Class theme/topics discussed: Konjunktiv & Kunstfreiheit (Teil 1) [Zoom-class]
Goal of the class: Learn about “Konjunktiv II” (When and how to use it) Discuss “Kunstfreiheit” (artistic freedom) Put pictures in relation to “Kunstfreiheit” and discuss their historical context Compare artistic freedom in Germany and the US Discuss the content of a music video based on isolated pictures
How did you structure the class?
4.15 – 4.20: Welcome (Welcoming students to class, talking about how they feel and getting all the technology starting)
4.20 – 4.33: “Was würdest du machen, wenn…” (Practicing the Konjunktiv II with the “würde”-form, e.g. “What you would do if you were to win a million dollars?” “I would buy an island if…”. Students join breakout rooms and ask each other one of the two questions in groups of 2-3 people. Three rounds with 2 questions each + always different groups)
4.33 – 4.37: Review Konjunktiv II (short review of when to use and how to use the Konjunktiv II with its two forms. One of them the “würde”-Form, which we practiced in the task before)
4.37 – 4.45: “Kunstfreiheit” + pictures (The term “Kunstfreiheit“ (artistic freedom) is introduced and students are then asked to look at 4 pictures, describe them, tell the group what is depicted in the pictures (and the context) and then put that in relation to “Kunstfreiheit”. If the students do not know about some of the pictures, the teacher can help them and explain their context. After that we take a quick look at how artistic freedom is embedded in the basic law for Germany)
4.45 – 4.55: “Kunstfreiheit” experiences (students join breakout rooms first, and then come back to share with the group. They are asked to share their experiences with artistic freedom. Either because something that they themselves were involved, or something they have heard of and that has a relation to artistic freedom
4.55 – 5.00: “Danger Dan” impression (“Danger Dan” is the name of the musician we are going to hear a song from. The students are asked to share their impressions when hearing the name)
5.00 – 5.05: Pictures from the song (students see 4 pictures from the music video to the song “Das ist alles von der Kunstfreiheit gedeckt”. They are rather provocative and can be interpreted in different ways and the students are supposed to share their impressions of those pictures, and also what they think the video could be about and what it is supposed to express. Students discuss that in breakout rooms)
5.05 – 5.10: Watch music video
5.10 – 5.15: Music video impressions (students share their impressions from the music video and compare it with what they had shared before, when they just saw 4 isolated pictures from the music video)
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Power Point Presentation Zoom (+ Breakout rooms) Pictures & videos (see Power Point Presentation)
What worked well in this class? What did not work (and how could it be improved)?
The introduction worked really well because the students seemed to be really engaged with the questions, as they had a lot of fun thinking about those scenarios and “what they could do, if…”. Also, it was a really good introduction and transition to explaining the Konjunktiv II, which is used a lot by Danger Dan in his song and therefore offers a great grammatical foundation for working with the song later on.
When we looked at the pictures, the students were able to identify most of them and put them in connection to artistic freedom. I chose the pictures because two of them are important pieces in the history of Germany, the Charlie Hebdo-picture is important in the context of contemporary European affairs, and the last one was a fun, little story that is connected to artistic freedom. We took a look at the basic law, and the exchange of their “Kunstfreiheit” experiences was really interesting. Same can be said for talking about the name “Danger Dan” and the pictures from the music video. Finally, we watched the music video and the students shared their impressions. Generally, it was a good mix of learning about current affairs in Germany, pop-culture and Konjunktiv II on the one hand, and sharing their impressions, thoughts and experiences on the other hand.
Class theme/topics discussed: Konjunktiv & Kunstfreiheit (Teil 2) [Zoom-class]
Goal of the class: Analyze the lyrics of a song (describe in own words/research context/interpret what artist wants to express) Compare different parts of a song with each other Discuss differences and possible interpretations Discuss whether the song “Das ist alles von der Kunstfreiheit gedeckt“ is an example for Kunstfreiheit or Beleidigung (insult) Discuss whether Böhmermanns „Schmähgedicht“ is an example for Kunstfreiheit or Beleidigung
How did you structure the class?
4.15 – 4.23: Recap (Recap last class and thereby make a transition to this class’ topic)
4.23 – 4.35: Group work (students have to get together in 3 groups and analyze the lyrics of one verse based on 3 questions that ask them to describe the lyrics in their own words, research the context of the song and interpret what the artist wants to say and how he writes his song in order to achieve that message. Each group meets in one breakout room, while they have access to the questions and a vocabulary list on our GoogleDoc)
4.35 – 4.55: Presentation group work (Each group presents their findings according to the 3 questions that were given to them – there is a particular emphasis on finding the Konjunktiv-forms, as they are an important instrument for Danger Dan in his song and also connect to the last class and the grammatical topic)
4.55 – 5.00: Bridge (We look at the bridge of the song and try to analyze in which ways it is different from the rest of the song and why that is the case)
5.00 – 5.07: Positionsline + discussion (students have to locate themselves along a position line ranging from Kunstfreiheit to Beleidigung. Based on that they have to discuss their own position)
5.07 – 5.13: Böhmermann-Affäre introduction + video (Most students probably see the song as an obvious example for Kunstfreiheit, thus I present them a case that could be more critical to evaluate. The so-called “Böhmermann-Affäre” is introduced in a few minutes, and then we watch the video of it)
5.13 – 5.20: Positionsline + discussion (students are again asked to locate themselves along the same position line and then discuss what led them to their judgements)
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Power Point Presentation Google Doc (Questions + vocabulary list) Zoom (+ Breakout rooms & annotate functions) Pictures & videos (see Power Point Presentation) (Jan Boehmermann Erdogan poem) https://vimeo.com/163537121
What worked well in this class? What did not work (and how could it be improved)?
This class worked really well! It was a good conclusion to this 2-class-topic, which connected a song as a cultural element, with an important contemporary topic and a grammatical input. The class had different elements (discussions, group work, interpretations, media consumption etc.), a coherent structure and a few take-home messages.
The addition of a vocabulary list to the group work was very important and ensured efficiency, which allowed for a greater focus on the presentations and the discussions later. In those discussions, the students were really engaged and seemed interested in both the topic as well as the others’ opinions. The position line worked really well and also as I expected (everybody saying it is Kunstfreiheit), which allowed me to introduce the “Böhmermann-Affäre” as a less clear-cut example for that topic. It is worth mentioning that the class ended about 5 minutes later – which is acceptable considering the complexity of the topic and the importance of the last discussion.
Goal of the class: Learn about German music from the last ~25 years Discuss music by elaborating on what you dis/like about it
How did you structure the class?
The class started of with an Introduction, explaining the rules of the game which focuses on German music. It doesn’t necessarily matter how many different artists you take and which one you focus on – I took 8 artists and tried to have a diverse range of artists (from Herbert Grönemeyer to Nena to Helene Fischer to Rammstein [the latter being rather well known in the U.S., though maybe not so much for their criticism, which can be talked about in class]).
The game works somewhat similar to “The Voice” – the students hear an artist for a maximum of 1 minute (they have the chance to raise their arms when they already know what they want to vote – if every student raises their hand, the song will be stopped before the minute is over – which happened when Rammstein was playing for example) and think about whether they like it and want to give it a vote to get to the next round or whether they dislike and want the artist to be “disqualified”. Then, they have 2 minutes to discuss the artist in the group and then vote on whether they want them to be in the next round or not.
In the first round there are 8 artists, in the second round 5, in the third 3 and then you can go for a winner. In my class I had 7 students, and when one artist had 4 upvotes they got into the next round. But that also means that when the students have already voted 5 artists in the next round before having heard the last ones, they won’t get a chance to go in to the next round (vice versa: if the students have already disqualified 3 artists in the first round before having heard the remaining artists then the remaining ones make it to the next round nevertheless the actual vote).
BUT there is one more rule to make it a bit more interesting: every student gets the name of one artist who bribed them. They get one point by having their candidate win “The Voice” (thereby you have students arguing for one artist who most dislike). Also, to give them something to “do” when “their” artist should have been disqualified in the first round – every student also writes down the name of one artist who they don’t want to win. If that candidate doesn’t win, they also get a point.
Rules for 2 students: For 2 students (in my conversation class intermediate) I slightly changed the rules. The students get 8, 7, 6, 5… points for the first round and can give each point-number to any artist. They listen to the song – they discuss it (which is a point where they can deceive or trick the other student, by saying they really like that artist but then giving only little points) and then they give points: for example student A gives 7 points, student B gives 4 points: artist has 11 points and depending on how many points the other artists get will make it to the next round or not. Student A cannot give 7 points to any other artist in this round, student B cannot give 4 points to any artist in this round.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Computer with music + music box Whiteboard to write down names of songs, voting results and rules
What worked well in this class? What did not work (and how could it be improved)?
Generally, the class worked really well. The students learned about different German singers/bands (which they specifically asked) for and I incorporated that into a game which forced them to discuss and engage with each other, while trying to convince the others from their point of view and being somewhat embedded in the structure of a show that most of them know (“The Voice”).
I did not tell them the names of the singers before they were disqualified to make it more of a challenge for them to decipher which candidate is actually the one that they support (e.g. if their singer-name seems like a female, and there are 3 female singers, they know that one of them has to be their candidate, but they do not really know which one exactly is their candidate) – I’m not sure if this was necessary though and if it might not have been even more engaging when they would know the names right out of the gate.
Other than that I wouldn’t really change anything. The introduction took about 10 minutes, which was fine, because the timing of the rest worked out really well.
Intermediate: The rule change for the intermediate class (with 2 students) worked really well. They were very engaged and tried to deceive each other a lot – which was particularly fun for me, as I always knew why they would say or do something (because I knew who they supported). Great class here as well!
Goal of the class: Learn about German poems & rap Create & present your own poems
How did you structure the class?
4.15 – 4.20: Welcome (Welcoming students to class, talking about how they feel)
4.20 – 4.25: Introduction to topic (talk about “Gedichte” and rap to introduce to the topic)
4.25 – 4.35: Rap OR Poem (students receive 8 “texts” of which half are German rap and the other half are German poesy – students have to guess in groups which is which)
4.45 – 4.50: Elfchen – Group/Modelling (teacher and students create an “Elfchen” together)
4.50 – 5.00: Elfchen + Presentation (students have to create their own “Elfchen” and then present it to the class)
5.00 – 5.10: Create your poem! (students are put in groups and then have to write down 1 topic and 2 words – they then give that topic and the words to the next group. The next group has to write a poem (at least 4 lines) about the topic that the other group gave them and include the two words that the other group gave them)
5.10 – 5.15: Poem – Presentation (Students present their poems)
What worked well in this class? What did not work (and how could it be improved)?
The class worked well. Introduction was interesting for the students, as they were very curious to find out which text is rap and which is poem – the solution of that provided funny moments. The “Elfchen” was a nice way to get them going themselves on the poems, and the writing of a 4-liner, where the other group gave them a topic and words to be included provided creative and very funny poems. Well-rounded class without too much hick-hack.
Goal of the class: The students get to know the music their classmates like and they discover new songs in Spanish. They also (if they didn’t know before) get to know who Rosalia is.
Class structure:
Warm up: Interview your partner
When do you listen to music?
What type of music do you like?
Do you always listen to the same type of music?
Do you play an instrument? Which one? Which one would you like to play?
If you had a band, what type of music would you play?
What characteristics of an artist do you like?
Do you think music represents a country’s society?
Do you like artists that do social criticism?
Do you know Spanish speaker artists?
Activity 1:
They students write down in the blackboard some information about the Spanish speaker artists they like.
Name
Nationality
Music genre
Favorite song
Activity 2: La voz
First I showed them a video of La voz Spain and then they have to be the new judges. Students are asked to turn around from the projector. I play some songs and they write down their new ‘’playlists’’ on the blackboard.
Activity 3: Rosalia and cultural appropriation
Who is Rosalia?
Look her up on Instagram?
What do you think about her when you see her photos?
We played the video of Malamente and they identify all the typical Spanish cultural things in the video.
Resources used:
We played a little bit of this video because I wanted them to know who are the coaches in La Voz Spain:
This songs in YouTube:
Paquita la del barrio – rata de dos patas
Canelita: Juanito Juan
Manuel Carrasco: no dejes de soñar
Rels B: Reina de Pikas
Natos, Waor, Recycled J: sudores frios
Bad Bunny y Sech: Ignorantes
C.Tangana: Paris
Manolo Garcia: pajaros de barro
Maná: rayando el sol
La Oreja de Van Gogh – Muñeca De Trapo
Juanes: A Dios le pido
El sueño de Morfeo: esta soy yo
Rosalia: Malamente
What worked well? What did not work?
I think this class went well. The students enjoyed discovering new songs in Spanish and they also had the opportunity to talk about the kind of music they like and share this information with their classmates. I also think it was a good idea to do this class after the Spanish traditions one, so they already were able to identify the cultural examples in Malamente’s video.
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):Intermediate
Class theme/topics discussed: 中国流行音乐 Chinese pop songs
Goal of the class:
By the end of this class, students are expected to know more about Chinese pop songs (the history & changes in each era), and be able to talk about which song the like the most and why.
How did you structure the class?
Warm-up:
1)问候学生Greet students
– 今天做了什么？周末有什么计划？等等
Ask questions about their coming weekend.
Presentation：
2)中国流行音乐 Chinese pop songs
PPT is attached in the file.
Activities：
Listen to the representative songs and give their opinions on their features;
Think about what might be the reasons for these changes;
Learn the lyrics for 小苹果Little Apple, and learn to sing the song.
Work in group and talk about their favourite music type & musicians.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
PowerPoint slides (9 in total)
PPT(22 in total)
Handout
Vocab list
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
Things that worked well:
They love the topic and I could feel that they were very interested in it. Some students had better understanding in music, so they were pretty quick on identifying the changes(Like + Chinese traditional elements or elements from other classical music; politic influences etc.).
As to the singing part, they enjoyed it!
Things that did not work:
Some words are difficult for students to understand, so I spent more time to explain them than I expected. The lyrics for the music presented in the videos were pretty hard as well, so sometimes they had to guess what kind of feelings that the writer intended to show in his/her song.
In addition, a student showed me a video about Reggae music. It took some time so I had to hurry a little bit at the end. There are 2 videos I didn’t have time to show them, but I’ll put the link on Sakai.
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.
Goal of the class: The students discuss their opinions and come up with a story in Spanish
Class structure:
Activity 1: Reggaeton or poetry
The students have to decide if these fragments are reggaeton or poetry.
Tú eras tóxica como veneno
Pero me falta el aire desde que no estás
Quizás no me trajeses nada bueno
Pero al menos no nos la pasábamos mal – Es un placer conocerte
Quizá tú me traigas pena
Pero no puedo perderte – Me gustas cuando callas porque estas como ausente, y me oyes desde lejos, y mi voz no te toca. Parece que los ojos se te hubieran volado y parece que un beso te cerrara la boca. – Hoy te odio en el secreto, ante todo lo confieso
Si pudiera te pidiera que devuelvas todos los besos que te di
Las palabra y todo el tiempo que perdí
Me arrepiento una y mil veces de haber confiado en ti
Quisiera que te sientas como yo me siento
Quisiera ser como tú, sin sentimiento
Quisiera sacarte de mi pensamientoQuisiera cambiarle el final al cuento – Y que yo me la llevé al río creyendo que era mozuela, pero tenía marido.
– Yo sé que lo nuestro es cosa de ayer
Y me pone contento que te va bien con él
Yo ni te extrañaba ni te quería ver
Pero pusieron la canción que te gustaba ponerY me acordé de ti, cuando me hiciste feliz – ¡Ay, qué trabajo me cuesta quererte como te quiero! Por tu amor me duele el aire, el corazón y el sombrero. – Ella y yo, dos locos viviendo una aventura castigada por Dios.
Un laberinto sin salida donde el miedo se convierte en amor
Activity 2: Now is your turn
In pairs they have to choose two fragments of poetry, or a song and the rest of the class has to guess what they are.
Activity 3: Estopa
I give the students the beginning of a well-known Spanish song:
Era una tarde tonta y caliente
De esas que pega el sol en la frente
Era el verano del noventa y siete
Y yo me moría por verteThe students have to imagine a story with this text as an inspiration, when they finish, I showed them the video and the ‘’storyline’’ of the song.
Resources used:
We used the projector for the poetry/reggaeton fragments.
Video la raja de tu falda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wECwsE4yNSQ
What worked well? What did not work?
I might add a warmup to this class, but I also think that activity 1 worked a little bit as a warmup.
They discussed a lot during the first activity, so I think it was nice. With the second activity one of the pairs decided to put a fragment of Lorca’s poetry. So, we look the poem up and discussed it a little bit too.I really liked activity 3 because the students had great ideas in their stories, and they were quite disappointed by the actual song.
Qu’est-ce que vous avez fait ce Week-end? est-ce que vous êtes allé quelque part, vous avez regardé la casa del papel sur netflix, vous avez dormi?
Small Game : ‘Tu préfères…’ – Tu préfères vivre sans café ou sans chocolat ? Tu préfères pouvoir voler partout où être invisible ? Tu préfères voyager dans le passé et rencontrer tes ancêtres ou aller dans l’avenir et rencontrer tes arrière-arrière-petits-enfants ?
Create groups: Depending on the number of students one has in their class, they can make 2 to 3 groups of 3/4 people.
Give the students a vocabulary sheet with words, expressions, idioms about music, musical instruments, types of musics, celebrations, verbs, etc.
Vocabulary sheet I designed and provided to the class:
Activity 1:‘La musique et vous’ (15/20 minutes) in groups.
Start by asking them to discuss the following questions: Quel-s genre-s de musique préféré vous / vous écoutez? pourquoi? (What type of music do you prefer listening to and why?) – I personally first gave my example using elements I included in the Vocabulary sheet and we discussed with the class my musical tastes. I asked them to also share with their group why do they like listening to a specific type music: Does it relax them? help them to focusing on a specific activity? help them sleep, etc.
Cultural input: Les expressions/ proverbes qui s’inspirent du vocabulaire de la musique (French expressions and famous saying that include music-related words/phrases): La musique adoucit les mœurs = la musique est un bon moyen d’éduquer les gens / mettre un bémol = lorsque deux personnes discutent ou débattent de quelque chose, l’une d’elle peut interrompre l’autre pour expliquer qu’elle n’es pas d’accord avec cette personne, elle pourrait dire «je mets un bémol sur ce que tu dis», ce qui veut dire, «I disagree» d’une manière plus subtile et moins directe / ça me chante = ça me dis, «I feel like-doing it», «if I want to»
Activity 2: La fête de la musique
Start by asking them if they have ever heard of or have ever been to a ‘fête de la musique’ in France which occur every summer (generally around the end ofJune) in almost every French cities and villages.
Video screening of Paris’ 2017 ‘Fête de la musique’: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpWKBc8eCdg) – after watching the video, discuss with the whole class the following questions: Avez-vous déjà participé à une fête de la musique en France ou dans votre pays d’origine? si oui décrivez votre expérience, si non pensez-vous qu’il existe une fête similaire dans votre pays / région? (Did you ever participated in one before? if yes describe your experience/opinion of it; if no, is there any similar celebration-s/annual event-s where you’re from?)
I used a powerpoint to structure and guide the unfolding of the class. This class was very interesting because I noticed how curious and interested students were when I talk about French cultural aspects, traditions and linguistic peculiarities of the French language. From there a lot of them started asking questions and compare/associate with how it is back home for them, or in California.They really liked the fact that I showed a video on «la fête de la musique” in France, which is a well-known musical celebration taking place all around France in June
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediate & Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: St. Martin’s Day
Goal of the class: Learn about German culture and master casual conversation
How did you structure the class?
A) Warm-Up: Have you heard of St. Martins Day or seen lantern-walks before? Why are they happening?
Watch short cartoon about St. Martin:
B) Activity: Make a lantern as is a custom in Germany on 11/11 while listening to songs that are traditionally sung, like “Ich geh mit meiner Laterne“ and “Laterne, Laterne”.
Maybe watch video of actual St. Martin’s procession towards the end, when people are settled in with crafting (you can find some on Youtube).
C) Discussion while crafting or after: What were your favorite Childhood activities this time of year? Is there something similar in your culture?
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)Props: Share Screen function in Zoom, Chat, Youtube, Spotify, Course Website as a resource for homework and reference.
I emailed students a few days before with what is needed so they could get the supplies needed for making the lanterns (cardboard box, scissors, thumb tacks, glue, tissue paper, fake candle, etc.).
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The students very much enjoyed making the lanterns. It is a bit hard to make them multi-task, so they became chattier once they were almost done with their work. It worked well to listen to some traditional songs while they were crafting and showing the videos in the beginning & end.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
I’d leave it as is. And we took a screenshot photo with all our lanterns at the end, which made a fun memory.
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.
Get to know some contemporary attempt of Japanese traditional music
Describe music videos, what do you see? What do you hear?
How did you structure the class?
How are you doing? Hanging there? Good news if any??? (7 min)
We are trying to stay calm with the presidential election result being updated.
Today’s plan (3 min)
Breakout room (30 min): Each group has a different music video
Watch the videos
How many people are there?
What are they doing? What are the instruments?
What do they wear?
What kind of music?
What is traditional and what is not traditional?
Do you like it or not and why?
Main room (20 min)
Explain the music video and watch video
Wrap up. Stay positive, and stay calm,
What technology, media or props did you use? (internetresources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Class agreement, breakuprooms
Zoom, breakout rooms, youtube videos
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
Students were a little tired at the beginning with upcoming exams and all the homework they have
Each breakout room had a different music video. So I told them to describe the video really in detail.
They enjoyed the videos.
We learned some way of describing music, terms such as “traditional,” “contemporary,” and other terms used for traditional clothing.
In breakout rooms, they asked me some words that explain musical moments, things artists are wearing, or the scenery. They used these terms when shearing in the main room.
I first let all the groups explain what they watched. After that is done, I shared my screen and played all three videos at once. They loved it.
Students enjoyed the music, costumes, the techniques of artists, and other details.
This is one of classes students chose as the best.
Advanced:
Students enjoyed the music, costumes, the techniques of artists, and other details.
We ended up with talking a lot about Japanese arts and elements in videos.
Students have a little more knowledge about Buddhism in this class, and it made some discussions very interesting.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
I noticed that students used chat a lot as we all watch the videos together. Probably I can make use of the chat function more effectively with music moment. I don’t know how yet though. Something to keep thinking for the next time.
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.
https://youtu.be/KHna8ngTaOg 17:06:41 From Lena She-Her : This lit 17:06:50 From Mason Cai : ^^ 17:06:54 From Marina Aina : ^^^ 17:07:00 From Ruby Hoffman : ^^ 17:07:10 From Ashley Cheng : ^^^^^ 17:07:32 From Marina Aina : The mv visuals are so nice too 😮 17:07:48 From Alyssa Zhang : those masks damnnnnn 17:08:06 From Mason Cai : :OOOoOOO:
https://youtu.be/cbObLy5MjWU 17:10:24 From Marina Aina : Ive never felt more untalented in my life LMAO they’re so good 😮 17:10:32 From Kate McHale : this really slaps 17:10:34 From Ashley Cheng : It really do be one of those days
https://youtu.be/nvIGCMhjkvw?t=120 17:12:03 From Kano Cheng : I want to be this man when I grow up 17:12:29 From Ruby Hoffman : yes oh my god 17:12:37 From Marina Aina : i think you can accomplish that dream :,) 17:12:40 From Kate McHale : immaculate vibes 17:12:42 From Ashley Cheng : I wonder if my buddhist grandma would appreciate this 17:13:07 From Alyssa Zhang : i want to know what hes saying
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):
All
Class theme/topics discussed:
Music
How did you structure the class?/Ideas:
Activity 1 – Gathering vocabulary
Create a wordcloud for students to quickly brainstorm on music instruments/genres/etc..
Activity 2 – General questions for discussion
When do you listen to music? Is it always the same? Does it depend on the day? (Quand écoutez vous de la musique + toujours la même? Ou dépend du moment?)
Do you listen to music when you work? (Musique quand travaillent?)
Do you play any instrument/make music? (Faites vous de la musique)
If you could play any instruments, which one would you pick? What style of music would you like to play if you had a band? (Si vous pouviez jouer de n’importe quel instrument, de quoi voudriez-vous jouer? Quel type de musique si vous aviez un groupe?)
Do you agree that “music soothes the heart” (La musique adoucit les moeurs)
What was the last festival/concert you attended? (Dernier concert/festival)
What’s your go-to song when doing a karaoke? (Quelle est votre chanson préférée pour un karaoké)
Do you know any francophone artist? What’s your favorite song? (Une chanson ou un artiste français qu’ils connaissent + leur chanson préférée)
Pair students up. Ask them to look up an artist and fill in a table on a shared google doc. (nationality, music style, favorite song…)
Students present their artist to the other groups.
Activity 4 – The Voice
Brainstorming: what does a judge base their criticism on? What adjectives can they use? (maybe show an extract from the show). How do they convince people to join their team?
Students are the new judges for the Voice France. Students are asked to turn away from the camera. The LR plays some songs, and students have to decide whether they want to turn around or not. Then, they have to explain their choices: why did they choose this song? What do they like? What could be better (potential)? Or why didn’t they turn around? What was missing?
Activity 5 – “Close-listening” [I usually do one class on it (Rus)]
Choose a song that has as much ‘material’ in it as possible: a lot of cultural references, good lyrics with maybe some philosophical aspects in it, an inspiring/controversial/simply interesting music video, etc.
Give students a “free-writing” task/a discussion question that would help students to get into the topic that a song is about
If the lyrics are too difficult, give students a vocab list and go through it together (or they can work on it in pairs)
Give students the lyrics but with some blanks. Students have to fill them in while listening to a song. (There are different ways of choosing which words: the most difficult ones; related to one theme; adjectives, etc.)
Depending on a song, you might want to read and discuss the lyrics together after listening to the song for the first time + check if the students got the missing words right.
I usually play a very philosophical contemporary song that has become extremely popular in Russia (Basta – Sansara: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiCL0-U9WxI). The main idea of it that “our children will be better than we are” and that “when we are gone, we will not disappear because we will still be singing through our children’s voices: we are the same people being replaced in an endless circle of Sansara”. After we listen to the song and go through the lyrics, I ask a lot of questions about what they think, and the conversation usually goes on until the end of the class because it is a very deep topic. It might also be a good way of starting to talk about different generations, parents-children relationships, etc.
Another way of working with just one song would be to play it without a video, and then ask students to describe what they imagine would fit as a music video (they can, for example, come up with a ‘script’ in pairs). After everyone is done, students share their results.
Then everyone is watching the actual music video and students discuss whether it is similar to what they expected or not.
Activity 6 – Making a group Playlist [credits to Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez]
Students should do some research on different music genres. Each group randomly (or not) gets a genre of music (hip-hop, rap, indie, etc.) and looks it up in a target language.
After everyone is done, students and an LR create a Spotify/(Rus)VKontakte playlist with all the good songs they found.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Zoom, Youtube, Spotify
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
Class theme/topic discussed: Music taste and music genres
Goal of the class
To work on music related vocabulary
Learn about music culture in Spanish speaking countries
Class’ structure
Warm-up: Introductory questions about music taste and word cloud on music instruments.
Input: Small presentation on Cueca. It includes instruments usually used to play that music, exponents and dance (how is it and how the costumes look like).
Activity 1: Students choose between different Spanish speaking countries music styles. They have to make a small a presentation and include the same information as in the presentation the teacher gave (cumbia, ranchera, flamenco, rumba, timba, tango, salsa, merengue)
Activity 2: Students describe a picture in which writing and music is related and discuss whether music should also be considered poetry. Students receive fragments of different reggaeton songs and poems and have to distinguish which are which. They listen to all of them, read as if they were poems and share their results
Activity 3: Each group of students works with one of the fragments which corresponded to reggaeton songs and have to invent a new fragment. We listen to the songs and I pause them right before their fragment comes, so that they sing it.
Extra Activity 1: Discussing the content of some reggaeton songs and their cultural significance: Yo perreo sola – Bad Bunny
Extra activity 2: I play different songs linked with the styles they talked about in their presentations. Students have to guess the music genre.
Resources used
Youtube:
PPT
Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?
Students enjoyed the discussions at the very beginning, but doing the zoom presentation was a bit hard. When talking about online classes, it’s better to avoid those “group research projects” because some students may just be on their phones or have a harder time doing group research.
As an extra activity we created a playlist in Spotify and I’ve heard students commenting on the songs, which is fun and engaging for them.
Language and Level
(intermediate or advanced class):
Chinese, intermediate
and Advanced
Class
theme/topics discussed:
Learn the song <the same song>(tongyishouge)
Goal of the
class:
To Practice their oral Chinese
skills. Practice Chinese listening skills. Learn about new vocabulary and learn
to sing this Chinese song.
How did you
structure the class?
Play song, let them practice
listening, write the lyrics they hear and fill it in the blanks in pinyin or
Chinese characters.
Help students correct mistakes, tell them the
meaning of the new vocabulary.
Teach them to sing the song. And put culture inputs
such as how to pronounce 的 and 了 in a song.
What technology,
media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts,
etc.)
PowerPoint, useful
Chinese website:
PowerPoint, YouTube
What worked
well in this class? What did not work?
Students really
enjoyed the class, practiced their listening skills. Learned new words and how to sing a Chinese song, everyone was involved and had fun.
How could this
class be improved/ modified?
No
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.
Class theme/topics discussed: Latin American history, Latin American music
Goal of the class:
To promote talking through small talk
To get to know about Latin-America through music
How did you structure the class?
Ice Breaker: In pairs, students talk about the question “With what historical figure would you have dinner with?”, so they can practice conversation. We follow up by sharing their answers and working on questions regarding vocabulary or grammar. This is to activate their Spanish conversation abilities before moving forward.
Activity 1: We listen to the song “Latinoamérica” by Puerto Rican duo Calle 13. Students pay attention to the lyrics and topics in the song. Students get the lyrics with highlited topics.
Activity 2: In pairs, students are assigned one theme tackled in the song Latinoamérica alongside a set of questions related to the topic. They are related to the life, history and culture of the subcontinent. They are asked to research on the topic and present it to the rest of the class. (Refer to the appendix to see the topics).
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The class worked out very well. Particularly in advanced, students are really eager to talk to each other, so the first activity worked out quite well. The second activity worked out well too, but this activity requires more than one class.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
The class worked well. Maybe it is important to consider two classes to work on this instead of one.
Goal of the
class: Practice listening in Russian, learn about a
contemporary Russian artist
How did you
structure the class?
1. Greetings, announcements, general questions. – 10
min
3. Interview: Students watch an interview with a popular Russian singer and songwriter Zemfira. They are given a list of questions asked to the performer, the task of the students is to write down what she answers. (handout 1) – 20 min
4. Working with the song title. The students are given a name of a song (it is an abbreviation). Their task is to guess what the abbreviations stands for. The class is divided into groups of two, the students write their theories in the whiteboard. – 15 min
5. Listening activities: Listening and filling in the blanks. After – playing the hangman word game with the words form the lyrics/words about music. (handout 2) – 15 min
What
technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles,
handouts, etc.)
What worked
well in this class? What did not work?
Students definitely struggled with the interview activity but demonstrated good results at the end + it was good to push them out of their comfort zone at last and make them listen to other speaker of Russian language
How could this
class be improved/ modified?
If you have a
more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language
for that). Please attach any handouts as
well.
Handout 1.
Вопросы к Земфире.
1. Про жизнь рок-н-рольщика.
Как певица характеризует жизнь музыкантов?
2. Какие артисты нравятся Zемфире? Какие
категории артистов она называет?
3. Какие отношения (relationship) в её
группе? Что она говорит про коллектив?
Handout 2.
Zемфира – П.М.М.Л.
Море обнимет, закопает в пески,
Закинут ____________ лески,
Поймают в сети наши души,
Прости меня, моя ___________.
Поздно. О чем-то думать слишком поздно,
Тебе, я чую, нужен ______________,
Лежим в такой огромной луже,
Прости меня, моя любовь.
Джинсы воды набрали и прилипли,
Мне ______________, мы крепко влипли,
Мне кажется, потухло ______________,
Прости меня, моя любовь.
Тихо. Не слышно ни часов, ни чаек,
Послушно _______________ выключаем,
И ты в песке, как будто в _______________,
Прости меня, моя любовь.
Goal of the class: Revise basic music vocabulary; introduce students to popular Russian songs
How did you
structure the class?
1. Greetings, announcements, general questions. – 5
min
2. Presentation: LR gives a short presentation on the names of genres in Russian. Students make the list of the genres and each add at least 2 more. – 5 min
3. Interviews: Students interview each other. (handout 1) – 15 min
4. What is this song about? The LR shows the students
a music video but turns the sound off. Given the name and the video, students
have to discuss and guess what the song will be about. – 10 min
5. Continue working with the song: After the
discussion, students are given the lyrics of the song, but all in incorrect
order. Their task is to try put the lyrics in correct order. After the students
present their sequences, we listen to the song. (handout 2) – 10 min
6. Is that video accurate? Watching the same video, the students have to write lyrics of the song according to what is going on the screen. Students have 10 minutes for writing and then 5 minutes to present. – 15 min
What
technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources,
playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
Listening activity turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected. I recommend this class for the beginning of the semester because it is easy vocabulary but still enough speaking.
How could this
class be improved/ modified?
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.
Handout 1.
Словарь:
Альбом –
Живая музыка –
Певец/певица
–
Звезда (pl. звёзды) –
Песня –
Исполнитель
–
Группа –
Выступление
–
Выступать
–
Концерт/фестиваль
–
Тебе нравится слушать музыку? Какую роль в твоей жизни играет музыка?
Какие жанры тебе нравятся? Какие не нравятся?
Ты смотришь музыкальные клипы? Как ты думаешь, музыкальные клипы важны
для исполнителей?
Тебе нравится слушать живую музыку? Ты ходишь на концерты или фестивали?
Расскажи.
Если бы твоя жизнь была фильмом, какая музыка была бы саундтреком?
Handout 2.
IOWA – Заболела тобой
Лето было пепельно-золотым,
Чувства были сильно помяты.
Нет, не боялась я темноты,
Я была сама виновата…
Что не умела вязать узлы;
В том, что промолчала когда-то.
Только, как лечить эту пустоту?
Знаю, я сама виновата:
Я заболела, я заболела, я
заболела тобой.
Я заболела, я заболела, я заболела тобой.
В моих руках жёлтые
цветы,
Глаза слезятся от ветра.
Мы не заварим чая в ледяной воде –
Мы две стороны одной монеты.
Айсбергом ты на моём
пути.
Остаться, уйти? – Не понятно.
Но как же лечить эту пустоту:
Знаю, я сама виновата…
Я заболела, я заболела, я
заболела тобой.
Я заболела, я заболела, я заболела тобой.
Лето было
пепельно-золотым
И уже катилось к закату.
Отцвели давно наши сады,
Осень во всём виновата
Я не успела, я не успела
понять,
Как заболела тобой
Я не успела, в этом всё дело,
Я заболела тобой…
Я
заболела, я заболела, я заболела тобой.
Я заболела, я заболела, я заболела тобой.
Language and Level (intermediate
or advanced class):
Spanish advanced
Class theme/topics discussed:
.Goal of the class: To learn and discuss about traditions in Spain. To discover new music artists in Spain
How did you structure the class?
Activity 1:
Students get a piece of paper with prompts to discuss about their musical taste
They stand up and walk around asking each other
Activity 2:
Students are asked the features that a good artist needs to have. We write those words in the whiteboard
Activity 3:
Students look up the artist Rosalía on Instagram. They describe what they see and what they think of her.
Activity 4:
We brainstorm different elements from the Spanish culture. Students are
guided with a powerpoint presentation in order to get them to discuss about
semana santa, bullfighting, suburbs…
Activity 5:
Students watch the Malamente music video by Rosalia. They have toidentify the elements we have learnt before. Then we discuss how they arerepresented in the video and figure out the meaning of the video.
Activity 6:
Now that students are more familiar with the artist and the imagery. We discuss about elements that are relevant also in the US. Cultural appropriation and Rosalía.
Activity 7: If there is time, we watch another music video by the same artist that shows similar topics, and discuss the different elements portrayed in it.
What technology, media or props
did you use? (Internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
We used prompts to bring up the topic at the beginning of the class.
We also used a powerpoint presentation to bring the imagery of the
artist to the classroom and make it more fun to engage in the topic.
What worked well in this class?
What did not work?
This class worked very well with advanced students because they really liked the artist. They could see and discuss elements from the Spanish culture that they were already familiar with, and put them into a different perspective. After this class, this artist became a recurrent topic in class, students would follow her progress and the new material she was releasing. It was a fantastic resource for them to bring Spanish home and keep practicing.
If you have a more detailed
lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): German, intermediate
Class theme/topics discussed: vocabulary; song
Goal of the class:
Repeat vocabulary, introduce a popular band; students should be able to understand the basic content
How did you structure the class?
4.15-4.30 (15mins): Warm-Up, Game: vocabulary conversation (in pairs): each student has the same number of words (written on vocabulary cards); they have to have a conversation and use the words they have on their cards. The team who finishes first, wins.
4.30-5.15 (45mins): Song: 21,22,23
watch song without music; what do you think – what kind of music is it?
The titel is 21,22,23 – what could it be about?
Show them the refrain – make a suggestion what could be in the gaps.
Listen to song together
Hand out gap text – students try to fill in
Listen again
Underline unknown words
Go through text together
Meaning of the song? – discussion
Write a new refrain (for example a response to the song)
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
mac book, vocabulary cards, gab texts
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
They liked the song and they were very interested in the expressions and vocabulary used. They liked guessing how the music is like.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
Some music vocabulary would be helpful to talk about the topic. Maybe a series of lessons on music would be a good idea.
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.
