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Since the
1970s teaching language as communication has been the goal for
many language teachers. In order to achieve a higher degree of
language communication in the classroom, I would like to
recommend one teaching practice that deserves but has not
aroused enough exploitation: teaching English through songs
and accompanying activities.
The
following are several examples, which worked with my class.
Each one presents an English song and demonstrates how
accompanying activities offer the students practice in active
English learning.
"As time Goes By" (from the movie
Casablanca)
is a song with thought- provoking emotional music. While
playing the song on the tape recorder, I asked the students to
write an essay for the next fifteen minutes. They were free to
write whatever came to their minds as the music played. Many
students were so interested in this idea that they took out
their paper with an attentive expression on their faces. The
music echoed in the classroom and every student was soon
immersed in his or her writing. I was so delighted that the
music caused the atmosphere of the writing room to become so
warm and supportive. As a result, most students did an
unusually good job. In their essays they were actually
expressing something from their own thoughts and feelings.
They were less tense and uncomfortable. Many essays told of
love stories, the exact theme of this sentimental song. I was
very pleased to read their papers and to comment on them.
During the
next class, I returned the essays to the students while
handing out the lyrics of the song. I think the students were
quite impressed by this impromptu writing practice. It was
also a pleasant surprise for me to find that an English song
might help so much with a writing assignment.
"Sad
Movies" is a popular American song which tells a story of love
and heartbreak. A girl at the cinema was deeply hurt when she
saw that her boy friend was with another girl.
First, I
dictated the lyrics to the students and then played the song
on the recorder. The students were attracted by the story, and
then the song put them in the right mood for a classroom
activity. I divided them into several groups of three to four
students and gave them twenty minutes to prepare dialogues
based on the song.
Soon each
group was engaged in a heated discussion. Following my advice,
each group used the different characters in the song to write
a dialogue with three or four different scenes. To my delight,
many students preformed their dialogues using various
expressions of greeting, introduction, invitation and apology.
Many of them also included phone conversations. One group did
an outstanding performance by designing an unhappy chance
encounter in the cinema. They tried hard to express anger and
to resolve conflict in an acceptable way.
It seemed
hard to believe a popular song could excite students to come
up with such wonderful dialogue performances, but "Sad Movies"
did. It was an enjoyable experience for both the students and
myself.
"When A Child
is Born" is a poetic song with four verse, is very suitable
for students to read aloud, so it is good material for a
mini-musical performance.
"A ray of
hope flickers in the sky
A tiny star
lights up way up high
All across
the land, dawns the brand new morn
This comes to
pass when a child is born."
In order to
make the students more aware of the rhymes in the song, I
started with some listening practice. While the song was being
sung in a slow and thoughtful tone, the students were told to
fill in the words missing from the lyrics handed out to them.
Then I put
the following examples on the blackboard:
-
Sky / high
-
Now / how
-
More / torn
/ born
-
Seas /
trees
It is
important for students to realize the use of rhyme in a song.
They will gradually get a strong sense of rhyme by singing the
song again and again.
The whole
class was divided into groups of eight to ten students. Each
group was required to give a full performance of the song with
one student reading the monologue. The whole activity lasted
twenty minutes.
As I
expected, each mini-musical was quite impressive. The song is
about humanism, peace, and universal love. I could see that
students were trying to show emotion in their performance.
Therefore, it seemed to be another successful teaching
experience.
Language teachers have always struggled with how to teach a
language so their students learn to communicate. In my
opinion, a stimulating environment is the most important
factor in language learning. Using English songs with
accompanying activities is one workable practice that creates
a stimulating classroom atmosphere for students to learn to
communicate in English. Using handouts and specific tasks will
help make these classroom activities an enjoyable and
effective way to learn. With a good lesson plan, it is even
possible to integrate songs with the reading of certain texts.
For example, a popular American song, "Tie A Yellow Ribbon;
Round the Old Oak Tree," has already been used by many
teachers in their introduction to the text " Going Home "
written by Pete Hamill (College English Intensive Reading Book
1, pp. 149-151). Therefore, I want to encourage language
teachers to try teaching songs with accompanying activities so
as to create a communicative English learning environment.
YANG FANG
People's Republic of China
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