MUSIC IN ENGLISH TEACHING INTRODUCTION Halina November 2014

A. Benefits essential to using any music 1.High interest high motivation memorable 2.Lowered inhibition level 3.Reaches learners with right brain strengths 4.Reaches learners with auditory strengths 5.Helps promote class bonding 6.Helps create shared frame of cultural reference also illustration of grammar in context 7. Rhythmic element helps reinforce English prosody and fluency

B. Some Criteria for choosing songs for classroom use 1.Most importantly: you like the song and want to share it! 2.Words easily comprehensible 3.Enough repetition to provide oral practice 4.Well-written from a native speaker perspective 5.Contains values and themes you want to introduce 6.Describes different musical genres

C. For listening comprehension a. Fill in before listening to cultivate guided listening and hypothesis formation b. Fill in during listening c. Scramble lines of lyrics on large index cards can be ordered as students listen d. Mark stress patterns ("beats") on lyric sheet while listening e. Transcribe entire song while listening, dictation style (or assign small groups one verse each), then check w/ master copy of lyrics

D. For reading comprehension For reading comprehension/cultural studies - Gangsta's Paradise is an excellent song. 1. Explain target vocabulary and idioms, then illustrate in context 2. Study as literature, examining prosodic and thematic features 3. Compare and contrast w/ a related reading

E. For pronunciation/speaking practice 1.Sing along with music track only - "karaoke" style 2. Sing/chant song in alternating assigned solo parts 3.Memorize and perform song(s) for class 4.Discuss topic or content of song in large or small groups 5.Have songs sung as part of daily routine 6. Role play the lyrics of pop songs in front of the class

F. For writing practice 1. Add additional verse to song in small groups 2. Write it as a dialog. 3. Write parody or new set of words to known melody

Q & A practice a. Does this song remind you of anything in your own life? b. What do you think happened next, after the story in the song? c. Do you agree with the point of view of the singer? Why or why not? d. Tell what happens in the song e. Think about the relationship between people in the song.

G. For culture-based activities 1. Use with accompanying readings to teach values, history… 2. Use as part of unit on teaching tolerance, or as intro to Cultural Diversity studies 3. Have students prepare 5 minute written reports about their own much loved song 4. Play the songs for the class

Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio This is a reworking of Stevie Wonder's 1976 song „Pastime Paradise." It wasn't Coolio's idea to use Wonder's song; a singer named Larry Sanders - who goes by the stage name L.V. (Large Variety) - started working on it and sent a demo to Collio, who was looking for a song to record for the 1995 movie Dangerous Minds. Starring Michelle Pfeiffer, the film is about a troubled school and the challenges faced by the students and the idealistic teacher played by Pfeiffer. Coolio wrote a lyric to express the feelings of despair and abandonment felt by the kids at the school,

Gangsta's Paradise The song first appeared on the Dangerous Minds soundtrack, and when it became the basis for the movie's marketing campaign - heard in trailers and commercials for the film - MCA knew they had a hit on their hands. The song was released as a single, going to #1 in both the US and UK, and included on Coolio's second album, which was titled after the song.

The first line of this song comes from the bible, Psalm 23:4: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me." "Can music be a poetry?

Gangsta's Paradise by CoolioCoolio As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I take a look at my life and realize there's none left 'Cause I've been brassing and laughing so long that Even my mamma thinks that my mind is gone But I ain't never crossed a man that didn't deserve it Me be treated like a punk, you know that's unheard of You better watch how you talking, and where you walking Or you and your homies might be lined in chalk I really hate to trip but I gotta lope As they croak I see myself in the pistal smoke fool I'm the kinda G that little homies want to be like On my knees in the night, saying prayers in the street light

They been spending most their lives living in the gangsta's paradise They been spending most their lives living in the gangsta's paradise We keep spending most our lives living in the gangsta's paradise We keep spending most our lives living in the gangsta's paradise

They got the situation, they got me facing I can't live a normal life, I was raised by the strip So I gotta be down with the hood team Too much television watching got me chasing dreams I'm a educated fool with money on my mind Got my ten in my hand and a gleam in my eye

I'm a loped out gangsta set trippin banger And my homies is down so gonna rouse my anger fool Death aint nothing but a heart beat away I'm living life do or die, what can I say I'm twenty three never will I live to see 24 The way things is going I don't know

Tell me why are we so blind to see That the ones we hurt are you and me. They been spending most their lives living in the gangsta's paradise They been spending most their lives living in the gangsta's paradise We keep spending most our lives living in the gangsta's paradise We keep spending most our lives living in the gangsta's paradise

Power and the money, money and the power Minute after minute, hour after hour Everybody's running, but half of them ain't looking What's going on in the kitchen, but I don't know what's cooking They say I've got to learn but nobody's here to teach me If they can't understand it, how can they reach me I guess they can't I guess they won't I guess they front

"Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio Exercise 1. "I've never crossed a man...” Here "crossed" means... a. made angry or provoked b. crossed to the other side of the street c. met 2. " Me be treated like a punk". here, "punk" means.... a. rebellious b. prostitute c. wood

That's why I know my life is out of luck fool They been spending most their lives living in the gangsta's paradise They been spending most their lives living in the gangsta's paradise We keep spending most our lives living in the gangsta's paradise We keep spending most our lives living in the gangsta's paradise

Tell me why are we so blind to see That the ones we hurt are you and me. Writer/s: WONDER, STEVIE/OTHER, WRITERS/RASHEED, DOUGLAS B Publisher: EMI Music Publishing, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing