an archive of lesson plans

Tag: music

SP ADV REGGAETON

Language resident: Natalia Cano

Class theme/topic discussed:

Goal of the class: The students learn about Bad Bunny, Rosalia and old Reggaeton

Class structure:

Warm up:

Do you know Bad Bunny?

Do you know any of his song?

Activity 1: Bad Bunny and Kendall Jenner go on a date

We watch a little bit of this video:

Even though it is in English, it is important for the activity, since they have to know about Bad Bunny’s English for the activity.

After watching the video, they have to decide in pairs who is going to be Bad Bunny or Kendall Jenner. After that, they have to do a little theatre being these characters.

Activity 2: La noche de anoche

What references do you see in this video? What do you think about it?

Activity 3:

We listen to these three song with the lyrics:

-Titi me preguntó – Bad Bunny

-X si volvemos – Karol G

-Candy – Plan B

What differences do you see between these songs and songs in English

Resources used:

Youtube, Spotify

What worked well? What did not work?

This class was very good, my students were very enthusiastic about the topic. However, a class about reggaeton is always going to have explicit content. So it is important to do a disclaimer at the beginning of the class.

SP INT/ADV SHAKIRA AND PIQUÉ (OR ANY OTHER GOSSIP YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT)

Language resident: Natalia Cano

Class theme/topic discussed: Shakira and Piqué’s drama

Goal of the class: The students learn how to talk about current affairs and vocabulary related to cheating.

Class structure:

Warm-up:

  • Do you know who Shakira is?
  • Do you know who Piqué is?

Activity 1:

Information about:

-Shakira

-Piqué

-Worldcup 2010

-Ibai’s video

-Clara Chia

-Monotonia

-Henry Cavill’s reaction to Shakira

Activity 2: 

-We analyze together the Bizarrap song’s lyrics.

Activity 3: 

In pairs, they have to act as if they were different characters of this story in these situations:

-Piqué arrives home and Shakira is recording the song.

-Piqué, Clara Chia and Shakira meet each other.

-Henry Cavill goes on a date with Shakira and Piqué shows up.

Resources used:

Monotonía: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5y6xLpRwx4

Bizarrap session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CocEMWdc7Ck

What worked well? What did not work?

The students absolutely loved the class and they spent the rest of the semester talking about this couple. They asked so many questions that the class went super fast.

DE S22 INT/ADV: Subjunctive & Artistic Freedom (Part 1) [Zoom-class]

Language Resident/Assistant Name:
Nicolai Diener

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.

DE S22 INT/ADV: Subjunctive & Artistic Freedom (Part 2) [Zoom-class]

Language Resident/Assistant Name:
Nicolai Diener

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.

DE S22 INT/ADV: Music & The Voice

Language Resident/Assistant Name:
Nicolai Diener

Class theme/topics discussed:
Music

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!

ESINT SP2022 Music

Language resident: Natalia Cano

Class theme/topic discussed: Music

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.

ESADV SP2022 Music and poetry

Language Resident: Natalia Cano

Class theme/topic discussed: Music and poetry

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.

JP F20 INT/ADV: Music Videos

Language Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto 

Day and Date:  

Monday November 9, 2020   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Intermediate  / Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed:  

Goal of the class:  

  • 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?  

  1. How are you doing? Hanging there? Good news if any??? (7 min) 
    1. We are trying to stay calm with the presidential election result being updated.
  1. Today’s plan (3 min) 
  1. Breakout room (30 min): Each group has a different music video
    1. Watch the videos 
    2. How many people are there?  
    3. What are they doing? What are the instruments? 
    4. What do they wear? 
    5. What kind of music? 
    6. What is traditional and what is not traditional? 
    7. Do you like it or not and why? 
  1. Main room (20 min) 
    1. Explain the music video and watch video 
    2. Wrap up. Stay positive, and stay calm,  

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.) 

Class agreement, breakup rooms 

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. 

Videos Shared:

Vocabulary that we learned: 

袴:はかま 
ばち 
伝統的:でんとうてき:traditional 
楽器:がっき:musical instrument 
稲荷:いなり 
畳:たたみ 
和室:わしつ 
襖:ふすま 
和紙:わし 
障子:しょうじ 
きつね 
竹:たけ 
竹林:ちくりん 
帯:おび 
頭巾:ずきん 
お経:おきょう 
般若心経:はんにゃしんきょう 
袈裟:けさ 
邪道:じゃどう 

Students’ comments on chat for each video

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 

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