Jonathan Auld M.A.T.

USING SONG LYRICS TO DRIVE ELL INSTRUCTION

USING SONG LYRICS TO DRIVE ELL INSTRUCTION

What does the research say?• Songs can help young learners improve their listening skills and

pronunciation, therefore potentially helping them to improve their speaking skills. Songs can also be useful tools in the learning of vocabulary, sentence structures, and sentence patterns, not to mention their reflectivity of mother tongue culture (Murphey, 1992).

• A further benefit of pop song lyrics is that their meanings are fluid, and, like poetry, allow for many different interpretations (Moi, 1994).

• The experience is so pleasurable that it is not uncommon for students to “pester” their teacher so that they can sing again and again. Also, as students repeatedly sing songs, their confidence level rises. Furthermore, by engaging in a pleasurable experience, learners are relaxed and their inhibitions about acquiring a second language are lessened (Medina, 2002).

Units of studyEx: Figurative languageParts of speechWorld’s RiversContext CluesCivil War

1st

What current standards are you teaching?Ex: Common Core, ELL, other content areas

Standards for Sticks That Made Thunder

•R.CCR.2 – Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development, summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

•R.CCR.4 – Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning and tone.

•SL.CCR.4 – Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

•R4.1 – Identify main idea/theme/plot of passage

•R. 8.1 – Identify analogies, metaphors, symbols, patterns in text such as rhyming and repetition, and other rhetorical devices.

•S.4 – Argue in favor of or against a particular relevant topic.

Common Core Standards TN ELL Standards

8th grade Social Studies Standards

• Era 5 - Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877) 5.18 Recognize the causes, course, and consequences of the Civil War.

What songs are age appropriate?

2nd

Find song lyricsEx: The Beatles, U2, Coldplay – must be clearly articulated

K - 2 – Nursery rhymesK - 12 – The Beatles9 - 12 – The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Common vocab in lyrics? 3rd

Identify key themes

Ex:TreesBody partsWeatherEmotions

Sticks That Made ThunderMy roots are deeper than the bones of the othersMy colors that change with the sunMy branches were higherThan anything on the hillsideOn the day that I watched them all come

Some wear the color of the sky in the winterSome, were as blue as the nightThey came like a storm with the light of the mornAnd they fell through the whole day and night

Colors flew high and they danced in the skyAs I watched them come over the hillThen to my wonder, sticks that made thunderSuch a great number lay still

When the light came againThere was death on the windAs the buzzards made way for the wormsAnd the little white trees that don’t bend in the breezeFor the ones that will never return

Colors flew high and they danced in the skyAs I watched them come over the hillThen to my wonder, sticks that made thunderSuch a great number lay still

Those that have fallen, come when I call themAnd answer the best that they canBut all they can see is what they used to beAnd that’s all that they understand

Colors flew high and they danced in the skyAs I watched them come over the hillThen to my wonder, sticks that made thunderSuch a great number lay still

Colors flew high and they danced in the skyAs I watched them come over the hillThen to my wonder, sticks that made thunderSuch a great number lay still

Words related to trees and weatherBy the Steeldrivers

Build your worksheet 4th

Find pictures

Use clear, easily interpretable pictures to elicit student vocabulary

Sticks That Made Thunder

How do I do that? 5th

Delete lyrics related to themes

Look for common topic words.

Ex: branchtreeroots

Sticks That Made ThunderMy _______ are deeper than the bones of the othersMy colors that change with the _______My _________ were higherThan anything on the ________sideOn the day that I watched them all come

Some wear the color of the _____ in the winterSome, were as blue as the __________They came like a ________ with the ________ of the mornAnd they fell through the whole day and night

Colors flew high and they danced in the ______As I watched them come over the ________Then to my wonder, ________ that made ________Such a great number lay still

When the _________came againThere was death on the ___________As the buzzards made way for the wormsAnd the little white _______ that don’t bend in the ____________For the ones that will never return

Colors flew high and they danced in the ____As I watched them come over the _______Then to my wonder, ________ that made __________Such a great number lay still

Those that have fallen, come when I call themAnd answer the best that they canBut all they can see is what they used to beAnd that’s all that they understand

Colors flew high and they danced in the ____As I watched them come over the ______Then to my wonder, _______ that made ___________Such a great number lay still

Colors flew high and they danced in the ____As I watched them come over the _______Then to my wonder, ________ that made ___________Such a great number lay still

What is at the heart of your class?

6th

Post- listening activities

Ex:Figurative languageSubject area vocabParts of speech

Sticks That Made Thunder•W

hat do you think was the main idea of the song? Write your idea in a few sentences below.

•What would be a good title for the song? Agree on one in your group. We will vote on the best one later.

•Find an example a of simile in the second verse. Write in your own words what you think it means.

•Find an example of a metaphor from the chorus (repeated parts). Write in your own words what you think it means.

Accessible for all levels?

7th

Differentiate worksheets

Lower Levels

Add pictures

Less missing lyrics

Make text bigger

Less discussion questions

Translated instructions

Higher Levels

More missing lyrics, more advanced discussion questions

Longer writing prompts

Sticks That Made Thunder – Lower Level

Now, use the words we have brainstormed, and try to guess the missing lyrics of the song. You have 15 minutes to do this. Then, listen to the song and see if your predictions are correct. Ahora, usa las palabras que hemos lluvia de ideas, y tratar de adivinar las que faltan letras de la canción. Usted tiene 15 minutos para hacer esto. A continuación, escuchar la canción y ver si sus predicciones son correctas.

My _________are deeper than the bones of the othersMy colors that change with the ________My _____________were higherThan anything on the ______ sideOn the day that I watched them all come

Sticks That Made Thunder – Higher Level

•Find 2 examples of a simile in the second verse. Write in your own words what you think they mean.

•Find 2 examples of a metaphor from the chorus (repeated parts). Write in your own words what you think they mean.

•What do you think was the main idea of the song? Write a summary in 1-2 paragraphs below. Use the attached rubric to check your summary.

Why is it so beneficial to use songs?

Conclusion•High interest•Cultural•Motivational•Cross-curricular•Hits many standards

References

•http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/

music.html•M

oi, C. M. (1994). Rock poetry: The literature our students listen to. Journal of the Imagination in Language Learning, 2, 56-59.

•Medina, S.L. (2002) Using Music to Enhance Second Language Acquisition: From Theory to Practice. Pearson Educational Publishing.

•Murphey, T. (1992). Music and song. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

•The Steeldrivers."Sticks That Made Thunder" was written by Michael James Henderson and Chris Stapleton.