WELCOME to the SONG ACTIVITY FACTORY!

There are numerous websites for teachers out there, but here is

the place to be if you believe in the power of using songs to teach English!.

If you’re a BELIEVER, here you’ll find Creativity, Inspiration, Teaching Ideas and Resources to bring Musical innovation to your English Language Teaching Practice!

Whether you teach English online or not, using songs to teach has a wider scope than you think, and it is not restricted to listening exercises with songs or gap-fill. Check my older posts and don’t be afraid to try something new!

This week, SAF features SIA and her marvelous music video for: SNOWMAN!

I hope YOU and your students have a BLAST with it!

Description:

This song-based STEP-BY-STEP LESSON PLAN for ENGLISH language TEACHING features the lyrics and music video for “SNOWMAN” by SIA. Students PLAY a hangman game with a sentence from the song, WATCH a vocabulary video with words related to the music video, SPECULATE on the music genre based on a word cloud, do a JIGSAW VIEWING with the music video, WRITE a short narrative about the video, READ other students’ narratives in a collaborative Google Doc, and DO a listening exercise with an interactive worksheet.

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

Language level: B1 and above
Learner type: All ages
Skills: speaking, reading, listening and writing
Topic: winter activities, Christmas
Language/grammar: narrative sequencing, agreement/disagreement
Materials: YouTube videos (music video and vocabulary video), 
google slides, collaborative google doc and interactive worksheet.
Duration: 1 hour or so
Download your free teaching resources:  instructions; google slides;IMPORTANT: 
to make a copy of the slides, click on “file”, then “make a copy” 🙂
 collaborative google doc (for you to make a copy you can edit)

FREE MATERIALS AND RESOURCES FOR THIS ACTIVITY:

Check out the video version of this post!

The Power of the Past: ‘Last Christmas’ Inspires B2 Cambridge Conversations!

Do you want more Chrstimas Vibes? Check out this classic with a modern spin for B2!

STEP-BY-STEP LESSON PLAN

Step 1 (5 min)

Play hangman with the phrase “DON’T CRY, SNOWMAN”. You can use this app made with learningapps.org if you prefer>>>> https://learningapps.org/view15331996

Step 2 (3 min)

Play the vocabulary video 2x (send the link to your students via chat box, so they can watch on their devices twice)

Words in the video:

Carrots, stick, snow, snowman, pull cart, pull, push, North Pole, castle, sled,
 melt, ice box

Step 3 (5 min)

Screen-share the word cloud (slide 1) with words from the song Snowman by Sia.

Have students say if they can identify which song you are going to work with.

Ask them to say what kind of song they think it is based on the words.

Step 4 (7 min)

Jigsaw viewing:

Divide the class into two groups, A and B. Group A stays in the main room with you to watch the music video.

Group B goes to the breakout room and waits.

Tell Group A to pay careful attention to the music video because they are going to retell the story to the others.

Step 5 (12 min)

Group B comes back to the main room.

Now pair students from each group: StudentA+ Student B in breakout rooms. Student A retells the story from the video to student B who types it on the notepad or word doc. Give them a time limit of 10 min for the task.

Step 6 (10 min)

Back to the main room, share the link to the collaborative google doc (via chat box) with the designated spaces for the pairs to paste their texts.

Students read all the narratives. Highlight the mistakes, but do not correct them now. Assign the correction for Homework.

Step 7 (5 min)

Play the video again for everyone this time (or send the link for them to watch on their devices), so students in group B can see the video too.

Have some students compare their narratives to the music video. You can also have a vote on the most detailed one.

Step 8 (10 min)

Share the link to the interactive worksheet. Students listen to the song and drag the lyrics to their correct place in the song. To check, tell students to click on FINISH!! and then, CHECK MY RESULTS!

LYRICS TO SNOWMAN

Revolutionize your lesson today! Which song do you want to teach with? I’m ready to create the LP for you!

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!