Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Song Requests!

I think listening to music in English is an activity I'll keep doing with my new Thursday night students, Sonja and Marcos.  Last Thursday we did Natasha Bedingfield's "These Words".

The first time I played the song, they each had a blank piece of paper and wrote down as many words as they could recognize.
The second time, I gave them a sheet of lyrics with a couple missing words.  They listened while following along with the lyrics, trying to fill in the blanks.
Then we went through the lyrics - line by line - and translated the song.  I explained any strange vocabulary (such as "killer hook") or verbs ("had some studio time booked").

I haven't picked a song yet for this Thursday, so I'm open to suggestions (for this week and future weeks, if you think of a good one later).

Although I have an iPod loaded with music, it's harder to find a good song than you'd think:
  • The words have to be clear and understandable
  • The song can't be too fast
  • It should be between 2-4 minutes (since you listen to it a couple of times)
  • Have a concrete theme for 12&14 year olds 
    • (Some of my alternative favorites are a bit too vague.  "These Words" was easier for them to follow after I explained that it was about the artist trying to write a song.  Lots of the songs I listen to, I couldn't even tell you what they're about...they're open to interpretation)
So if you think you have a song that fits the above requirements, por favor, post a comment.
Gracias!

2 comments:

  1. For some reason I thought of Yesterday by the Beatles.

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  2. Not sure if these would work but...
    Beautiful Day - U2
    If I Had a Million Dollars - Barenaked Ladies
    So Close - Jon McLaughlin
    Daydream Believer - The Monkees
    and Disney movie songs - those aren't too fast, and there's some decent vocab worked in there.
    Good luck!

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