One, Several, Many

This activity is good for pre-listening. Students predict the possible content of a song and also possible additional lyrics.

Preparation

Choose a song to play for the class. Select five key content words from the song so that, when written on the board or presented to the class, students will be able to make educated guesses about the content of the song.

When to Use It

• To help students to predict the possible content of the song • To raise students’ interest level in the song • To introduce vocabulary related to the song

Level

Procedure

1. Write the title of the song on the board. Elicit the meanings of the words, explaining any of the words in the title that students may not know. 2. Explain that this is the title of a song they are going to listen to.

Ask the students to guess what the song will be about. 3. Nominate individual students or have students call out their ideas about what the song may be about. Write up their ideas on the board. 4. If students make predictions in their L1 because they do not have the vocabulary to express themselves, then you may wish to teach them some key words. However, limit the number of new words to approximately five to eight. 5. Write on the board five key content words from the song. Ask the students if they want to change their predictions. Write any of their new ideas on the board. 6. When doing the first listening, ask students to check and see if their predictions were correct or not.

Skills

Practice

Materials

Lyrics

Preparation Time

5 minutes

Activity Time

10–15 minutes

Possible Resources

Variations

Sing Out Loud: Traditional Songs https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/singout-loud-traditional-songs Sing Out Loud: Children’s Songs https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/sing1. Divide students into small groups of four or five. Ask them to out-loud-childrens-songs discuss and write down their predictions in groups. Then ask each group for their ideas. The group with the most accurate predictions can be acknowledged with applause or a small reward. 2. Before the students make their predictions, write on the board: Who?, Where?, What?, and Why? Ask students to make predictions for each question. For example, Who will be the main character in the song: a man, a woman, a mother, a cowboy?; Where will the song take place?; What will happen in the song?; Why will this happen?