Using jazz chants in listening activities

Dear colleagues,
I'd like to share with you a lesson that both my students and I liked so much. Students learnt many things and had a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to your comments. Thanks!

Lesson plan

Lesson topic : listening using jazz chants

Students Level : beginning 1

Time : 45 minutes

Skills emphasized : Listening and developing oral intelligibility through appreciation of the rhythm and intonation patterns of spoken American English.

Target functions and structures :

• asking for names and their spelling,
• greeting others and asking about mutual friends,
• introducing friends in a casual and frequentely used form,
• using short forms of the verb Be.

Objectives : By the end of the lesson students should be able to :

• review the functions and vocabulary previousely taught: asking for names and their spelling , age, using short forms of the verb Be,
• get used to the sounds and features of American English,
• be aware of the striking difference between written words and their spoken forms.

Materials:

• Small talk Book and cassette by Carolyn Graham
• tape recorder
• Task sheet with written conversations .

Activity I : warm-up

T briefly reviews the previous lesson by asking students about their names, how they are spelt, their age, their home towns......

Activity II : Listening

1. Students listen to chant n°1 on the cassette
2. Students listen once again and try in pairs to fill in blanks with words from the chant. They are already given a task sheet.
3. Class correction of the exercice with answers on BB.
4. students repeat sounds they find difficult.
5. teacher along with students establish the rhythm by snapping fingers, then students repeat each line of the chant after the teacher
6. Students listen again to the chant on the cassette
7. Class is devided into 2 groups ( 2 rows for each group). Each group is given a role and repeats his lines after the teacher.
8. The 2 groups perform the chant without the teacher modeling.
9. the groups exchange roles while keeping the rhythm with their fingers snapping.

Activity III : practice

• Students in pairs write a dialogue in which they use all what they have just learnt using their names ..etc.
• Students act out their dialogues to the whole class.
• Teacher helps them retain the rhythm and intonation paterns.

* The same activities were repeated with all the other chants in units 1 and 2 in the jazz chants book .

References :

• Small Talk book and cassette by Carolyn Graham. Oxford University press.
• Workshop on Rhythm, Stress and intonation with jazz chants. Marybeth Worillow. P4T Udel 2007.