Humanising Language Teaching
Year 5; Issue 1; January 03

David Cranmer and Clement Laroy, secondary +adult
Pilgrims-Longman, 1992

Level Intermediate +
Time 20 - 30 minutes
Focus The Present/Past Continuous and Simple
Extras None

This activity encourages your students to use their imagination.

Preparation: select a couple of short excerpts (one to two minutes each) that suggest some kind of action.

Procedure
1 Tell your students they are going to translate musical descriptions into English.
2 Help your students to concentrate, for example by closing their eyes. Ask them not to open their eyes before they have listened to the music all the way through. Also, while they listen, they write with their eyes closed. Advise them to write in a larger hand than usual. Tell them you only want them to write single words as they listen to the music, not phrases or sentences.
3 Play the music and as it is playing, quietly ask questions such as:
'Where is it? When? What time? How many people are there? What's happening?'
The students write words, as ideas, images, etc come to them. When the music has stopped, tell them to slowly open their eyes .
4 Put the students in pairs and ask them to tell each other what they can hear/see happening when they listen to the music, using the words on their sheets as prompts. Ask them to start with the words 'When I listen to this music, I can see...'. Monitor and correct.
5 Ask your students to change partners so as to hear another interpretation and to improve their rendition of their thoughts.
6 Invite them to tell their interpretation to the whole class.
7 Repeat Steps One to Six with another excerpt, but this time, when they exchange their interpretations, they must start with 'When I listened, I saw...' Point out the difference between the use of the two tenses. Stress that it is a matter of choice, but that they have to be consistent in their choice.

Extensions
a) In a later lesson, follow Steps One to Three as above, but instead of Step Four, the students in pairs exchange their sheets and, with the help of the cues they have written, they try to describe what their partner sees/saw.
b) Encourage your students to bring their own music and lead an activity during a later lesson.
c) Composition: 'When I listen to my favourite music.'
Insist they should listen to their favourite music first, with their eyes closed, and write down words to remind them of what they see, etc

Suggested music

Film music
Film music is very appropriate here, not only music specially composed for a particular film, but also classical music used as film music.

Examples of film music
1 Elmer Bernstein: The Magnificent Seven/The Return of the Seven - Battle.
2 Full Metal Jacket: Transition, Ruins, Leonard, Attack, Time suspended, Sniper.
3 John Williams: Music for Raiders of the Lost Arc.
4 John Scott: Music for Greystoke, the legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes - Catastrophe, Pygmy Attack, Edge of the World, Dance of Death etc.

Some classical pieces
1 Walton: Passacaglia - Death of Falstaff - from Henry V
2 Saint_Saëns: Phaëton - Central pursuit theme
3 Saint_Saëns: Le Rouet d'Omphale - Finale: Enslavement of Hercules, and submission
4 Vaughan Williams: Antarctic Symphony - fifth movement choose the excerpt with drums, wind, choir, trumpet,etc.
5 Mussorgsky (orchestrated by Ravel): Pictures at an Exhibition: Bydlo, The Great Gate of Kiev - finale
6 Holst: Uranus - second allegro (from The Planets)
7 Grieg: Peer Gynt, Peer Gynt Hunted by the Trolls / Peer Gynt and the Boyg, Shipwreck, Peer Gynt's home journey -
8 Varèse: an excerpt from Ionisations
9 Mozart: Piano Concerto No.21 in C major, K 467 (Used in many films of which Bo Widerberg's Elvira Madigan is maybe the most famous)

Examples of students' work (uncorrected):

When I listen to this music, I see the sea, a boat; it's my boat. The sun is shining. I dive. There are fishes with different colours. It's wonderful. There are also beautiful corals. Two dolphins play with me. It's time. I must go away. I return to the boat. The sun is going down. On the horizon I see a group of dolphins. It's wonderful. (Christelle 18)

When I listen to my favourite music I think of the joy of travelling. I imagine myself in a station. I am waiting for a train, but I do not know which train. I will take the first train that arrives.
The sun is shining, it's very hot. I wear shorts, a T-shirt and sportshoes. All I have is a rucksack. I am going to live a long adventure. I do not know where I am going.
I get on the train. There are only few people on it. After three hours I finally get off the train. I am in Germany but I do not know the name of the city I am in. I do not understand German. This adds value to my adventure.
I have to find a place to sleep and something to eat, but first I am going to ask for the main touristic points of the area. I hope to find something interesting. (Sonia 19)

I like some different kinds of music, pop music, rhythmic music, sad music. Then I react in different ways according to the music I am listening to. Sometimes music simply makes me happy and sometimes it helps me to concentrate (calm or classical music, of course!)
Music can be a source of sadness too, but sadness can be a kind of satisfaction in certain cases; that's why I sometimes choose to listen to sad music because I am sad and I think it helps to chase this sadness away.
I adore music which transports something magical and captivating, wonderful music of songs which complete each other and imbue me.
Hearing that I feel extremely good. I think about my friends, I imagine a feast with a lot of them around a fire or in a large room with good music only and the one which is making me dream at that moment, of course.
Now and then I put on sweet music to fall asleep. It's very agreeable to be rocked with nice songs: it gives an incredible feeling of well-being.
It's already eleven o'clock. I am going to put on a little beautiful music before going to bed because tomorrow is Friday and I have to wake up at six o'clock.
Good night! (Claude 18)