Summer Rap Lesson framework to exploit the power of rap songs with YL (age 7-10, level A1 - elementary) Steps

1. Aims Orientation: To raise interest in the topic To elicit vocabulary/language chunks of their interest. To expose children to the target vocabulary through personalised activity by. Procedure Ask children about what they best like to do in summer, elicit activity types. Reformulate L1 into English, as some of the target vocabulary may come up. Put the activity flashcards (i.e. the target vocabulary) on the board/on the floor depending on the size of the class, and ask them to guess what you did in the summer out of the ones they can see. You can point to a flashcard and ask: Did we/I go swimming, do you think? Kids put them into two groups depending on what they thought/voted on about your summer. Children listen to you to find out if their guesses were correct or not. e.g. Teacher tells them We went swimming, but we didn't go cycling. Volunteer children rearrange pictures depending on what they hear you really did. They should do this with the help of the rest of the class. NB Although a lot of the target vocabulary,
the verb of the collocations (go, play, watch, etc.) is in past simple at this stage, children can still do the task. So it's important to keep language use natural and appropriate to the context you are using it in.

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To further expose children to the target vocabulary in context, through listening to bigger but still manageable chunks of language.

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Checking understanding of Kids stand up in two lines facing the board with the pictures. meaning of the target Say the expression and kids run to the picture to touch it. I vocabulary through board-race. don't like turning their performance into points, so we just usually play without following who is winning, but I encourage children to teach each other the ones they were not sure about. To expose children to the written forms of the target set of collocations Quickly flash the collocation-cards (go swimming, go camping, play football, go cycling, etc.) holding them upside down sometimes - and children have to say the words. By this stage they will have heard each target word for at least three times, so it is very likely that they will recognise the words. Here feel free to invite peer-correction of the pronunciation of the vocabulary.

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To consolidation the meaning Children match the written words to the pictures on their and the written form of the handout. Check it as a class by inviting children to match the target collocations picture cards with the word-cards on the board. To provide them with written record of the collocations To give children controlled speaking practice of the target collocations To prepare them step by step to produce the collocations in the rap song Play 'Guess what I've got' or 'What's missing' using the picture flashcards. At this stage they may still say some of the in L1, and this is fine. In such cases ask for peer-correction or help them with lip-reading. Also, drill the pronunciation of /ing/ at the end of the verbs. Kids love such pronunciation games.

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Erika Osvth, EFL teacher, teacher trainer - http://angoltanaroknak.blogspot.com/

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To give children listening practice to the rap song containing the target collocations and natural chunks occurring in the context of summer activities. To further expose children to language in context and helping kids to acquire language through listening, watching and doing the movements. To give children reading practice to the lyrics of the rap, i.e practice in recognising the written form of the lyrics of the rap song.

Tell them that you are going to rap why you like summer, and they have to listen and identify why. (e.g. by Ticking the right picture, ticking the right collocations, raising the right picture). As you are rapping do mime as many actions as possible to give children more clues to rely on if they have difficulty picking out the collocations in fast speech. Sing the rap again, and ask kids to do the movements with you. Before ask them how they would show swimming, cycling and camping (in L1 if necessary). Can repeat this stage 3-4 times, but always incorporate some sort of variety into it. e.g. vary the voice-pitch, walk around the room and do the movements as you are rapping, etc. Invite the non-readers/writers, if that is the case, to join you in singing and miming the rap, while you give the rest of the class the sentences of the rap cut up into. As they watch and listen to the rap performed (by the young kids and yourself), the readers listen and put the sentences in order. After onetwo listenings, encourage peer-help. Once everyone finished, ask them to glue the sentences in order onto a piece of paper so that they have it for future record and reference (e.g. use it in the next lesson) Optional record kids singing their first rap. Apart from them being very motivated and more focused when being recorded, having the recording is also useful for further practice in future lessons. In my experience kids love watching themselves again and again, and by this they memorise the language of the rap song much more easily.

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To motivate kids :-)

Erika Osvth, EFL teacher, teacher trainer - http://angoltanaroknak.blogspot.com/