Songs for Cambridge English: First [FCE] To Be Human – Marina [Teaching With Songs B2]

Description:

This is a song-based activity lesson plan for English language teaching, in special Cambridge English: First (FCE) exam preparation. This lesson plan features the song “To be human” and its official music video. Students talk about Organized Protests and do a vocabulary matching exercise, watch a video, talk about protest-related pictures, do a Use of English Part 2 exercise, listen to the song, talk about its meaning. It also includes a bonus listening pronunciation exercise by TubeQuizard.

Language level: (B1+/B2) 
Learner type: All ages
Skills: speaking, reading, listening and writing
Topic: Organized protest
Language: Vocabulary related to protests, agreeing/disagreeing and 
expressing opinions 
Materials: Youtube video, worksheets and mp3 file
Duration: 1 hour - 1h 30 min

Downloadable materials:  instructions; Vocabulary worksheet; 
Use of English worksheet; photos;  song mp3

INSTRUCTIONS

PART 1

Quote + Vocabulary

Step 1

Show your students the following quote by Desmond Tutu:

 “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” ― Desmond Tutu

Step 2

Ask students to work in pairs to discuss the following:

What’s the meaning of this quote for you? do you agree? talk to your partner. Give them about 2 min for that and have them share their answers with the rest of the class.

As each pair presents their ideas, have other students participate by asking questions like “do you agree? Why? What do you think about it?” as it is done in the Cambridge English (First and First for Schools) Speaking Paper part 4. Have your students expand their answers by giving reasons, examples, personal experiences to support their answers.

Step 3

Tell your students they are going to learn some words related to Organized Protests. Hand out the organized protest worksheet and give them some time to do the exercise. Before correcting, have them check their answers in pairs.

Answers:  1b 2c 3d 4e 5a 1 demonstration 2 marchers 3 protest/ march 4 
demonstrating 5 protester/demonstrator

PART 2

Pictures + Music Video

OBS: You can use THIS nice presentation made with genial.ly for step 4

Step 4

Tell your students they are going to watch a music video which shows some scenes from various demonstrations, but that before watching it, you are going to show them six of those scenes and in small groups, they must identify and discuss what the people are demonstrating or protesting about.

Tell them to use the words they learned in the vocabulary worksheet.

Step 5

Have students share their ideas with the whole class.

Step 6

Tell students you are going to show them the music video to To be human by Marina. As they watch it, their task is to write down the SIX cities and THREE countries that she mentions in the video.

Answers:  Russia - Kyoto - Hiroshima - America - Athens - Chicago - Angola - 
São Paulo - Verona

PART 3

Use of English practice part 2 with lyrics

Step 7

Hand out the use of English worksheet with the lyrics to the song “To be human” by Marina.

Step 8

Give students some time to do the exercise. Have them discuss their answers with the student next to them before playing the song for them to check their answers.

Step 9

Play the mp3 file of the song so your students can check (and correct) their answers.

Answer key: 1. of  2. to 3. in  4. when 5. the   6. by 7. where 8.  like 9. about 10 look

Step 10

Ask your students what they think of the song. If you still have some time left, have a little discussion about the meaning of the song.

BONUS ACTIVITY: HERE, you can access a very nice PRONUNCIATION listening quiz made with TubeQuizard using parts of a video in which the singer Marina speaks about the song “To be human’. It focuses on frequently used three-word expressions. TubeQuizard is a FREE online platform that lets you create interactive listening quizzes based on subtitled Youtube videos. (tubequizard.com)

This song-based lesson plan is sure to spice up your classes! However, would you like to think, feel and act more creatively on your own to be able to turn ANY song you want into an engaging lesson plan?
HERE are TIME-SAVING ideas that do the heavy work so you can focus on the most important: INSPIRING and MOTIVATING YOUR STUDENTS to learn CREATIVELY!