Monday 25 February 2013

Songs

Songs are a good resource to learn grammatical structures. There are many songs that repeat the same sentences, so it is easy for the children to recognise these structures. A good example is the song Moon Shadow, by Cat Stevens:

I'm being followed by a moon shadow
moon shadow-moon shadow
leaping and hopping on a moon shadow
moon shadow-moon shadow
and if I ever lose my hands
lose my plough, lose my land
oh, if I ever lose my hands
oh, if...
I won’t have to work no more
and if I ever lose my eyes
If my colours all run dry
yes, if I ever lose my eyes
oh if …
I won't have to cry no more.
yes, I'm being followed by a moon shadow
moon shadow - moon shadow
leaping and hopping on a moon shadow
moon shadow - moon shadow
and if I ever lose my legs
I won't moan and I won't beg
of (oh)* if I ever lose my legs
oh if...
I won't have to walk no more

And if I ever lose my mouth
all my teeth, north and south
yes, if I ever lose my mouth
oh if...
I won't have to talk...

Did it take long to find me
I ask the faithful light
Ooh did it take long to find me
And are you going to stay the night
I'm being followed by a moon shadow
moon shadow - moon shadow
leaping and hopping on a moon shadow
moon shadow - moon shadow
moon shadow - moon shadow
moon shadow - moon shadow

As we can see, in this song there is a repeated structure "If I ever lose..." so children can work with conditionals. After the first paragraph, we can miss the words "If I ever lose" and we ask the children to fill in the gaps. As it is repeated all the song, it won't be very difficult to them to recognise the words.

In this specific example we can also work with present continuous "I'm being followed" and future simple "I won't have to".

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