WELCOME to the SONG ACTIVITY FACTORY!

Here is the place to be if you believe in the power of songs to teach English!

The place to find Creativity, Inspiration, Teaching Ideas and Resources to bring Musical Innovation to your English Language Teaching Practice!

This week, the Song Activity Factory features THREE NEW SONGS by: LORDE, MAROON 5 & JOHN MAYER in an activity called MUSICAL VIDEO MATCH!I hope YOU and your students have a BLAST with it!

Description:

This song-based lesson plan for English language teaching features the songs ‘Lost by Maroon 5, ‘Last Train Home’ by John Mayer and ‘Solar Power’ by Lorde, and their official music videos. Students TALK about music videos and MATCH videos and song extracts, WRITE a short narrative based on the videos and CHOOSE a theme song, READ the lyrics of a song, WATCH music videos and MAKE comparisons.

OBS: This lesson plan was made for ONLINE TEACHING, 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: Music Videos and songs
Language: Vocabulary related to music videos, songs, expressing opinions and making comparisons, writing narratives
Materials: Genial.ly presentation, YouTube videos 
Duration: 1 hour - 1h 30 min
Downloadable materials:   instructions

VIDEO VERSION OF THIS POST !

STEP-BY-STEP LESSON PLAN

PART 1 – Warm-up + Video Match

Step 1 (7 min)

Ask your students to think about their favorite music video. Why do they like it? What are the characteristics of a good music video? Have students share their answers as a class. Write some ideas on the board.

Step 2 (10 min)

Video match:

Tell your students they are going to work with videos and song extracts. Tell them to imagine they are video editors and their task is to choose 3 different songs for three videos. This part is to be done individually

Step 3 (7 min)

Explaining their choices.

In pairs (breakout rooms), students share their choices and their reasons.

Step 4 (7 min)

Back to the main room, have the pairs share their differences and explain their choices.

PART 2 – Video Narrative + Theme Song

Step 5 (15 min)

Divide the class into trios (breakout rooms). Now, students are going to write a short narrative which connects the three videos, in any order they want. They must also choose one of the three song extracts (slide 2) to be the theme song of their narrative. Give them 10 – 15 min to do that.

Step 6 (10 min)

The trios present and explain their narratives to class saying which song they chose as the theme song. After the first presentation, have another group that chose the same song present next.

Important note:

After all groups have presented their narratives, if you still have some time left, go on to part 3. If not, assign it for homework.

PART 3 – Music Videos + Comparisons

Step 7. (15 – 20 min)

Play the music videos of the three song extracts. As students watch them, they must answer the following questions:

Is the official music video of your theme song similar to your narrative in any way? Explain. If the music video is different, in which way? Explain.
What did you think of the other music videos? Do you think that their images could match your story in any way? If so, how?

After you play each video, give them some time to discuss the questions.

When all the videos have been played. Have students share their answers and have a class discussion.