Once students have their own stories and, thus, have personalised them, it would be time to see a real representation of it. When they have done so, feedback would be provided on the blackboard: different students would be randomly chosen to speak and share their ideas with the rest of the class. Their task would be to compare their different stories and try to write one single version of it as a group. Likewise, the development of the story will also be dependent on students’ own ideas.Ī possible outline of the story with its information gaps for students to write down could be:Īfter this dictation, students would get together in groups of five and, within each group, they should choose a spokesperson – normally somebody with a higher competence in the language – who would write the group’s final ideas. In order to ensure students’ expectation, the teacher’s own creativity and imagination as well as his or her narrative skills play a leading role. Similarly, he would advance in the story step-by-step stopping at different information gaps which students would fill with their own ideas. Then, s/he should stop for students to write down their invented names for the characters on the dictation sheet. The teacher could start dictating the story by providing a title and introducing two characters. At this stage, it is important that the teacher does not give any information about the song, since the dictated story would be supposed to introduce the plot of the song without students noticing it. The teacher guides the dictation by telling a story with some information gaps which students would creatively fill using their own imagination. Firstly, students should be asked to work individually on a creative dictation and, afterwards, to make up a whole-class story. PRE-LISTENING: Step 1 – creative dictationĭuring the pre-listening activities, students first may work individually and then in groups of five. They are mainly focused on communicative oral skills of comprehension and production. The main purpose of all the activities is not the language study per se but improving students’ interactional competence in English. This sequence guarantees that students’ attention spans are longer and continuous throughout the lesson. The suggested activities based on the song follow the common sequence of pre-listening, listening and post-listening activities. Most importantly, what makes this song an effective one is the way in which it is approached and presented to students. In addition, its sound-bite trait also turns it into a catchy song which may appeal to students’ motivation. Although introspective songs are mostly joyless and, therefore, may have an unexpected counter effect on students’ motivation, the fact that this song has a narrative behind it makes it a very exploitable source for communicative activities. This combination of features makes it a really interesting story to be used in class. With respect to the latter, there seems to be a recognisable story behind it, although it is not fully developed and most of its elements are implicit. Regarding the former, it has a clear message which is constantly repeated and reinforced by the whole song– “impossible”. However, it also contains typical traits of sound-bite songs as well as narrative songs. Significantly, in terms of narrative features, it is primarily an introspective song which serves as a means to express the singer’s emotions. Furthermore, it tells us about a failed love relationship something which is of universal significance and, more precisely, of close connection to teenagers’ first love affairs, so it can teach them about real life. It is about a topic which is a well-known theme of interest for teenagers: love. The chosen song to be presented in a possible 15-year-old classroom of 25 mixed-level students is ‘ Impossible’ by James Arthur. Example of a song activity Types of songs and song choice Songs are real expressions of language used in a real way, so there is no better way of teaching students language than making it authentic and significant to them. Most of teenagers, especially, are attracted to songs as they belong to their real world. Personally, an outstanding one is its potential as a source for discussion about different topics, which can connect directly to students’ real life and which can be accordingly chosen for their specific needs and profiles. Songs are a powerful piece of text to be used as a motivational teaching tool in language classrooms because of a variety of reasons.