TEFL Tips - Music Lessons

Everyone loves music. And students of foreign languages love to learn about songs sung in the language they are learning. They often want to know what they mean. Unlike a lot of music in Spanish, where the song is a story with accompanying music, British and American rock and pop tends to be about the tune, with any old lyrics they think of added later. Quite often, the words mean nothing more than the lyricist was on a lot of drugs at the time.

So what is the value of a music orientated lesson? Is it worth the effort? Well, it can be done if you choose your song carefully. It’s a good idea to add some grammar in there somewhere too. I’ve done a few songs, the latest being Tom’s Diner by Suzanne Vega. It’s a three part lesson. Firstly I dictated the first half of the song to them, but without any prepositions. There’s a few tricky words in there and some homophones - words that sound exactly the same, but are spelt differently. Eg ‘Tour’ and ‘Tore’. For the second part, I give them a print out of the lyrics with blanks where the prepositions are. They get 5 minutes to guess the prepositions, and then they get to listen to the song to check their answers.

There’s a bit of everything in the lesson. Listening, grammar, reading and more listening. I chose Tom’s Diner because there is an acapella version on YouTube. Not brilliant quality, but good enough. It’s no good playing a song where the words are drowned out!

TEFL Tips - Music Lessons

Everyone loves music. And students of foreign languages love to learn about songs sung in the language they are learning. They often want to know what they mean. Unlike a lot of music in Spanish, where the song is a story with accompanying music, British and American rock and pop tends to be about the tune, with any old lyrics they think of added later. Quite often, the words mean nothing more than the lyricist was on a lot of drugs at the time.

So what is the value of a music orientated lesson? Is it worth the effort? Well, it can be done if you choose your song carefully. It’s a good idea to add some grammar in there somewhere too. I’ve done a few songs, the latest being Tom’s Diner by Suzanne Vega. It’s a three part lesson. Firstly I dictated the first half of the song to them, but without any prepositions. There’s a few tricky words in there and some homophones - words that sound exactly the same, but are spelt differently. Eg ‘Tour’ and ‘Tore’. For the second part, I give them a print out of the lyrics with blanks where the prepositions are. They get 5 minutes to guess the prepositions, and then they get to listen to the song to check their answers.

There’s a bit of everything in the lesson. Listening, grammar, reading and more listening. I chose Tom’s Diner because there is an acapella version on YouTube. Not brilliant quality, but good enough. It’s no good playing a song where the words are drowned out!

 

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Mexico City Fire Station

I came across a post of the ‘coolest fire stations on earth’ on Deputy Dog’s photo blog (highly recommended viewing) and found one was in Mexico City. I must confess, I’ve never seen it. But now I want to. I’m going to have to investigate and find where it is and take a few photos of my own. One day. This week, I will mostly be decorating the spare bedroom. To see more pics of this very cool fire station, check out at 103.

Mexico City Fire Station

I came across a post of the ‘coolest fire stations on earth’ on Deputy Dog’s photo blog (highly recommended viewing) and found one was in Mexico City. I must confess, I’ve never seen it. But now I want to. I’m going to have to investigate and find where it is and take a few photos of my own. One day. This week, I will mostly be decorating the spare bedroom. To see more pics of this very cool fire station, check out at 103.

Turtle Art

My good Opera friend Edwardpiercy often sends me turtle related links, which is always good. The most recent was this photo, which you can buy! If you want to. Me? No dinero! I’ll have to suffice with the pic on my blog!

Turtle Art

My good Opera friend Edwardpiercy often sends me turtle related links, which is always good. The most recent was this photo, which you can buy! If you want to. Me? No dinero! I’ll have to suffice with the pic on my blog!

Panama

Panama is in the UK news today, and all for the wrong reasons! Not that either of the two stories is a slur on Panama itself. I visited Panama in Spring 2004, travelling from Costa Rica to Panama City, stopping off at a few places along the way. But I spent most time in the City itself. I have quite a few vivid memories - it was unbelievably hot, and not a nice hot. The sticky, sweaty barely breathable type of hot. The buses had the most incredible murals painted on them. The famous Panama Canal was, in truth a little underwhelming. Not to take anything away from the scale of the project, but you kind of expect something more than just a canal. I don’t know what else you would expect to find, but there you are! My fondest memory is of Isla Tabogas. It’s a 45 minute boat ride, passing under the Bridge of the Americas (photo below) to a tiny and almost deserted island full of flowers. Particularly Jasmine, the scent of which fills the air every evening. I bought a Jasmine plant for my garden here in Mexico, but it has so far failed to produce the goods. I think it might actually be dead.

So why is Panama in the news? Well, there is the ‘dead’ canoeist found alive in Panama story, which most people in the UK will have heard all about. But a lesser broadcast story is regarding Panamanian schooling. They are apparently going to make learning Madarin compulsory for kids. For sooth! It’s happening! The English language is losing it’s grip on its international supremacy, and the Chinese are really going to take over everything!!! Well, maybe not. China is the biggest user of the canal, so the new policy makes sense. Undoubtedly, Mandarin will become more important. As they say in Taipei…

Panama

Panama is in the UK news today, and all for the wrong reasons! Not that either of the two stories is a slur on Panama itself. I visited Panama in Spring 2004, travelling from Costa Rica to Panama City, stopping off at a few places along the way. But I spent most time in the City itself. I have quite a few vivid memories - it was unbelievably hot, and not a nice hot. The sticky, sweaty barely breathable type of hot. The buses had the most incredible murals painted on them. The famous Panama Canal was, in truth a little underwhelming. Not to take anything away from the scale of the project, but you kind of expect something more than just a canal. I don’t know what else you would expect to find, but there you are! My fondest memory is of Isla Tabogas. It’s a 45 minute boat ride, passing under the Bridge of the Americas (photo below) to a tiny and almost deserted island full of flowers. Particularly Jasmine, the scent of which fills the air every evening. I bought a Jasmine plant for my garden here in Mexico, but it has so far failed to produce the goods. I think it might actually be dead.

So why is Panama in the news? Well, there is the ‘dead’ canoeist found alive in Panama story, which most people in the UK will have heard all about. But a lesser broadcast story is regarding Panamanian schooling. They are apparently going to make learning Madarin compulsory for kids. For sooth! It’s happening! The English language is losing it’s grip on its international supremacy, and the Chinese are really going to take over everything!!! Well, maybe not. China is the biggest user of the canal, so the new policy makes sense. Undoubtedly, Mandarin will become more important. As they say in Taipei…

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