Using songs and stories with adults and kids workshop plan

TO DO before workshop
DOWNLOAD STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT
DOWNLOAD BEING AROUND
DOWNLOAD HOLE IN the bucket

put kids songs on school computersx2
Put adult teaching songs on CD
Photocopy Headway Advanced poem

Materials
Photocopies of adult song lyrics- Strangers in the night, Common people, Hole in my bucket, the Hurricane, Hand in my pocket (cut up)
Photocopies of Fairytale dominoes
Strips of blank paper
Selection of kids’ story books
Tapes and CDs of kids’ songs
A computer with kids’ songs on hard disk, e.g. laptop

Preparation
Cut up Hand in my pocket and maybe the Hurricane
Workshop Plan
Part One- Stories with kids

Workshop Warmer
Leave kids story books scattered around table(s) when teachers come in, let them look at them at their leisure and ask them to choose one favourite and tell us how they could use it in class and/ or tell us the story as you would in class

Move onto discussion of how to choose a book for kids and how to use it well

How to choose a book for kids
By level
By age
By topic
By time of year (season, festival)
By grammar point
By vocab point
To tie in with previous story (same characters etc.)
To tie in with song
To fit in a particular place in the lesson plan, e.g. to tie two seemingly unrelated points together, as a cooler or warmer
As revision
As intro to a new point

Good kids’ story

 famous, positive, teaches good manners etc, teaches something about the world

Before decide what to do with it, need to decide why we are using it
To make language memorable
To show same language in a different context to work our way between students understanding the language is real and being able to use it outside the context of the classroom
As a warmer or cooler
To get student attention
By using a book or character they already know in their own language, to tie in with their ‘real’ lives
By using characters in Sesame Street and other things they will come across in English outside the classroom,
To introduce a song or game
To sell books to their parents

What to do with it- before, at the beginning, during and after
Make meaning clear with pictures, mime, facial expressions, maybe even a little translation
Discuss the cover
Introduce the characters
Get kids to predict, then open and check
Read at different speeds
Reveal the page slowly
Skip a page and see if the kids notice
Mime the actions
Drill the language
Read in different voices- deep (father), different feelings (scared), loud, quiet (mouse)
Make sound effects
Ask the characters questions
Tie in with puppets
Get them to count, name, describe (color etc) pictures on the page- even those not directly connected to the main story
Make puppets out of characters, e.g. just by photocopying and cutting out character from book and sticking on stick
Acting out song with
Link into coloring and crafts
Link into games (What’s the time Mr. Wolf)
Link into songs

Part Two- Kids’ songs
Continuing discussion above, can you suggest songs to tie in with the books we looked at?
Work together to scan quickly through the CD/ cassettes or hard disk of computer you are given to find one song that ties in with a book we have been talking about and one other song you like the sound of

What makes a good kiddy song?
Catchy tune
Kids maybe already familiar with tune
Will be often recycled, e.g. one they will do with their Japanese teachers or hear on TV or in the street
Easily understood, or at least the core parts of
Easily acted
Easily sung
Fun actions
Useful vocab and/ or grammar structures
Repetitious, but with variations

Part Three- Adult Songs
Now let’s do a typical adult song activity with Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra
Fill the gaps in Strangers in the night, listen if necessary
Any comments?
Is this song suitable?
Which are the good gaps and why?
What else can we do with this and other songs apart from gaps?

Can we add any of the things we get add to a kids’ song, without being childish?
Respond first time in way not involving words, e.g. raise picture or happy face or sad face depending on mood
Easy start first time listen and gets harder
Movement- shuffle pieces of paper round- Hand in my pocket by Alanis Morisette
Making meaning clear
Make part of syllabus
Use as warmer/ cooler
Revision
By season/ festival
Recyclable

Problems with using songs with adults
ungrammatical English
some vocab etc. that is difficult to explain and/ or unnecessary for them to learn
slang
chorus repeated many times
too long to listen again
instrumental breaks

Adapt around problems
Never give out whole script, so don’t have to explain difficult vocab, e.g. put bits of paper in order (Hand in my pocket- Alanis Morissette) or plot summary and listen to check (Hole in my bucket- Spearhead)
Only do task with chorus in low level groups- ignore verses

Which adult songs are good?
can lead onto discussion questions after
fit in with the syllabus
around now but won’t date quickly (e.g. classic songs used in present adverts)
Specific grammar point, preferably repeated
Stories
Can sing at karaoke after
No chorus or slightly different each time

Can we do things with songs we usually do with the textbook?
Grammar gap fills-
Collocations
Tenses
Skimming and scanning
Reading and listening for overall comprehension first
Error correction
Predict and listen to check

Things to do with songs that are not listening comprehension
Use as background noise
Discuss what you think about songs and use adjectives to describe them without listening carefully to lyrics
Use as reading comprehension (e.g. stories that are also songs)

Songs for different tenses
Future- I will survive, In the year 2929
Past- Yesterday, any songs with stories

Present Continuous- Tom’s Diner (Suzanne Vega)
Songs that are also stories
Disco 2000- Pulp
A boy named Sue- Johnny Cash
Any other songs about cowboys
The Hurricane- Bob Dylan
I will survive- Gloria Gaynor
I’ve never been to me
Beatles- Buffalo Bill???
Hole in my pocket- Spearhead
Stories with adults
Story games
Fairytale dominoes- do in pairs and other person listens and writes down
Sound effects- use a list of sound effects to prompt the other team’s story
Finish with this line- Are given a line and try to twist the story so can finish with that line
Spot the given word or phrase- Other team given a word or phrase
Interrupt the story with as many questions as possible

Why use stories?
Linking language
Similar to telling anecdotes
Can tell the same one again and again and so recycle language

Language focuses for stories
Past tenses
Adverbs
Echoes etc for listener

How can we make sure they use/ improve these things?

And to bring the workshop full circle: can you use any of these adult games above with teenagers/ kids?
Sources of songs and stories
Books
1. Try your local library
2. Bookshops with good English kids’ selection:
Aoiya, Kawasaki
Kinokuniya, Shinjuku (new one, past Takashimaya Times Square)
Blue Parrot, Takadanobaba (2nd hand)
Blue Parrot, Akihabara (2nd hand)
Some big, new Book Offs, e.g. Takadanobaba, Omori, Kichijoji, Gotanda (2nd hand)
Maruzen, Marunouchi (Oazo, near Tokyo station)

Songs
Recommended
English Adventure
Some songs from Let’s Go (various levels, lower levels generally better)
Some songs from www.genkienglish.com (also available on CD from Maruzen)

Also available
Longman songs and chants
Appendix
Questions to maybe bring up during discussion of kids books

How to use a story differently the first and further times
How many times can you use the same book?

What to do if you try it once and it flops
Try it with a different class
Try it at a different point of the lesson
Try it when they already know the language and/ or the linking song as revision

Advantages of stories on flashcards