Song Dictation

IDEA TAKEN FROM TEFLCLIPS.

In this activity, students are asked to draw scenes from a song before listening to it. This activiates key vocabulary and grammatical structures contained withing the lyrics.

Part 1

1. Give your students the following instructions:

I want you to draw two pictures. In the first picture, there is a man going for a walk on a winter’s day. The leaves are brown and the sky is grey. There is a thought bubble coming from his head. In the second picture the man is in a church. He is down on his knees and he is praying. The preacher is beside him.

During this stage, use gesture to explain any unknown language whenever possible (’down on his knees’, etc). Write any new words on the board.

2. Ask students to repeat the instructions back to you before drawing the scenes.

3. Let artists compare their work.

4. Ask students to consider what the man could be thinking about. Elicit as many possiblities as you can and make a list of these on the board. For example:

• “I wish it was warmer”
• “I should get a dog”
• “I hate winter”

5. Add the following to the list:

• “I’d be safe and warm if I was in LA”
• “If I didn’t tell her I could leave today”

Part 2

1. Tell students that you are going to teach them a chant. Use a call and response format to teach all of the lines from ‘California Dreaming’:

All the leaves are brown
And the sky is grey
I’ve been for a walk
On a winter’s day
I’d be safe and warm
If I was in LA
California dreamimg
On such a winter’s day

I stopped into a church
I passed along the way
Well, I got down on my knees
And I pretend to pray
You know the preacher likes the cold
He knows I’m going to stay
California dreaming
On such a winter’s day

All the leaves are brown
And the sky is grey
I’ve been for a walk
On a winter’s day
If I didn’t tell her
I could leave today
California dreaming
On such a winter’s day

2. Let students hear the song

Follow up

The above clip is an audio slideshow of scans of my students’ drawings. Audio slideshows can easily be created using video-editing software such as Windows Movie Maker. This application comes standard with Microsoft Windows and if you are a PC user, you will almost certainly have it on your computer already.