Category: Community College

Hitting the Right Note:
Extending the Theme of Your Song

Posted on | by Pearson

2013_Heyer_SandraSandra Heyer

This concludes the series of articles on extending lessons with songs and song-based activities. In past newsletters, we’ve taken a look at six activities that work well with beginners and high-beginners; a technique for quickly matching a song with an activity; and general tips for using songs in the classroom. One of those tips was to choose songs that are thematically related to the lessons. I know from experience that is sometimes easier said than done; finding classroom-friendly songs on specific themes can be a challenge.

For the past several years, I’ve been building a list of popular songs that are suitable for beginning and high-beginning English language learners–songs that have clear, comprehensible lyrics and language that is at least “PG.” I now have a list of over 150 songs, organized by sixteen themes: friendship, falling in love, taking chances, work, and freedom, to name a few. The songs coordinate with the themes in True Stories Behind the Songs and More True Stories Behind the Songs but could be used to enhance other theme-based curricula.

You’ll find the list, and all the activities and tips you’ve read here, on my new site at sandraheyersongs.com. The site has no ads and requires no registration–it’s simply a place where teachers can get and share ideas. If you have a song-based activity or classroom-friendly song you’d like to suggest for the site, please e-mail me at truestories@ticon.net.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Sandra

New from Pearson this fall

Posted on | by Pearson

See what’s new from Pearson this fall. We are excited to show you all of our new titles and new editions of your favorites. From the fourth edition of NorthStar  – now with a fully blended MyEnglishLab – and the new adult video-based program, Project Success, to the third edition of the Longman Preparation Course for the TOEFL iBT Test  for exam prep – there is something to meet your classroom needs!

Click here to get up-to-date product information and to see sample units in an instant!

Want to speak to an ELL Specialist? Just go to www.pearsoneltusa.com/specialists

 

 

 

 

Hitting the Right Note: Extending the Theme of Your Song / General Tips

Posted on | by Pearson

2013_Heyer_SandraSandra Heyer

One way to extend the lessons in True Stories Behind the Songs and More True Stories Behind the Songs is to follow up each unit with a supplemental song that connects to the theme of the unit, plus an activity to go with the supplemental song. Each month, I’ve shared a song-based activity that has worked well with my beginning and high-beginning students, for a total of six activities. Last month, we considered the idea of using a checklist to quickly find an appropriate activity for a song. This month, in the final article in this series, I’ll share some general tips for using songs in the classroom. Continue reading →

Take Sneak Peek at our NEW 2015 Pearson AlwaysESL Catalog

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2015_Cat_Cover copy 2015 Pearson AlwaysESL Catalog

In a few days, our new print catalog for 2015 will be available, but we wanted you to be the first to see it online.

The new Pearson AlwaysESL catalog continues to include new product information, pricing, and updated content, as well as feature articles from authors and educators like yourself.

Please take a sneak peek, and feel free to share it with your colleagues!

 

Hitting the Right Note:
Extending the Theme of Your Song / Activity #7

Posted on | by Pearson

2013_Heyer_Sandra Sandra Heyer

One way to extend the lessons in True Stories Behind the Songs and More True Stories Behind the Songs is to follow up each unit with a supplemental song that connects to the theme of the unit, plus an activity to go with the supplemental song. Each month I’ve shared a song-based activity that has worked well with my beginning and high-beginning students. In the past six newsletters, we’ve explored these activities:

  1. The Targeted Cloze
  2. Summarizing the Song’s Story (and making the summary “disappear”)
  3. Personalizing the Song’s Theme with Draw-Write-Share
  4. Building a Lesson Around a Repeated Phrase
  5. Writing New Song Lyrics
  6. Singing or Speaking the Chorus

This month, let’s take a look at an efficient way of matching a song with an activity. You could begin by choosing an activity, and then look for a song that works with it. For example, if you chose Activity #2, Summarizing, you would look for a song that tells a story. But it’s usually easier to pick a song first, and then match it with an activity. To quickly find a match, convert your list of favorite activities into a checklist, run the song you’ve chosen through the checklist, and–voilà–the activities that are a good fit will naturally emerge. Here is a checklist based on the activities above. Continue reading →