a quick pace follows. Students practise asking and answering questions but with an extra curiosity element. As in many classes, students know each other very well, the imaginary identity is something extraordinary and creates a new information gap. The worksheet consists of quotes from The Beatles' songs. Students are asked to provide questions that might be answered by the particular quote. This is sometimes a very challenging task as far as the content is concerned. However, the form is very important because in the answers there are certain clues that force the students to use a
95 particular tense. This activity might be used as revision or an awareness excercise to focus students' attention on those important clues. Both of the versions of follow up encourage the students use their imagination and produce their own pieces of language that should reinforce the items they practised in the lesson.
Bibliography – Teacher's Notes and Worksheets Pictures taken on the 2nd April 2008 from: http://www.virginmedia.com/images/abbey_road-431x300.jpg http://anandamide.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/paul_mccartney_large.jpg http://www.obroda.sk/obrazky_clankov/20040608/paul.jpg
96 Interview with Paul
Level: Intermediate and above Aim: To practise different tenses by making up questions for different answers Grammar and functions: Tenses, questions Vocabulary: General Time: 45 minutes Organisation: Individuals
Material: ● Worksheet A – 1 copy per student
Background: In this activity students will be asked to produce questions. At first, very quickly in a role-play. Later, they will be given statements/quotes from different songs by The Beatles and they will have to produce questions that would fit these answers. The focus is on different tenses / recognising the clues that indicate different English tenses.
Procedure: 1. Ask the students what is typical for an interview with a star. (Variation: give each group of 3-4 students a copy of an interview from a magazine. Let them discuss some special features.) E.g. some typical questions, typical patterns in answers. Write the results on the board. 2. Tell the students to imagine they are a star. Let them think about their background, name, job etc. Tell them that now they are going to try out a little live-interview. 3. Ask one of the students to come to the front of the class. The others will ask him/her questions and he/she has to answer them very quickly (answer them in his/her new identity, of course). Encourage the students to ask and answer in a very fast pace. 4. Repeat the process several times. 5. Distribute the worksheets. Tell them that Paul McCartney gave an interview where he answered only by quoting his songs. But unfortunately the questions got lost.
97 6. First, ask your students whether they recognise some of the songs. 7. Then, let them find the questions for each answer. Ask them to write legibly. Focus their attention on the use of different tenses. 8. Display the completed worksheets and ask the students to go round and read all of them. 9. Discuss the most surprising or interesting question, or the question that was the same for everybody, etc. 10. Follow-up: let the students prepare similar worksheets for their partners. Encourage them to use quotes from well-known songs. 11. Variation: let students write questions they would ask a famous person if they had the chance.
Answer Key: Names of the songs: C) Yesterday D) A Hard Day's Night E) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band F) Eight Days a Week G) Back in the U.S.S.R. H) I Will I) When I'm 64
98 99 This lesson was tested in a post-secondary intermediate group. There were 7 students in the class. The whole activity took 35 minutes. Students came up with some typical features of an interview and enjoyed the „imagined identity“ activity very much. They did quite well in devising questions to the given answers and appreciated that they could read the questions prepared by the others. Some of the questions students came up with were: When did you have your last affair? Yesterday. What did you do to be famous? I have been working like a dog. When was your dog born? It was twenty years ago today. How often do you take drugs? Eight days a week. Where would you like to live? Back in the U.S.S.R. Shall you go with me for a coffee? I will. Will you go and tell the truth about John's death? I will. When? When I'm 64.
4.12 Rain
This song was recorded in 1966 and was a little experimental. The Beatles played with the recording and included a sequence played backwards at the end (Harry, 2006: p. 631). The song itself is not very well known. It has nice and relatively simple lyrics and is, in my opinion, ideal to introduce the topic of weather. The lesson plan consists of several techniques. After the background of the song is briefly introduced by quotes about The Beatles' trip to Australia on Worksheet A (some help from the teacher will be necessary), the song itself is used as a rather traditional listening exercise. First students answer multiple choice questions (after predicting the answers first) and then are asked to transcribe several sentences from the text. Group work is encouraged as it promotes cooperation and helps students with different levels of English. In the end the song is played again while students read the lyrics. The song itself is used as an introduction to an article on British people's attitude to weather and weather talk. I believe this is part of the culture with small „c“ which is
100 essential for students' successful communication in a foreign language. The article introduces the idea that weather talk is not really about the weather and that it has some (strict) rules. I would like to back-up my decision to include this article into my activities by a quote from Tomalin and Stempleski's book Cultural Awareness: The unifying concept underlying all the activitites in this section is the goal of increasing awareness of and sensitivity to culturally different modes of behaviour. In the contemporary teaching of English as a second or foreign language, more and more attention is being paid to culturally appropriate behaviour – what native speakers of English say and do in specific social situations.
However, if learners of English are to communicate successfuly on a personal level with individuals from English-speaking cultures, they need not only to recognise the different cultural patterns at work in the behaviour of people from English-speaking countries; they also need to become aware of the ways in which their own cultural background influences their own behaviour, and to develop a tolerance for behaviour patterns that are different from their own. (Tomalin and Stempleski, 1993: p. 82)
The text is somewhat challenging as it was only slightly adapted (and significantly abridged by me) from an authentic book Watching the English by Kate Fox (2005: p. 25 – 32). After checking the general understanding by matching headlines with respective paragraphs, students are asked to match words from the text with their synonyms and antonyms. Although this activity might be reminiscent of the (now not very much respected) grammar-translation method, I believe students can benefit from this as words with similar and opposite meanings should help students structure their vocabulary knowledge and help them remember new words more easily. Synonyms may represent different aspects of knowledge that have already been acquired. For example, if learners are faced with learning the low- frequency words revolver and spear, learning revolver may be easier because it has a high-frequency synonym (gun) that represents vocabulary knowledge that can be used to learn revolver. The word revolver can be substituted for gun in many sentences, allowing learners to produce sentences such as he held the revolver tightly in his hand, he pointed the revolver and fired, and she took out her revolver and shot him three times in the head. If a newly learned word can be substituted in a sentence for a known synonym, then collocations and syntagmatic associates might be acquired when meaning and form are learned. Because spear does not have a high-frequency synonym, a greater amount of vocabulary knowledge may need to be acquired, and therefore, it may be more difficult to produce in a sentence. Although the degree of overlap of vocabulary knowledge varies
101 from synonym to synonym, at least partial overlap may help facilitate acquisition.(Webb, 2007)
In the discussion questions students should reflect on Czech cultural habits as far as weather talk is concerned. I also decided to include a short role-play, bearing in mind Confucius' words:
I hear and I forget
I listen and I remember
I do and I understand.18
Students should prepare a short weather talk themselves. Firstly, I believe this will make students remember what they read in the article to a greater degree. Secondly, it creates an opportunity to speak. Drama can generate a need to speak by focusing the atttention of the learners on creating a drama, dialogue, or a role play, or solving a problem (as in simulations and games).... In each of these activities, learners have to be active participants, using their imagination and interacting with each other; almost unconsciously they are acquiring communication skills in the foreign language. (Wessels, 1987: p. 9)
However close drama comes to real life, it cannot, however, ever replace it. To make the simulation more real, I suggest bringing some props the students can use, such as an umbrella, a hat, or a pair of gloves. We realise, of course, that like all other activities in the classroom, drama activities cannot be „real“ simply because they are subject to the constraints the classroom imposes. Unlike more familiar activities, however, which always remain external to the student because imposed from without (and largely for the convenience of the teacher, not the student), these techniques draw upon precisely those internal resources which are essential for out-of- class use of the language. (Maley and Duff, 1982: p. 9)
The topic weather is used in most of the textbooks and students might already be bored with it. Still, I believe looking at the topic from the point of view of different cultures might refresh the subject and make it appealing again.
18 http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/1492
102 Bibliography – Teacher's Notes and Worksheets WIKIPEDIA CONTRIBUTORS. Rain (The Beatles Song) [online]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2008 [cit. 2008-04-02]. Available from:
Pictures taken on 2nd April 2008 from: http://www.datamouse.biz/catalog/images/Weather.gif http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/images1/beatles_sydney.jpg
103 Rain
Level: Pre-intermediate and above Aim: To make students aware of small talk and weather talk in English Grammar and functions: Small talk, Zero conditionals Vocabulary: Weather Time: 70 minutes Organisation: Pairs
Material: ● CD with the song Rain (Rarities) ● Worksheet A – 1 copy per student ● Worksheet B – 1 copy for each student ● Worksheet C – 1 copy per student ● possible props (umbrella, hat, gloves, sunglasses, ...)
Background: This song was written after the Beatles experienced a terrible storm when they arrived in Australia. At the end, Lennon sings some words backwards. In the first part, students work on the song quiz. In the next part, they read an article about the rules of English weather talk and prepare short dialogues following the given rules.
Procedure: 1. Ask your students whether they know some songs about the weather. Elicit the names. (You can let your students do this in pairs). e.g. It's Raining Man, I'll Do My Crying in the Rain, Walking in the Rain, Walking on Sunshine, Here Comes the Sun, I'll Follow the Sun, .... 2. Tell your students you are going to listen to a song by The Beatles called Rain. Ask them what could have inspired The Beatles to write such a song. 3. Distribute Worksheet A. Read through the introductory notes. Discuss the text. 4. Ask the students to try and fill in the quiz about the song. Tell them to GUESS what they can. 5. Let your students compare their answers with their neighbour and explain why they have chosen this answer. 6. Play the song. 7. Let the students compare the correct answers. Ask them whether they want to listen to the song again.
104 8. Listen to the song again. Let the students write at least 4 complete sentences from the song. 9. Distribute Worksheet B. Let students check their sentences and listen to the song again. Encourage them to sing / hum along. 10. Ask the students why people complain about the weather all the time. Does it have any hidden meaning? 11. Work on the Worksheet C. Check all the tasks. Agree on one weather hierarchy with the whole class. 12. Now the students know what weather talk is good for, let them prepare a short dialogue that would include weather talk. The other students then have to guess in what situation this dialogue happens. Offer the students some props to use in the short sketches.
Answer key:
Worksheet A 1 B, 2A, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6A
Lyrics: If the rain comes they run and hide their heads. They might as well be dead. If the rain comes, if the rain comes. When the sun shines they slip into the shade (When the sun shines down.) And drink their lemonade. (When the sun shines down.) When the sun shines, when the sun shines. Rain, I don't mind. Shine, the weather's fine. I can show you that when it starts to rain, (When the sun shines down.) Everything's the same. (When the sun shines down.) I can show you, I can show you. Rain, I don't mind. Shine, the weather's fine. Can you hear me, that when it rains and shines, (When the sun shines down.) It's just a state of mind? (When the sun shines down.) Can you hear me, can you hear me? If the rain comes they run and hide their heads. sdaeh rieht edih dna nur yeht semoc niar eht fI. (Rain) naiR. (Rain) enihsnuS.
Worksheet B: A) The headings are in the following order: The Reciprocity Rule, The Context Rule, The Agreement Rule, The Weather Hierarchy Rule B) relaxed - tense reciprocated - returned limited – infinite virtually - literally upholding - breach preferable – better success - default inability - capacity defying - apologetic vague – accurate C) observation - scrutiny distinctively - typically discourteous - impolite displacement - shift
105 Worksheet A
The Beatles
Rain
When we arrived in Sydney it was pissing down with rain. We got off the plane and they put The Beatles on the back of a flat-back truck so the crowd could see them. — Neil Aspinall, The Beatles' Roadie
We were having hysterics, laughing. It was so funny, coming to Australia and getting on a big van, all soaking wet; we thought it was going to be sunny. We only got wet for about fifteen minutes, but the kids got wet for hours. How could we be disappointed when they came out to see us and stood in all the rotten wind and rain to wave to us? They were great, really great. I've never seen rain as hard as that, except in Tahiti. — John Lennon
Rain Quiz
1. What do people do when the rain comes? 4. When it starts to rain: a)They start dancing. a) Everything changes. b)They run and hide their heads. b) Everything's the same. c)They don't mind. c) Everybody's lame.
2. What do people do when the sun shines? 5. When it rains and shines: a)They slip into the shade. a) It doesn't mind. b)They are satisfied. b) It's just a state of mind. c)They go to the beach. c) Never mind.
3. Does the singer mind the rain? 6. According to John Lennon, this a) Yes, he does. song is about: b) No, he doesn't. a) „people moaning about the weather all the time.“ b) „the weather forecast I saw last night.“ c) „about the English weather.“
106 Worksheet B Rain
The Beatles Rain If the rain comes they run and hide their heads. They might as well be dead. If the rain comes, if the rain comes. When the sun shines they slip into the shade (When the sun shines down.) And sip their lemonade. (When the sun shines down.) When the sun shines, when the sun shines. Rain, I don't mind. Shine, the weather's fine. I can show you that when it starts to rain, (When the Rain comes down.) Everything's the same. (When the Rain comes down.) I can show you, I can show you. Rain, I don't mind. Shine, the weather's fine. Can you hear me, that when it rains and shines, (When it Rains and shines.) It's just a state of mind? (When it rains and shines.) Can you hear me, can you hear me? If the rain comes they run and hide their heads. sdaeh rieht edih dna nur yeht semoc niar eht fI. (Rain) niaR. (Rain) enihsnuS.
107 Worksheet C Rain Weather Talk
Any English conversation must begin with The Weather. As Samuel Johnson, a famous English 18th century writer, says, „when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather“. This observation is as accurate now as it was two hundred years ago.
1) ______Jeremy Paxman, a famous journalist and TV presenter, cannot understand why a „middle- aged blonde“ he meets outside his office says: „Ooh, isn't it cold?“. He puts this irrational behaviour down to a distinctively English „capacity for infinite surprise at the weather“. In fact, „Ooh, isn't it cold?“ - like „Nice day, isn't it?“ and all the others – is English code for „I'd like to talk to you – will you talk to me?“, or if you like, simply another way of saying „hello“. By failing to respond at all, Paxman committedd a minor breach of etiquette, effectively sending the rather discourteous message „No, I will not exchange greetings with you“.
2) ______As a matter of fact, there are three quite specific situations in which weather-speak is prescribed: 36.as a simple greeting 37.as an ice-breaker leading to conversation on other matters 38.as a „default“, „filler“ or „displacement“ subject, when conversation on other matters falters, and there is an awkward or uncomfortable silence
3) ______All we have said so far brings us to another important rule of English weather-speak: always agree. We have already established that weather- speak greetings or openers such as „Cold, isn't it?“ must be reciprocated, but etiquette also requires agreement, as in „Yes, isn't it?“ or „Mmm, very cold“. It would be quite rude to respond to „Ooh, isn't it cold?“ with „No, it's actually quite mild“. If you listen to English weather conversations, you will find that such responses are extremely rare, and almost unheard of. If you break this rule, you will find that the atmosphere becomes rather tense and awkward. No one will actually complain or make a big scene about it, but they will be offended. There may be an uncomfortable silence. Someone may say „Well, it feels cold to me“. Or they will either change the subject or continue talking about weather among themselves, ignoring your faux pas. Among highly courteous people, the response to your
108 „No, actually it's quite mild“ might be, after a slightly embarrassed pause, „Oh, perhaps you don't feel the cold – you know, my husband is like that: he always thinks it's mild when I'm shivering and complaining“ „Maybe women feel the cold more than men, do you think?“
4) ______We have not mentioned yet that certain remarks about the weather, such as „At least it's not raining“ on a cold day, virtually guarantee agreement. This is because there is an unofficial English weather hierarchy to which almost everyone subscribes. From best to worst, the hierarchy is as follows: ● sunny and warm/mild ● sunny and cool/cold ● cloudy and warm/mild ● cloudy and cool/cold ● rainy and warm/mild ● rainy and cool/cold
Even our television weather forecasters clearly subscribe to this hierarchy: they adopt apologetic tones when forecasting rain, but often try and add a note of cheerfulness by pointing out that at least it will be a bit warmer, as they know that rainy/warm is preferable to rainy/cold. So, unless the weather is both rainy and cold, you always have the option of a „But at least it's not ...... “ response. (taken from Watching the English by Kate Fox) Tasks: 1. Match these headings with the parts of the text: D) The Reciprocity Rule E) The Weather Hierarchy Rule F) The Agreement Rule A) The Context Rule
2. Look at the underlined words in the text and match them with a word that has opposite meaning. relaxed, limited, upholding, success,inability, defying, vague 3. Now look at this list. In the text, find words with similar meanings. scrutiny, typically, impolite, shift, returned, literally, better 4. Discuss the following questions with your partner. Try to use as many words from 2 and 3 as possible. ● In what situations do we use weather talk in the Czech Republic? Is it similar? ● Do you think that you follow the same rules in your weather conversations? Give examples. ● Agree on your own weather hierarchy.
109 This lesson was used with an pre-intermediate post-secondary group of 10 students. The whole activity could not unfortunately be finished due to a diversion caused by organisational matters. However, the students claimed the song was fine but the article was too difficult for them. I believe the problems in conducting the lesson were mainly due to the distractions I could not have prevented. A very interesting moment for my thesis occured while eliciting songs connected with the weather. One of the students brought up the song Sun King. As it is not a very well-known song I asked her if she knows it. The answer was very agreeable: „No, I don't. But we had it in The Beatles Bingo!“
4.13 Revolution
The Beatles were a revolution. Oxford Guide to British and American Culture says: They have had more influence on the development of pop music than any other group. (2004: p. 45)
Ian MacDonald called his book about The Beatles Revolution in the Head. They affected many people and tried to send people some messages (see All You Need Is Love). In this song, John Lennon was not quite sure about his approach, though. The song refers to the conflict in Vietnam. Lennon could not decide whether to sing „If you talk about destruction, you can count me out.“ or rather not. (Harry, 2006: p. 639) Despite this controversy (or maybe because of it), the song can serve as a prompt to discussion about revolution, what it is, and what revolutions there are and were. Cultural meanings are constructed through interaction and what Giddens calls interpretive schemes, which form a core of mutual knowledge and sustain „what went before“ and „what will come next“ (1979: 84). We see this process in adult education classrooms and culturally accepted forms of participation in which reasoned dialogue is favoured. (Foley, 2004: p. 278)
Apart from this incentive for discussion, the song also contains a great deal of language input. There are many words ending with -tion. I want to use these words to
110 introduce word-formation in English. First students listen for these words in the song and later are asked to provide different word classes with the same basis. This brings us to discussion about generally known suffixes and prefixes. Students definitely know a few of them (though sometimes they need to be prompted). The activity might be a good preparation for the FCE Use of English part of the exam, where students are asked to transform words into different word classes that would fit the gaps in the text. Students should be made aware of the range of words which can be formed from the same base word, e.g. compete, competition, competitor, competitive, competitively, and the negative forms of these words, e.g. uncompetitive. In the examination, when they see the „base word“ at the end of a line, they must not automatically write a related word which they know well as their answer. (FCE Handbook, c2007: p.31)
Bibliography – Teacher's Notes and Worksheets WIKIPEDIA CONTRIBUTORS. Revolution (song) [online]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2008 [cit. 2008-04-02]. Available from:
Picture taken on 2nd April 2008 from: http://mindbrix.co.uk/alanaldridge/images/BEATLES-Revolution.jpg
111 Revolution
Level: Intermediate and above Aim: To make students aware of word-formation process in English, introduce some basic prefixes and suffixes Grammar and functions: Word-formation (derivation) Vocabulary: Common prefixes and suffixes Time: 45 minutes Organisation: Pairs
Material: ● CD with the song Revolution (White Album) ● Worksheet A – 1 copy for a pair. Cut up the sheet vertically down the middle. Then cut up the lyrics horizontally after each 3 lines. Make sure all the pieces are the same size. ● Worksheet B – 1 copy for each student.
Background: The song is somewhat controversial as John Lennon did not actually decide which part of the revolution to take. The song concerns events in China and Vietnam in the 1960s. The activity draws attention to word formation in English. This excercise can be used very well as the preparation for the Part 5 in FCE Use of English. One of the FCE excercises can be used as revision of this lesson.
Procedure: 1. Write „Revolution“ on the board – write your own definition. Get into pairs, read the definition to each other and agree on a common definition. Get into groups of four and so on (depends on the group). Variation: discuss the meaning of (Velvet) revolution for our country. 2. Share the ideas with the whole class. Write examples of famous revolutions. Can there be a revolution in different fields? 3. What words rhyme with REVOLUTION? Work in pairs and write as many words as possible. Write a list on the board.(Alternative with appropriate groups: put the students into two groups, let them come to the board, give each group a marker. They have to take turns by the board and write as many words as possible in the given time limit) 4. First listening – let the students note down the words from the song that rhyme with revolution/ end with –tion. 5. Check with the class – how many are on the board and how many have we forgotten? 6. Second listening – give the students the cut out worksheet A (see material) and let them put the puzzle together. Check during the second listening.
112 7. Give out worksheet B. Let the students fill in the missing columns. Then discuss general rules of word formation. Work on prefixes and suffixes. Elicit as many of them as possible, discuss their meaning and find examples. 8. A practise excercise from New Headway Upper-intermediate, p. 33 could be used. 9. Follow up / homework – write a paragraph about a revolution. A real revolution, an imaginery one. In the past, present or future. Try to use as many words from the last ecxercise as possible.
Answer key: Worksheet B Verb Noun Positive adjective Revolt Revolution Revolutionary Evolve Evolution Evolutionary Destruct Destruction Destructive Solve Solution soluble Contribute Contribution Contributory Constitute Constitution constitutional Institute Institution institutional
Some examples:
Prefix Meaning Example Ex- Former Ex-president Post- After Postmodernism Pre- Before Prenatal Over- More than Overeducated Under- Less than Underestimated Bi- Two Bipolar Anti- Against Anti-social In- Not Incapable Un- Not Unimportant Dis- Not Dissatisfied Re- Again Reduplicate
Suffix Meaning Example -ation Verb – noun Animation -er Worker -ment Placement -al Denial -ure Exposure -ee Employee -(i)al Noun – adjective Serial -ual Intellectual -ary Revolutionary -en Adjective – verb Strengthen -able Verb – adjective Adorable -ship Abstraction Friendship
113 Worksheet A
You say you want a revolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be alright
Alright, alright
You say you got a real solution
Well you know
We don't love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well you know
We're doing what we can
But if you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell you is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be alright
Alright, alright, al...
You say you'll change the constitution
Well you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well you know
You better free your mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know know it's gonna be alright
114 Worksheet B Revolution
Verb Noun Positive adjective
Revolution
Evolution Destruction
Solution Contribution
Constitution Institution
Prefixes Prefix Meaning Example
Suffixes Suffix Meaning Example
115 I used this activity in an FCE preparation class of 6 students. Their average age was around 24. They did not participate in the initial discussion very much. This might be caused by their age i.e. they have not witnessed any really important revolution (at the time of Velvet Revolution they were about 6). They did not appreciate the listening very much as the recording was very poor and was played on a laptop so the sound quality was low. When we got to the second part of the lesson, the word formation, the students became more active and worked really hard on prefixes and suffixes although they were not able to discover many unprompted. They appreciated this activity very much as they need it as a part of the FCE test. If I use this activity again, I will try to cater for better sound quality. It might also be a good idea to equip students with some language input (e.g. an article) so that the search for prefixes and suffixes is easier. They would not have to search for them unprompted but identify them in a text.
4.14 Summary - Lesson Plans
The lessons built on the proposed lesson plans were in general successful. They were appreciated both by the students and the teachers. On the other hand, some problems arose while conducting these lessons. Some of them were caused by technical equipment or factors that could not be influenced. However, some problems could have been prevented. This was mentioned in the summary of each song and suggestions for improvement and possible explanations were provided. If there was a crucial problem that hindered the learning and teaching, the respective lesson plan was rearranged and improved.
116 Conclusion
This thesis sought to investigate the potential of The Beatles for EFL teaching and learning. The idea was based on two premises. Firstly, that a lot of adult learners need to learn English nowadays. Secondly, that The Beatles might be appealing for this group and may facilitate their learning experience. To investigate this idea a little further, research was carried out in Brno language schools to find out whether The Beatles are known to and appealing for the students. It showed in the reasearch that using songs is desired by the students and that The Beatles are known by most of the students. Furthermore, most of the respondents from all age groups expressed a wish for The Beatles to be used in their classes, for which they gave some good reasons. Nevertheless, my initial idea to design a course based entirely on The Beatles proved to be unattractive for almost all of the students. That is why I dismissed this idea and prepared a set of single lesson plans for different levels aimed not only at adults but also at young adults (e.g. post-secondary courses). These lesson plans were aimed at several things – to use The Beatles as a cultural phenomenon that brings real life and British realia to our classes, an incentive that provokes thinking and discussion, and as a starting point to other activities. I tried to use this potential for EFL teaching in different ways and explored the theoretical background (teaching theory on songs, culture, realia, different skills and sources) to exploit it to the greatest extent in order to facilitate learning of (young) adult students. The lesson plans were presented in this thesis together with the background theory that supports the activities suggested in them. Each lesson plan consists of Teacher's Notes and Worksheets necessary for the activities. These items aim to be teacher and student-friendly and ready-to-use as a supplement of General English classes. The layout of Teacher's Notes and Worksheets tries to resemble resource pack activities and so the lessons are produced as photocopiable supplementary materials for teachers in language schools.
117 To make sure these plans would work in real classes, each of the lesson plans was tested either by me or by one of my language school colleagues. Most of the lesson plans proved to work very well and students showed apparent interest in the activities. Where the lesson did not work very well, problems were identified and explained, and suggestions for improvement were made. The practical use of the lesson is summarized at the end of each lesson plan. As my aim was to help teachers and adult students at language schools, I consider the students' interest a great success and I hope this thesis will be beneficial for both students and teachers and that the outcome will be useful in real life for real schools teaching (young) adults.
118 Bibliography
All My Loving [online]. Sing365.com, c2002 [cit. 2008-03-30]. Available from:
119 FCE Handbook [online]. UCLES, c2007 [cit. 2008-04-18]. Available from:
120 Christian Lacroix Quotes [online]. c2008 [cit. 2008-04-15]. Available from:
121 MURPHEY, Tim. Music and Song. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1992. 151 s. ISBN 0194370550. My Fair Lady Script - Dialogue Transcript [online]. [2008] [cit. 2008-04-15]. Available from:
122 Sheryl Lee Quotes [online]. c2008 [cit. 2008-04-15]. Available from: < http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/sheryllee337763.html>. TOMALIN, Barry, STEMPLESKI, Susan. Cultural Awareness. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1993. 160 s. ISBN 0194371948 . TURNER, Steve. Jak vznikaly písně The Beatles. [s.l.] : V. Svojtka and Co., 1999. 270 s. ISBN 8072372262. VINEY, Peter. How Not To Write Really Rotten Materials. Modern English Teacher. 2006, vol. 15, no. 3, s. 53. WEBB, Stuart. The effects of synonymy on second-language vocabulary learning. Reading in a Foreign Language [online]. 2007, vol. 19, no. 2 [cit. 2008-03-25]. Available from:
123 WIKIPEDIA CONTRIBUTORS. Helter Skelter [online]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2008 [cit. 2008-04-01]. Available from:
124 List of Appendices
Appendix 1: The Beatles Questionnaire Appendix 2: Glossary – The Beatles Questionnaire – Elementary Level Appendix 3: Feedback Form Appendix 4: Student's Own Bingo Game
Appendices
Appendix 1: The Beatles Questionnaire
125 Dear student, Vážený studente / Vážená studentko, My name is Eva Minaříková and I am a student of jmenuji se Eva Minaříková a jsem studentkou Masaryk University – Faculty of Education. This Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity. survey is part of my thesis. My aim is to prepare a Tento výzkum je součástí mé diplomové práce. course based on Beatles material. I would like to Mým cílem je připravit kurz založený na know how popular the Beatles are and if anybody materiálech o a od Beatles. Chtěla bych zjistit, would be interested in such a course. If you do not jak jsou Beatles populární a jestli by měl někdo know anything about the Beatles, nevermind. o takový kurz zájem. Pokud o Beatles nic nevíte, Please fill in this questionnaire anyway. nevadí. Vyplňte tento dotazník i tak prosím. This questionnaire is anonymous and I will not ask Tento dotazník je anonymní. Nebudu se ptát any questions about your identity. po Vaší identitě. I appreciate your help very much. I hope filling in Moc si cením Vaší pomoci. Snad bude tento this questionnaire will bring some benefits to you dotazník přínosem i pro Vás. Třeba se jednou as well. Perhaps I will even see you in my course uvidíme v mém kurzu. some day?
1. I know / don´t know who the Beatles are. (Circle your answer.) (If your answer is No, go to question 19.)
2. I know these albums by the Beatles (Write down the names.): 7. …………………..…………………..………………….. 8. …………………..…………………..………………….. 9. …………………..…………………..…………………..
3. I know these songs by the Beatles (Write down the names.):
B) …………………..…………………..………………….. C) …………………..…………………..………………….. D) …………………..…………………..…………………..
4. The members of the band were: (Write down their names.) …………………..…………………..…………………..………………….. …………………..…………………..…………………..………………….. ………………………………
5. I like / don´t like their music. (Circle your answer.) (If your answer is No, go to question 8.)
6. I have …….. Beatles´albums at home. (Please write down the number.)
7. I listen to the Beatles (Choose one please.): a) every day e) only when I hear one of b) 2 – 3 times a week their songs on the radio c) once a week f) other: d) once a month …………………..
8. Can you remember a word or a phrase from one of their songs (other than the name of the song)? (Please give an example and translate or explain in English) 9. I can / cannot remember a lesson (with a song) about the Beatles in my English class. (Circle your answer.) (If your answer is No, go to question 12.)
126 10. Which song was it? (Circle or give your own answer.) I can´t remember. / It was ……………………………………………
11. I liked / didn´t like the lesson because: (Circle your answer and give reason please.)
12. I can / cannot remember an article about the Beatles in my English class. (Circle your answer.) (If your answer is No, go to question 15.)
13. What did you learn about the Beatles in the article? (Circle or give your own answer.) I can´t remember. / I learned that ……………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………….
14. I liked / didn´t like the lesson because: (Circle your answer and give reason please.)
15. I like / don´t like it when our teacher uses songs in the class because : (Circle your answer and give reason please.)
16. I would / wouldn´t like to work with Beatles´ songs in our class because: (Circle your answer and give reason please.)
17. I would / wouldn´t like to take part in an intensive course based only on Beatles material (songs, video, articles, interviews, …) because: (Circle your answer and give reason please. If your answer is No, go to question 19.)
18. I would not pay for such a course. / I would pay a maximum of …………. CZK for 36 lessons (45 min) of the Beatles intensive course. (Please circle or write down the price.)
19. My current course is …………………level. (Please choose one.) a) elementary d) upper-intermediate b) pre-intermediate e) advanced c) intermediate f) other:…………………………
20. I don´t know how much I pay. / I pay ………………. for 1 lesson (45min) of this course. (Please circle or write down the price.)
21. I am ……….. years old. (Please put down the number.)
22. I am a man / a woman. (Circle your answer.)
Thank you very much for your help. / Děkuji za Vaši pomoc. Eva Minaříková
127 Appendix 2: Glossary – The Beatles Questionnaire – Elementary Level Glossary - Beatles questionnaire– Elementary level
Match the instruction and its Czech equivalent:
1. circle a) napiš 2. write down b) jdi na 3. go to c) vysvětli 4. translate d) uveď důvod 5. explain e) zakroužkuj 6. give reason f) uveď příklad 7. give example g) přelož
Cover the left column and try to find English equivalents in the text.
Member člen Question otázka Answer odpověď Once a week jednou za týden Remember pamatovat si When I hear když slyším If your answer is no pokud je vaše odpověď ne Was byl Because protože Own vlastní Article článek Use používat I would like to chtěl bych Také part účastnit se Intensive course intenzivní kurz Based on založený na I would not pay nezaplatila bych Current současný Such a takový How much kolik I would pay a maximum of zaplatila bych maximálně
Make questions (see example): I know the Beatles. → Do you know the Beatles?
1. The members of the group are Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. (Who?) 3. I don´t like their music. 4. I listen to the Beatles every day. (How often?) 5. I would like to work with Beatles´ songs. 6. I cannot remember a lesson about the Beatles. 7. I am 23 years old. (How old?)
128 Appendix 3: Feedback Form Feedback Form – Beatles' Lesson Plans
Name of the lesson plan: My students' level: Students' age span (approximately): Number of students in this lesson:
The activity took:
The main benefits of this activity for my students were:
They enjoyed:
They did not like:
They did not understand:
I did not understand:
I revised some items the next lesson and my students: did not remember anything / remembered:
If I use the activity again, I will:
129 Appendix 4: Student's Own Bingo Game PHRASAL VERBS BINGO
put on look out took off take off fell off hurry up turn on sit down stand up turn off lie down split up pick up ran away come together putting down climbed over speak up bring it back turn over try on went down get up go in wake up put back give up
130 1 put on obléct It was cold. I …. my coat. 2 take off vyzléct It is hot. I ……… my svetr. 3 turn on zapnout The news are starting I must ……… TV. 4 turn off vypnout When news end I ……….. TV. 5 pick up sbírat In autumn I really like to ………….. mashrooms. 6 putting down položit She ……… her heavy bags on the floor. 7 bring it back vrátit You can lend my umberella but you have to …… 8 went down klesat The Titanic slowly …… into see. 9 go in jít do domu You can ……… the door isn´t locked. 10 put back vrátit na místo When you finish reading ………the book on shelf. 11 look out podívat se ven It is snowing ……….. from window. 12 fell off spadnout My mug …………. and broke. 13 sit down sednout si ….. Please, I am very nervous when you stand next to me. 14 lie down lehnout si My dog ……..on the floor and immediately fall asleep. 15 ran away utíkat pryč He stole chocholate in shop and………….. 16 climbed over přeléz My brother ….. the wall. 17 turn over otočit When you come to the end of page … 18 get up vztát I ….. at 7 a.m. every day. 19 wake up probudit se My alarm clock rings at 8 a.m. but I usually ……….. 5 minute before. 20 give up vzdát I never …….. my dreams. 21 took off vzlétnout When plane ……….. I was realy nervous. 22 hurry up pospěš We have not got much time. ……… 23 stand up vztát When teacher comes to classroom every student ……….. 24 split up rozejít se I and Mark ……… last Monday. 25 come together sejít se I and Jana ………. every Friaday in our favourite club. 26 speak up mluvit hlasitěji Will you ……., please? I can not hear you. 27 try on zkusi si oblečení You can ...…. these trousers in the fitting room.
131 Resumé This diploma thesis was aimed at designing EFL teaching materials for adult learners based on The Beatles. Research was carried out to prove that The Beatles have potential for English classes and that they are a well-known cultural phenomenon. In contrast to the original idea of preparing a consistent course with The Beatles, which proved to be unappealing, the thesis provides single lesson plans for different levels of English. The lesson plans do not aim at a single objective but include a range of teaching techniques and practice of different skills and functions. To maintain the idea of practicality, all the lesson plans were tested in real classes and an account of this process is provided together with the lesson plan and suggestions for its improvement.
Resumé Tato diplomová práce se byla zaměřena na navžení materiálů k výuce angličtiny založených na skupině The Beatles. Byl proveden výzkum, aby bylo prokázáno že The Beatles mají potenciál pro výuku angličtiny a že jsou známým kulturním fenoménem. Naproti původním myšlence připravit souvislý kurz založený pouze na materiálech The Beatles, která se ukázala být pro studenty neatraktivní, poskytuje tato diplomová práce připravené jednotlivé materiály pro výuku angličtiny na různých úrovních. Tyto materiály nemají jednotný cíl, ale zahrnují řadu výukových technik a procvičování různých dovedností. Aby byla zachována myšlenka praktického využití, byly všechny materiály otestovány ve skutečných třídách. Tato diplomová práce poskytuje spolu s jednotlivými plány hodin i shrnutí jejich praktické aplikace spolu s doporučeními, jak by se tyto hodiny daly vylepšit.
132