Suzanne Vega: Tom's Diner

[bluesalmon]

I took the lyrics of this song and created a document with all the lyrics, except for the verbs and preposition. I replaced each verb phrase and all the prepositions with a blank line. The task for the students is to fill in the blanks with the appropriate verb phrase or the appropriate preposition. For the verbs, the infinitive form is provided for them, and they are told how the verb is supposed to be conjugated. So, below each blank line I have written in small text the infinitive of the verb that goes in that blank and whether it's conjugation is the present tense, the present continuous, the present perfect, the past perfect, just the participle, or whatever. (Most of them are present or present continuous). If a preposition is required, then under the blank it just says "preposition". It is actually possible to complete the task without actually listening to the song, but part of the fun of the exercise is listening to Suzanne Vega's voice.

This song is really good for studying the present continuous and also English prepositions. The song has a whole bunch of them, and Vega's voice is very clear and easy to understand.

I managed to fit the whole thing onto a two page word document (formatted with the .doc attachment) and did a pretty good job - I think.

To help them with the prepositions, I give the students a list of all the prepostions that appear in the song. (I write them on the board). Then I hand out the document with the lyrics, and I let them look at it for a few minutes and fill in a few of the blanks before they hear the song. Then we listen to the a capella song, which I have recorded on a portable mp3 player. (An interesting footnote: this song is considered to be "the mother of the mp3". The man who created the mp3 used this song to test the algorithm, and make sure the compression didn't cause too much distortion). I divide the students into groups and have them work on filling in every blank, and we listen to the song a few times. (It is only about 2 minutes long.) At some point in the class I also play them the DNA version.

You can get the lyrics for this song easily enough off the internet. If you would like the document I created, email me and I will send it to you.

[kristie]

Oh, wow! This is one of my favorite songs, ever!
Here is the video for that acapella version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z66rDVkaK4w
I love this because of how simple it is, and when I watched it and thought about the exercise you've made, I can see how this video could help with comprehension because her re/actions when she says certain verbs matches so perfectly to their meaning!

[s.schlick]

hello bluesalmon, can you please post the word document with the worksheet you used for the song. I'd like to do this activity with my secondes. thanks!

shannon

[CBoycott]

Please post the word document! thanks a lot