Creative Connections: Lady Gaga & Elton John’s ‘Sine From Above’ B1 ESL Lesson Plan

Quick Lesson Overview:

This song-based activity STEP-BY-STEP LESSON PLAN for ENGLISH language TEACHING features the lyrics for “Sine From Above” by Lady Gaga & Elton John. Students MAKE connections between two images and WRITE their ideas, LISTEN to the song and CONNECT the ideas to images, WORK in pairs to MIX their ideas with other student’s and WRITE a short narrative, READ and correct other groups narratives in a collaborative google doc, LISTEN to the song and DO an exercise with the lyrics.

OBS: This lesson plan was made to be used for ONLINE TEACHING WITH ZOOM features like ZOOM WHITEBOARD, ZOOM SCREEN SHARE and ZOOM CHAT, but it can be modified for face-to-face instruction, as well.

Language level: B1
Learner type: All ages
Skills: speaking, reading, listening and writing
Topic: connections, music
Language/grammar: descriptive adjectives, sequence words
Materials: Youtube video, google slide and google doc
Duration: 1 hour – 1h 20 min

Downloadable materials: instructions; google slides; collaborative google doc (to make a copy you can edit)

Check Out The Video Tutorial For This ESL Song Lesson

How to Teach English with Lady Gaga & Elton John: Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1 (5 min)

Show the first slide with the two images. Ask students to Imagine the connection between the two images and write their ideas in the CHAT BOX.

This idea came from the book “Hacking Creativity” by Nik Peachey.


Photos from writingexercises

Step 2 (5 min)

Have students read the ideas, comment on them and correct the mistakes.

Step 3 (8 min)

Students listen to the song: Sine From Above (Lady Gaga & Elton John) and as they listen, they should take notes of what words or ideas from the song connect with the pictures in the last exercise. Play the song twice.

Step 4 (10 min)

Individual task: Students write a paragraph explaining the connection between the images and the words or ideas from the song in 10 – 15 words.

Step 5 (10 min)

In pairs, (breakout rooms), students read their paragraphs to each other and mix their ideas to make a short narrative.

Step 6 (7 – 10 min)

Share the link to the collaborative google doc, with a designated working space for the pairs to write their mixed narratives.

Step 7 (5 min)

Students read their narratives. Highlight the mistakes in their texts, but do not correct the mistakes now. Assign the correction as homework: students will read their texts and correct the highlighted parts.