Ok so for anyone who is interested this is the lesson I'm going to try out next week. Please see previous post for details of how I was inspired by various pages on the English Raven's blog as many of the teaching ideas below are his.
Image – Show learners image of rose and ask them for words that come to their head. Brainstorm onto the board.
Follow up conversation: When I see a rose I think of…. etc…See where the discussion goes…
Depending on how the discussion goes etc.. other things might happen but then I am going to tell them that the image made me think of a song by The Safires called Sweet Rose.
Wordle – guess as a class about the song based on the vocabulary (and vocabulary size/frequency)
Listen to the song…. Discuss any meaning issues… do songs need to make sense? etc…
Sight and sound – divide the class into two halves, listen again with one group listening to the words, the other half concentrating on the music. Each group should write down adjectives to describe what they hear (feelings, mood, etc.) and then share as a class, making lists for poet and music on the whiteboard. How does it make them feel? Do any lines jump out that they liked particularly? Why?
Gap fill Ask learners to listen again and fill in the gaps (I’ve removed all the verbs)
Language focus: Once they’ve got the completed lyrics in front of them I’ll ask them to identify what the main tense is (present simple). Then think about why. (It’s trying to convey a sense of now, how she currently feels, describing a moment, wanting it to feel immediate etc..) Look again at the verbs are they positive or negative? Why?
Language focus 2: Ask them to try to locate which places the singer goes to? E.g. within your eyes, through shards of light, within your sighs, to this earth, in the secret of your smile, in the sand, the palm of your hand, the ocean so blue below etc… See if they notice the prepositions of place and discuss this.
Depending on time maybe …
Dictogloss Place the students in teams and play the performance up to trace, (with the teams writing down what they hear/remember during the interludes between each stanza), with students pooling and discussing their notes (without referring to the original) and then attempting to reconstruct the song as accurately as possible. Have them refer to the original version of the song to self-correct their answers (as notes alongside their reconstructions).
Then…
Speaking follow up 1: Which place would you go to if you could? Why?
Speaking follow up 2: It’s time to tell one of your stories – where do you like to go to when you can? Use your imagination. Tell your partner and listen to their story. Tell the group.
Writing follow up: Individually or in pairs write a true or fictional story about a place they go to or would like to go to and why it’s special.
There are many other things I could do I'm sure but that's what I'm going to try out! I'm looking forward to it!
If anyone happens to want to try this as well here are the teaching notes in downloadable format:
Any feedback on how I could improve this, any additional ideas or any other thoughts would be most welcome :-)
This sounds like a great lesson, really well thought out. I like it a lot and might use it myself at some point if that's ok?
I would maybe do a quick starter- students get into pairs and one of the pair gets told what it is they're describing. They have to describe 'rose' to their partner without using certain words- make as hard/ easy as you like- maybe disqualify for thorns/ soil/ red/ valentine??
Their partner would have to draw what they think is being described. Gets them thinking about synonyms, adjectives and the rose before the lesson begins properly?
Some of the descriptions they used could then feed into the brainstorm?
Posted by: Materialteacher | 02/24/2011 at 04:17 PM
Thank you so much for your encouraging comments. Of course you can use it. I'd be very flattered if you did and would love to here how it went for you! :-)
Thank you as well for the idea. I love playing describe it games with my class but never thought of using it as a starter like this. I will incorporate it into the session and let you know how it goes!
Thanks! :-)
Posted by: Anna Rose | 02/24/2011 at 05:12 PM
Well I shall give you an update if you give me an update! Good Luck with it although I'm sure it will be an engaging lesson with all the different elements!
I love the concept of your site as well with the Magpie! It's nice!
Yes, describing games are good- I like making the students try it without words and then with words- just to prove the point of how useful words can be and I get to have a good laugh of them moving around wildly without being able to speak!
Posted by: Materialteacher | 02/24/2011 at 06:12 PM
It's a deal :-)
Sounds like you have a lot of fun in your classrooms... I look forward to hearing more.
Thanks again for all your kind words!
Posted by: Anna Rose | 02/25/2011 at 01:47 PM
Brilliant set of teaching/learning ideas! In particular, I really like how you've used the simple image to expand out to apply a variety of stimuli, and there is excellent coverage and integration of different macro skills here.
Very creative, but also very principled in terms of the language gains/uptake ideas.
Cheers,
- J
Posted by: Account Deleted | 03/12/2011 at 07:12 PM
Thanks - much of the creativity and most of the principles are from you! But again... what I love about your blog / materials is it provides the spark and the scaffolding but gives me the freedom to come up with my own adaptation. It's like SceneIt for teachers! ;-p
Posted by: Anna Rose | 03/14/2011 at 11:27 PM