Listen and Write

I have now chosen to work with rhymes and songs for children, instead of using fairy tales. The audio for the stories is available on the Net, but they are too long and the activity may take a lot of time to be successfully completed. So, I decided to work with typical English songs, such as:

·         Itsy Bitsy spider

·         Head and Shoulders

·         Hokey pokey

·         Bingo

·         Twinkle Twinkle little star

·         Here we go round the mulberry bush

·         This little pig

·         Monkeys on the bed

·         If you are happy and you know it

You can add another if you want! Let the list grow according to your students’ knowledge of the songs

If you have a CD with all the songs, your problems are solved; you just copy the songs in the computer, change the format into MP3 and save them on the desktop computer (of all the computers), in the computer room

If not, you can download the songs from a program like “Ares” or “Frost wire” (I know it’s not the best “legal” way to do it, but it’s the only way!)

This activity is aimed at young students, with an elementary to pre intermediate level, from 9 to 12 years old.

WARMER:

·         Although they may know they songs you have chosen, it’s better to make a revision of them. It’s not necessary to sing or act them out again, just to listen to them

·         Form some groups, of no more than 4 students, tell them they are going to play a game called “Listen and guess”, and, of course, they have to guess what they are listening to.

·         Set the rules, clearly, to avoid possible conflicts among your students.

·         Play the songs and let them guess! If possible, make the group that has guessed sing part of the song, but not all.

LESSON:

·         Take your students to the computer room

·         Form groups of no more than 2 students to work with the computers

·         Explain them the use of “Listen and Read” ( as they are children, try to be “short and sweet” with your explanation, avoid technical language) and the aim of the activity

·         Tell them they have to chose one of the rhymes from the folder you have created and write the  lyrics for each part of the song 

·         Help them with everything they may need; walk around the classroom so you can monitor their work

·         Once they have finished, test their final product and, if it is ok, save it!

·         As they may need to create an account, YOU create one beforehand and tell them to use that account to save their work

·         Once the work is saved, Tell them they have to change seats with their partners and solve the activity of their partners

·         Once they have finished, check the work they have done

FINAL PART:

·         Going back to the classroom, tell your students to chose several songs from the ones they have worked with – Just 2 or 3 of them

·         Once the choices are made, each from the original groups is to sing and act out the song and the other groups are going to give the students a “mark” for their performance (just a  game to play after so hard work!)

EVALUATION:

Students are going to be evaluated in 3 skills:

·         Writing: writing the lyrics to make the activity and to solve it as well

·         Speaking: singing the songs and “marking” their partners’ performance, as they have to say why they have given that mark

·         Listening: producing and solving the activity

·         Using and creating an activity with a technological tool: use of the tool and responsibility for their work

·         Behavior in the classroom computer: taking care of the material, working in groups