Talking about places

Age: Older Teens & Adults
Focus: Describing Places

The following activity is about the song "A FOGGY DAY" performed here by Michael Bubblé. First, students try to guess what place the song is about by reading some clues on slide 2. In the song, the author says what he doesn't like about the city. After listening to the song, students have to share what they don't like about a city they know, which could be their hometown or any other place. This could be done in the form of a piece of writing as well.

Activity - Downloadable

Word Functions

Age: Adults
Focus: Word Functions


The activity below was made for the song "AT LAST" by Etta James. The focus is word functions. First, a list of words is showed as the song is played. A fun element could be lipsink the song while it's playing. Then, the students categorize the words into verbs, nouns and adjectives. In the end, they fill in blanks in the lyrics. Activity - Downloadable

Can I marry your daughter?

Age: Teens and Adults
Focus: First Conditionals

The activity proposed here is for the song "RUDE" by Magic. Although the song doesn't have the first conditional, it can be used for that purpose, so you can show students the slide with the lyrics but you don't necessarily need photocopies.

TEENS 

First, students fill in speech bubbles in pictures taped to the wall. Then, they are assigned a role in a group of three.

Student 1: The boyfriend
Student 2: The girlfriend (or the girl's mother)
Student 3: The father

Assuming students have been exposed to the first conditional and practiced for some weeks, in groups of three, they engage in a conversation in which the boyfriend asks his girlfriend's father to marry her. In case the girls in class don't feel comfortable playing the girlfriend, they can play the girl's mother.

The boyfriend is supposed to use the first conditional in the conversation and convince the girl's father (or mother) that their marriage will work out.  IF YOU GIVE ME YOUR PERMISSION, WE WILL… / IF WE DON'T GET MARRIED, WE WILL… etc. (The same with the adults below)

ADULTS

First, male married students share with everyone how they proposed to their wives and female married students share how their husbands proposed to them. Then, they are assigned a role and engage in the same conversation proposed above.

NOTE: For both age groups, teacher monitors students and provides them with vocabulary and feedback.

Activity Downloadable

Hazard - Creative Writing

Age: Teens & Adults
Focus: Creative Writing

The activity below has also been designed for the song "HAZARD" by Richard Marx. First, students work on a word search task. Then, they listen to the song and fill in the blanks with the simple past form of the verbs given. FInally, they create a story using the verbs suggested. 

Activity - Downloadable

Superstitions

Age: Teens & Adults
Focus: Vocabulary


The activity below has even designed for the song "GOOD LUCK CHARM" by ELVIS PRESLEY. After having learned and practiced the vocabulary (four-leaf clover, fig, lucky penny, etc…) students guess which of the lucky charms they have learned are actually in the song. They listen to it, check and underline the words. After that, they engage in a discussion saying whether they believe in superstitions or not.

Activity - Downloadable

Super Women

Age: Adults
Focus: Reflection and Discussion/ Simple Present (Routines)

The activity that follows has been designed for the song "SUPER WOMAN". Unlike other activities from the wiki, two songs sung by two different performers are used in this one. Because they coincidently have the same title and, of course, are about strong women, we decided to put the two together in one single activity. First, students list and share in pairs what qualities a woman must have to be a super woman. Then, they listen to the song and compare the two. After that, they have to say which of the two women portrayed in the songs is a real super woman and why. This activity is super simple for there is no writing but some reflection on the message presented in the song and some speaking practice. 

Activities - Downloadable

In case you choose to work with Alicia Key's version only, here is our suggestion for an activity. 

Family Issues

Age: Teens & Adults
Focus: Reflection and Discussion / Modals of Speculation

The activity below has been designed for the song "FAMILY PORTRAIT" by Pink. It's suitable for a group of older teens or an adult group. First, students speculate about what the singer was like as a child  and her family based on a picture. Students are supposed to use modals of speculation (I think she may have been rebellious), although they might use Would/Used To (I think she used to be funny and talkative) or Simple Past (I think she used bad language). After they discuss, they will listen to the song and find in the lyrics information that describes her family and how she feels. In the end, students say what they think they would do in her shoes. 

Activity - Downloadable