SLA Strategy Share
Monday, December 08, 2003
EDIS 548
Strategy--Teaching Pop Songs
Dengting Boyanton
10/06/03
Basic Steps:
I. Choose a song
Teachers cannot just pick up whatever songs they like for the students. Before making a decision about which song to use, they should ask themselves the following questions:
1. How closely is the song related to the teachers? current teaching materials, contents, or grammar structures?
2. What is the song about? Is the content healthy or suitable for students? Will it have a bad influence on students, such as promoting violence, racial discrimination and so on?
3. What is the level of the song? How many new words are there? Is it too difficult, too easy, or just a little above the students? level?
4. How popular is the song in the native country? Who are the main audience of it?
II. Before teaching the song
1. Check with the students, make sure they are interested in learning the song;
2. Find some information to introduce the song to the students, such as the lyrics of the song, information about the singer?s background, his or her pictures, as well as the comments from the media. Put them together, make it as fun and live as possible.
3. Underline all the new words, write down their pronunciation as well as their
meaning right next to them in brackets.
4. Print out the lyrics sheet, make a copy for every student.
III. Lesson plan
Teaching Materials:
1. Lyrics sheet (___copies)
2. A Cassette player, or a video player
3. The tape with the song in it
4. A TV
5. Blackboard
6. Chalk
Teaching Steps:
I. Listening comprehension:
1. Teacher gives a brief introduction about the song as well as its background;
2. Teacher gives students several questions related to the song, asks them to listen or watch the tape carefully and write down anything they think is helpful;
3. Teacher plays the tape (3 times): first time for general information, second time for note-taking, and the third time for checking;
4. Stop playing the music. Teacher gives out the copies of the lyrics to each student;
5. Teacher goes over the lyrics, explaining any part students have trouble understanding;
6. Teacher plays the song one more time for students to check the listening comprehension questions;
II. Learning the song
1. Teacher plays the song, sentence by sentence, or phrase by phrase, students sing after it. Go through the song for about 4-5 times in the same way;
2. Play the whole song, students sing together with the tape (3 times);
3. Divide the class into two groups, each group sing together along with the tape.
III. Students performing the song
1. Divide the class into 2-3 groups, and each group performs by itself;
2. Teacher asks any volunteer to sing the song all by himself;
IV. Activities after
1. Pick some useful or typical sentence patterns to practice with the students;
2. Have free conversations or discussions with the students about the song or anything related to the song;
3. Ask students to write thoughts or reflections on the topic discussed in the song;
4. Ask students to create their own song according to the example (if there is time).
Rationale:
1. Songs are made of authentic native language, natural intonation patterns, and idiomatic expressions.
2. Songs are interesting and engaging. Children and adults alike can receive considerable enjoyment from indulging in such frivolity.
3. Popular songs have lots of repetition in itself, and they are often played or sung by many people. The rhythms and sound repetitions carry the students into sensually appealing activities that can go far beyond mere drill. Thus students can internalize routines and patterns with or without consciously committing them to memory.
4. Songs can create an easy and relaxed classroom atmosphere. Music reduces anxiety and inhibition in second-language students.
5. Songs are one kind of culture of the target language. The use of routines and patterns can provide a stopgap strategy that students can use to gain entry into the new culture before being considered ?ready.?
6. Songs can have deeper influence and longer long-term memory on people. As Kahlil Gibran once said, ?the reality of music is in that vibration that remains in the ear after the singer finishes his song and the player no longer plucks the strings.?
Strategy--Teaching Pop Songs
Dengting Boyanton
10/06/03
Basic Steps:
I. Choose a song
Teachers cannot just pick up whatever songs they like for the students. Before making a decision about which song to use, they should ask themselves the following questions:
1. How closely is the song related to the teachers? current teaching materials, contents, or grammar structures?
2. What is the song about? Is the content healthy or suitable for students? Will it have a bad influence on students, such as promoting violence, racial discrimination and so on?
3. What is the level of the song? How many new words are there? Is it too difficult, too easy, or just a little above the students? level?
4. How popular is the song in the native country? Who are the main audience of it?
II. Before teaching the song
1. Check with the students, make sure they are interested in learning the song;
2. Find some information to introduce the song to the students, such as the lyrics of the song, information about the singer?s background, his or her pictures, as well as the comments from the media. Put them together, make it as fun and live as possible.
3. Underline all the new words, write down their pronunciation as well as their
meaning right next to them in brackets.
4. Print out the lyrics sheet, make a copy for every student.
III. Lesson plan
Teaching Materials:
1. Lyrics sheet (___copies)
2. A Cassette player, or a video player
3. The tape with the song in it
4. A TV
5. Blackboard
6. Chalk
Teaching Steps:
I. Listening comprehension:
1. Teacher gives a brief introduction about the song as well as its background;
2. Teacher gives students several questions related to the song, asks them to listen or watch the tape carefully and write down anything they think is helpful;
3. Teacher plays the tape (3 times): first time for general information, second time for note-taking, and the third time for checking;
4. Stop playing the music. Teacher gives out the copies of the lyrics to each student;
5. Teacher goes over the lyrics, explaining any part students have trouble understanding;
6. Teacher plays the song one more time for students to check the listening comprehension questions;
II. Learning the song
1. Teacher plays the song, sentence by sentence, or phrase by phrase, students sing after it. Go through the song for about 4-5 times in the same way;
2. Play the whole song, students sing together with the tape (3 times);
3. Divide the class into two groups, each group sing together along with the tape.
III. Students performing the song
1. Divide the class into 2-3 groups, and each group performs by itself;
2. Teacher asks any volunteer to sing the song all by himself;
IV. Activities after
1. Pick some useful or typical sentence patterns to practice with the students;
2. Have free conversations or discussions with the students about the song or anything related to the song;
3. Ask students to write thoughts or reflections on the topic discussed in the song;
4. Ask students to create their own song according to the example (if there is time).
Rationale:
1. Songs are made of authentic native language, natural intonation patterns, and idiomatic expressions.
2. Songs are interesting and engaging. Children and adults alike can receive considerable enjoyment from indulging in such frivolity.
3. Popular songs have lots of repetition in itself, and they are often played or sung by many people. The rhythms and sound repetitions carry the students into sensually appealing activities that can go far beyond mere drill. Thus students can internalize routines and patterns with or without consciously committing them to memory.
4. Songs can create an easy and relaxed classroom atmosphere. Music reduces anxiety and inhibition in second-language students.
5. Songs are one kind of culture of the target language. The use of routines and patterns can provide a stopgap strategy that students can use to gain entry into the new culture before being considered ?ready.?
6. Songs can have deeper influence and longer long-term memory on people. As Kahlil Gibran once said, ?the reality of music is in that vibration that remains in the ear after the singer finishes his song and the player no longer plucks the strings.?
EDIS 548
Strategy Sharing#2?Dating (TV Show)
Dengting Boyanton
10/27/03
This is a TV show for single young men and women to meet each other which is extremely popular in China; almost everybody loves it. I first got this inspiration when I was preparing my CHIN 201 lesson about relationships. I think it will be interesting if I can move the TV show into my classroom.
Materials:
1) At least three microphones,
2) Name board for each student with their name, age, and occupation on it
3) Sell-yourself advertisement (sample)
4) Sell-yourself advertisement forms (for students to create their own)
5) Face-covering board for each student
6) A digital video camera if it is available.
Activity steps:
I. Pre-activity
1. Show students the Sell-yourself advertisement (sample), explain any parts students have trouble understanding;
2. Read the article Five Types of Least-Liked Men and Women. Then ask students what standards they have in choosing boyfriends or girlfriends, such as age, height, academic degree, appearance, figure, personality, interests, job, salary, house, sense of humor, responsibility, hardworking and so on.
3. Give students the Sell-Yourself advertisement forms to write down their self-introduction and also their ideal boy/girlfriends.
4. Show students part of the real TV show for about 2-3 minutes.
II. Preparation for the activity
1. Choose 1-2 students to be the host or hostess.
2. Put a table in the middle of the classroom and put two rows of chairs(with 5-6 chairs in each row) on both sides. Number each chair from 1 to 6.
3. Divide the class into two groups, one is girls, the other is boys. Each student picks up a number from a box. After that they sit in the chair with the number on it.
4. Each students make a name card for himself and put it on the right top of the desk.
5. All the girls hide their faces behind the face-covering board.
III. The Dating Activity Steps
1. Welcome the hosts. Teacher announces the show begins. The audience cheers when two hosts show up.
2. Self-introduction. The hosts call for attention. The first thing is self-introduction. Start from the girls, each member begin to introduce herself about her name, age, occupation, hobbies, and so on after she removes the board away from her face. Then boys introduce themselves one by one.
3. Statement. Each member states their standards about what kind of boyfriend or girlfriend they would like. Hosts ask them related questions after each member finishes.
4. Questions and answers. Each member has a chance to ask another member a question to get to know more about him or her.
5. Prove your love. Tell students that this is the last chance for them to sell themselves. Each member has one chance to give a talent show such as reading a poem, telling a joke, singing a song, inviting him or her to dance, giving a little present, or just going to the person directly and telling her she is beautiful.
6. Final decision. Each member chooses the one person who he/she would like to date.
7. Announce the result. The hosts announce the results, congratulate the successful ?couples? and interview some of the members.
8. Teacher conclusion.
Rationale:
1. Love is a never-old topic. First of all, the content is meaningful and interesting to the students. Second, telling students that they are making a TV show puts them into the roles they are playing. This will make them feel they are part of the situation and they will be more motivated. According to Goodman, learning is easy when the content is real, natural, whole, sensible, relevant, interesting, and is part of a real event.
2. This activity creates a fun, active, and free classroom atmosphere where the anxiety level is low. According to Carroll (1963), a lowered anxiety is related to a proficiency in the target language.
3. This content activity is related to the textbook, while it is also beyond the textbook level. It is more challenging for the students than the textbook. According to Krashen, the content must be comprehensible in that it is near the students' actual level of development (i), then it also must stretch beyond that to include concepts and structures that the students have not yet acquired (i+1).
Strategy Sharing#2?Dating (TV Show)
Dengting Boyanton
10/27/03
This is a TV show for single young men and women to meet each other which is extremely popular in China; almost everybody loves it. I first got this inspiration when I was preparing my CHIN 201 lesson about relationships. I think it will be interesting if I can move the TV show into my classroom.
Materials:
1) At least three microphones,
2) Name board for each student with their name, age, and occupation on it
3) Sell-yourself advertisement (sample)
4) Sell-yourself advertisement forms (for students to create their own)
5) Face-covering board for each student
6) A digital video camera if it is available.
Activity steps:
I. Pre-activity
1. Show students the Sell-yourself advertisement (sample), explain any parts students have trouble understanding;
2. Read the article Five Types of Least-Liked Men and Women. Then ask students what standards they have in choosing boyfriends or girlfriends, such as age, height, academic degree, appearance, figure, personality, interests, job, salary, house, sense of humor, responsibility, hardworking and so on.
3. Give students the Sell-Yourself advertisement forms to write down their self-introduction and also their ideal boy/girlfriends.
4. Show students part of the real TV show for about 2-3 minutes.
II. Preparation for the activity
1. Choose 1-2 students to be the host or hostess.
2. Put a table in the middle of the classroom and put two rows of chairs(with 5-6 chairs in each row) on both sides. Number each chair from 1 to 6.
3. Divide the class into two groups, one is girls, the other is boys. Each student picks up a number from a box. After that they sit in the chair with the number on it.
4. Each students make a name card for himself and put it on the right top of the desk.
5. All the girls hide their faces behind the face-covering board.
III. The Dating Activity Steps
1. Welcome the hosts. Teacher announces the show begins. The audience cheers when two hosts show up.
2. Self-introduction. The hosts call for attention. The first thing is self-introduction. Start from the girls, each member begin to introduce herself about her name, age, occupation, hobbies, and so on after she removes the board away from her face. Then boys introduce themselves one by one.
3. Statement. Each member states their standards about what kind of boyfriend or girlfriend they would like. Hosts ask them related questions after each member finishes.
4. Questions and answers. Each member has a chance to ask another member a question to get to know more about him or her.
5. Prove your love. Tell students that this is the last chance for them to sell themselves. Each member has one chance to give a talent show such as reading a poem, telling a joke, singing a song, inviting him or her to dance, giving a little present, or just going to the person directly and telling her she is beautiful.
6. Final decision. Each member chooses the one person who he/she would like to date.
7. Announce the result. The hosts announce the results, congratulate the successful ?couples? and interview some of the members.
8. Teacher conclusion.
Rationale:
1. Love is a never-old topic. First of all, the content is meaningful and interesting to the students. Second, telling students that they are making a TV show puts them into the roles they are playing. This will make them feel they are part of the situation and they will be more motivated. According to Goodman, learning is easy when the content is real, natural, whole, sensible, relevant, interesting, and is part of a real event.
2. This activity creates a fun, active, and free classroom atmosphere where the anxiety level is low. According to Carroll (1963), a lowered anxiety is related to a proficiency in the target language.
3. This content activity is related to the textbook, while it is also beyond the textbook level. It is more challenging for the students than the textbook. According to Krashen, the content must be comprehensible in that it is near the students' actual level of development (i), then it also must stretch beyond that to include concepts and structures that the students have not yet acquired (i+1).
EDIS 548
Strategy Sharing #3-Summer Experience (Writing)
Dengting Boyanton
11/17/03
This writing strategy works best for the first day or the first week when students come back from the Summer Holiday. The level of students is advanced level.
Teaching materials:
1. Small pieces of paper with 4 copies for each student
2. Big piece of cardboard with one for each group
3. Tapes or glues
The teaching steps:
1. Greet the students and welcome them back to school.
2. Ask students about their summer holiday, ask them to think about interesting things that happened in the summer. Randomly ask 3-4 students to share with the class.
3. Students close their eyes and recall one specific thing happened in the summer. Teacher helps them to recall for details by softly and slowly asking them questions: Where were you? How was the weather? Was it hot? Wat it raining? What were you doing? What did you see? What did you smell? How did you feel? Did you feel happy, upset, angry, confused, excited...?
4. Pass out 4 small pieces of paper to each student, ask them to write down 4 sentences with two of them describe actions (what they were doing) and the other two describe emotions (what they were thinking at that time.) For example, “I went to the lab to check out a camera.” “However, nobody was there.” “I got very frustrated about the whole situation.” “I wish I had never started this lesson in the first place.” Allow students 3-4 minutes to write.
5. Collect students' writing, with the action sentences separated from the emotion ones. Divide the class into groups of 4-5. Teacher gives each group a certain number of mixed sentences of both emotions and actions. Students work in a group to rearrange all sentences to invent a complete summer story. They can add transition sentences if necessary.
6. Students tape their story on the big board.
7. Each group presents their story to the class by acting, performing, reading aloud and so on.
Rationale:
1. When students just get back from summer holiday, their minds may still be on summer vacation and not in the classroom. Offering students a chance to express their feelings, ideas, thoughts, and memories about their summer holiday can definitely grab their attention and bring their interest back into the classroom. Also, most students usually feel tense and nervous about beginning a new, busy semester. However, starting the lesson with something they already know or they are familiar with can lower their anxiety level. This lowers the affective filter—which the Natural Approach (Krashen) argues can create a more relaxed and positive environment and thus enhance optimal learning.
2. This strategy can also be supported by Krashen's i+1 theory (i represents students' actual language development and i+1 represents the potential language development). Krashen thinks that the input must be comprehensible, that it is near the students' actual level of development (i), but then it must stretch beyond that to include concepts and structures that the students has not yet acquired (i+1). In this strategy, when students write their own summer story sentences, it is at their i level. However, when they are creating a new story by arranging and organizing those almost unrelated sentences together, it is at their i+1 level, which is challenging for them and they will need to work together with their peers or have assistance from the teacher.
3. Lastly, quite a large amount of time in this strategy is devoted to having students interact with each other in groups. This offers students an opportunity to work together and learn from each other. According to Interaction Theory (Long), development of linguistic rules should occur in this sort of interactive communication and not in-class grammar drills.
Strategy Sharing #3-Summer Experience (Writing)
Dengting Boyanton
11/17/03
This writing strategy works best for the first day or the first week when students come back from the Summer Holiday. The level of students is advanced level.
Teaching materials:
1. Small pieces of paper with 4 copies for each student
2. Big piece of cardboard with one for each group
3. Tapes or glues
The teaching steps:
1. Greet the students and welcome them back to school.
2. Ask students about their summer holiday, ask them to think about interesting things that happened in the summer. Randomly ask 3-4 students to share with the class.
3. Students close their eyes and recall one specific thing happened in the summer. Teacher helps them to recall for details by softly and slowly asking them questions: Where were you? How was the weather? Was it hot? Wat it raining? What were you doing? What did you see? What did you smell? How did you feel? Did you feel happy, upset, angry, confused, excited...?
4. Pass out 4 small pieces of paper to each student, ask them to write down 4 sentences with two of them describe actions (what they were doing) and the other two describe emotions (what they were thinking at that time.) For example, “I went to the lab to check out a camera.” “However, nobody was there.” “I got very frustrated about the whole situation.” “I wish I had never started this lesson in the first place.” Allow students 3-4 minutes to write.
5. Collect students' writing, with the action sentences separated from the emotion ones. Divide the class into groups of 4-5. Teacher gives each group a certain number of mixed sentences of both emotions and actions. Students work in a group to rearrange all sentences to invent a complete summer story. They can add transition sentences if necessary.
6. Students tape their story on the big board.
7. Each group presents their story to the class by acting, performing, reading aloud and so on.
Rationale:
1. When students just get back from summer holiday, their minds may still be on summer vacation and not in the classroom. Offering students a chance to express their feelings, ideas, thoughts, and memories about their summer holiday can definitely grab their attention and bring their interest back into the classroom. Also, most students usually feel tense and nervous about beginning a new, busy semester. However, starting the lesson with something they already know or they are familiar with can lower their anxiety level. This lowers the affective filter—which the Natural Approach (Krashen) argues can create a more relaxed and positive environment and thus enhance optimal learning.
2. This strategy can also be supported by Krashen's i+1 theory (i represents students' actual language development and i+1 represents the potential language development). Krashen thinks that the input must be comprehensible, that it is near the students' actual level of development (i), but then it must stretch beyond that to include concepts and structures that the students has not yet acquired (i+1). In this strategy, when students write their own summer story sentences, it is at their i level. However, when they are creating a new story by arranging and organizing those almost unrelated sentences together, it is at their i+1 level, which is challenging for them and they will need to work together with their peers or have assistance from the teacher.
3. Lastly, quite a large amount of time in this strategy is devoted to having students interact with each other in groups. This offers students an opportunity to work together and learn from each other. According to Interaction Theory (Long), development of linguistic rules should occur in this sort of interactive communication and not in-class grammar drills.
