Developing Song Worksheets for a SALC

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ISSN 2185-3762

Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal

http://sisaljournal.org

Developing Song Worksheets for a SALC

Simon Cooke

Kanda University of International Studies Corresponding author:

[email protected]

Publication date: September, 2010.

To cite this article

Cooke, S. (2010). Developing Song Worksheets for a SALC.

Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, 1(2), 129-138.

To link to this article

http://sisaljournal.org/archives/sep10/cooke

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Please contact the author for permission to re-print elsewhere.

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Developing Song Worksheets for a SALC

Simon Cooke, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan

Introduction

After receiving the Japanese Ministry of Education’s Best Practice award in 2003, the Self-Access Learning Centre (SALC) at Kanda University of international Studies (KUIS) has continued in its goal of creating materials and resources which aim to engage the learners whilst promoting learner autonomy. The development team has promoted its materials design and philosophy at a number of national and international conferences and in a variety of SLA

publications (Kershaw et al. 2010). The team, made up of teachers from the university’s English Language Institute (ELI) are tasked with creating a range of new resources to:

a) provide scaffolding/learner training to help learners on the road towards autonomy b) help learners access/use the authentic materials on offer in the SALC

c) help learners plan and implement learning pathways d) support the ‘taught’ curriculum of the ELI

Following student feedback on using songs and music in the SALC at KUIS, song worksheets were designed, created and successfully added to the materials available to students for self-access study. This article describes the rationale and process of implementing the worksheets in the centre.

Rationale

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general…use simple, conversational language, with a lot of repetition, which is just what many language teachers look for in sample texts. The fact that they are affective makes them many times more motivating than other texts” (p. 7). Indeed, the large amount or resources available for using songs and music in language learning is testament to their perceived value in this field.

Value is often given to the use of non-authentic texts, designed to help make language learning easier by introducing learners to the variety of patterns and systems that make up the language. However, providing learners access to authentic texts can also be seen to have many benefits. Authentic texts can show how the grammatical forms and vocabulary of a language operate in the ‘real world’. As Nunan (1999) maintains: “the use of authentic sources leads to greater interest and variety in the material that learners deal with in the classroom.”(p. 212) Whilst most songs do not have some of the features of ‘regular’ authentic texts or conversation, such as requests for clarification or the use of fillers and hesitation devices, our rationale for including songs in this medium is justified by taking a casual glance at the English used in songs featuring in the Japanese pop charts or on the badges and t-shirts adorning our students. As Murphey (1992) argues: “For a variety of reasons, songs stick in our minds and become part of us…”(p. 6)

The SALC at KUIS has a budget for the purpose of purchasing DVDs and CDs for student use. There are now over 1,200 DVDs and nearly 1,000 audio CDs (of which

approximately 90% are music CDs and 10% spoken word CDs) for students to borrow, or to use in the SALC. Following successful development of materials for the DVDs, such as dictation, shadowing and recitation activities, it was believed that similar materials could be created for use with the large number of CDs available. The existing teacher-created worksheets for the audio CDs were being underused and were in need of alteration to address copyright issues, specifically the reproduction of song lyrics. In addition, student surveys indicated that the worksheets were going unnoticed. Having decided upon this area of materials development, we needed to devise activities which would best suit student goals.

In order to garner student opinion on what would encourage them to use song

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In developing self-access materials, Tomlinson (2010a) advocates the use of a text-driven approach, where instead of creating materials with specific language points in mind, the

activities should seek to teach any language that naturally emerges and seems to be useful to the students. The approach seeks to encourage students to “articulate personal responses to the experience and…finally return to the experience in order to focus on a specific linguistic or pragmatic feature of it” (Tomlinson, 1994). Songs are particularly applicable for these activities in the way that they may be appropriated by listeners for their own purposes. As Murphey (1992) explains: “most pop songs…do not have precise people, place or time references. For those who find them relevant, songs happen whenever and wherever one hears them and they are, consciously or subconsciously, about the people in one’s own life” (p. 8). With these ideas in mind, it was hoped that we might be able to incorporate opportunities for student reflection in the activities. One reservation to using this approach exclusively in our materials design was the feeling that many students might be approaching the worksheets out of curiosity of lyrical content, having been initially attracted to the melody or the accompanying video clip of the song in question, rather than through a desire to ‘interact’ with the lyrical content reflectively and critically. It was therefore decided that while we would incorporate a section for reflection, the majority of the exercises would be based on helping the students to gain greater

understanding of what the song was about and how various linguistic elements worked to describe the characters and the emotions being portrayed.

Process

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Before the song worksheets are ready for student use, the materials creators are asked to follow a number of steps to ensure that there are no copyright infringements and to check for ease of use, a process best illustrated with this diagram:

On the final page of the finished worksheet, students are reminded that they can request material for the SALC to purchase and for additional worksheets to be made. These comments are then passed on to the materials writers for the cycle to begin again. One request that is often made is for us to provide the students with a lyric sheet to help them complete the activities. Unfortunately, copyright regulations do not permit the reproduction of lyrics in a self-access centre in Japan. There are, however, a number of ways for the students to access the lyrics themselves. The worksheets suggest that the students can access the large number of lyrics databases found on the internet or make note of the words themselves as they sing along to the karaoke versions of the songs, found on the karaoke software installed on the computers in the SALC’s speaking booths.

Song worksheet production steps

1. Examine database for

student song requests 2. Design worksheet 3. Submit worksheet to other materials writers for proofreading

4. Submit worksheet for copyright proofreading. If copyright violation is found, return to step 2 5. Two copies made of

the song worksheet and 2 copies of “Student Trialling Feedback Form” for distribution to students

6. Examine student feedback and make necessary adjustments. Return to step 2 if substantial changes are made. Add future songs/artists requests to database

7. Submit final worksheet to design team for addition of graphics etc.

8. Worksheet returned to materials writer for final check

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In the initial questionnaire, many students had mentioned that they were unaware of the existing, song worksheets. As Tomlinson (2010a) advocates: “students need to know what is available to them, what it can offer them and what it requires of them” (p. 81). A redesign of the layout of materials available to students means that the song worksheets are now easily

noticeable upon entering the SALC. In addition, in order to promote the availability of these and other new materials in the SALC, regular poster promotions, student-focussed twitter and web updates, combined with weekly SALC updates announced in class, detailing new worksheets and other additions to the SALC have been implemented, resulting in increased interest in and use of these and other SALC materials.

Notes on the contributor

Simon Cooke is originally from England and has been teaching EFL since coming to Japan in 1999. Simon has a Masters degree in Applied Linguistics and currently teaches at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba, Japan. His research interests include discourse analysis and vocabulary acquisition.

References

Kershaw, M., Mynard, J., Promnitz-Hayashi, L., Sakaguchi, M., Slobodniuk, A., Stillwell, C., & Yamamoto, K. (2010). Promoting autonomy through self-access materials design. In A. M. Stoke (Ed.), JALT2009 Conference Proceedings. Tokyo: JALT.

Murphey, T. (1992). Music and Song., Oxford University Press

Tomlinson, B. (1994). Pragmatic awareness activities. Language Awareness. 3 (3 & 4): 119-29

Tomlinson, B. (2010a). Principles and Procedures for Access Materials. Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, 1(2), 72-86

Tomlinson, B. (2010b). Principles of effective materials development. In Harwood, N (ed.) English Language Teaching Materials: Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 81-108

Nunan, D. (1999). Second Language Teaching and Learning. Boston. , Heinle & Heinle

Other useful resources

CRIC - Copyright Research and Information Center, Information on the copyright system in Japan including its copyright law, http://www.cric.or.jp/cric_e/index.html, retrieved September 20th_{, 2010-09-30}

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Appendix i - Examples taken from song worksheet accompanying Lady Gaga’s ‘Paparazzi’

Pre-Listening Task: Vocabulary & Phrases

The following words and phrases are from this song. Choose the best definition that matches them.

1. Paparazzi

a. An Italian word for someone

who is crazy in love b. An Italian word for freelance photographers who follows celebrities to

take pictures to sell to magazines and newspapers

2. chase you down

a. Run after someone until you catch them

b. Run after someone until they fall down

3. loving you is cherry pie

a. Being in love with you is wonderful

b. Being in love with you is bad for my health

4. in between the sets

a. During a break in a live concert b. During a game of tennis

5. (something) doesn’t (don’t) have a price

a. Something is free b. Something is so valuable that it cannot

be bought

6. there’s no other superstar

a. You are the only superstar that is playing a live concert tonight

b. You are the only superstar that I love

7. we’d be so fantastico

a. If we got together, we would

make a good couple b. If we got together, our love would be like a fantasy

Listening time

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Listening Task: Dictation

After you have studied the words and phrases from the previous task, listen to the song and try to write down the song’s lyrics. Some of the words may be a little difficult to understand, so don’t worry if you cannot complete this task!

Hint: It may take a long time to write down the words from ALL of the song, so why not choose

just one verse or one chorus?

___________________________________________________________

When you think you have finished writing the lyrics correctly, check your lyrics with the lyrics you can find on the internet.

You can find the lyrics by typing “lady gaga paparazzi lyrics” in the search box on your web

browser. If you need help finding the lyrics, please ask a Learning Advisor for help.

Listening Task: Comprehension

After you have studied the words and phrases from the previous tasks, listen to the song. What do you think the song is about? Why do you think so? Choose from the answers below or write your own idea.

Why? Check your answer with the answer sheet.

It’s about a pop star that she loves reason:__________________________________

It’s about a cameraman that she loves reason:__________________________________

It’s about becoming famous reason:__________________________________

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Suggested Follow Ups

Now that you have completed the tasks on this song worksheet, think about what you did well and what you might want further practice of.

If you need help finding materials to help you with these things, don’t forget you can always ask a Learning Advisor.

1. Vocabulary

Why not write down new words and phrases to learn. That way as you listen to this song in the future, it can help to reinforce the words and phrases.

2. Pronunciation

Why not sing along with the song? This can help you practice the sounds of English.

Paparazzi is on Karafun karaoke in the speaking booths or you can sing along in your

bedroom!

3. More materials!?

The Learning Advisors are always looking for new songs and new activities. If you have an idea for a new CD or a song worksheet, please write complete the ‘Materials Request’ form and give it to a Learning Advisor.

Check your Progress

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Answer Sheet

Pre-Listening Task: Vocabulary & Phrases

1. - b.

2. - a.

3. - a.

4. - a.

5. - b.

6. - b.

7. - a.

Listening task comprehension

In an interview, Lady Gaga said that she wanted this song to have a few different interpretations. She explained: ‘The song is about a few different things – it's about my struggles, do I want fame or do I want love? It's also about making the paparazzi fall in love with me. It's a love song for the cameras, but it's also a song about fame or love – can you have both, or can you only have one?’

Were you surprised? Did you think it was about her following a man?