Unlock ELT Success: Teach with Alec Benjamin’s ‘Match In The Rain

Quick Lesson Overview:

This song-based activity STEP-BY-STEP LESSON PLAN  for ENGLISH language TEACHING features the lyrics and music video for “Match In The Rain” by Alec Benjamin. Students IDENTIFY famous people in photos, READ quotes about music and talk about them, READ sentences from the song, MATCH sentences from a song to images with speech bubbles, SPECULATE about the music genre, WATCH the music video, and DO a Use of English p2 (Cambridge English First) with the lyrics (interactive worksheet)

OBS: This lesson plan was made to be used for ONLINE TEACHING, but it can be modified for face-to-face instruction, as well.

How to Teach English with Alec Benjamin: Step-by-Step Instructions

PART 1 – QUOTES 

Step 1 (2 min)

Show slide 1 with the 3 photos and ask your students if they know who they are.

Step 2  (3min) 

Click slide 1 to show the quotes, students read them. Check their understanding.

“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.” ― Albert Einstein

“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” ― Bob Marley

“Music is the strongest form of magic.” ― Marilyn Manson

Step 3 (5 min)

Pairwork (breakout rooms). Students talk about the questions:

1- Do you agree with the quotes? Why (not)?

2- Which one is your favorite? Why?

Step 4 (10 min)

Back to the main room, students share their ideas with the class.

Have all students participate and ask questions like: Do you agree? What do you think? Etc

PART 2 – SENTENCES

Step 5 (7 min)

Show slide 2 with the 3 sentences.  Tell them they’re from the song “Match In The Rain” by Alec Benjamin. Ask them if they know the singer and/or his songs. Have students read the sentences and check if they know the vocabulary.

“I sense trouble on the horizon
I'm afraid our time is up”

“Should I just give up?”

“This love's impossible to save”

Step 6 (3 min)

Show the slide with the 3 photos with speech bubbles.

Have students talk about the pictures.

Step 7 (7 min)

In pairs (breakout rooms) tell students to match the sentences and the photos. They have to come up with an explanation to why the person/animal is thinking that.

Step 8 (10 min)

The pairs share their ideas and explain why.

Step 9 (3 min)

Based on the 3 sentences, ask students to say what kind of music they think it is (sad, happy, musical genre, etc)

Play the music video for them to check their ideas.

PART 3 – INTERACTIVE WORKSHEET

Step 10 (10 min)

Share the LINK to the interactive worksheet with the USE OF ENGLISH part 2 exercise (Cambridge English: First). Students think of a word to complete the blanks. Then, listen to the song and check their answers. PDF worksheet LINK

Answers:

1- been 2- this 3- of 4- that 5- these 6 - though 7- to 8- the

Follow, Like, and Subscribe for More ESL Inspiration:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube
• X
• Pinterest