Would you like to receive publication updates from HLT? You can by joining the free mailing list today. |
Humanising Language Teaching
Year 6; Issue 3; September 04
Musical Stories
Gill Johnson
Hastings, UK
Level: Intermediate - Advanced
Preparation: Choose a piece of music that you find evocative. I have found African, South American and Indian music to be very successful, for this purpose.
In class:
Divide the class into groups of 4-5. Tell them that they represent a humanitarian organisation (of their choice). They are going to give a speech on behalf of their organisation and that what they are about to hear will be the background music to their speech. Ask them, as they listen, to decide what their organisation is about and to start to plan their speech. For less able students, the speech may be a short ad for radio. You will probably need to play the music several times and give the students 20-30 minutes to write the speeches. Finally, perhaps in the next lesson, ask each group to read out their speech, while you play the music quietly in the background.
