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Posts Tagged ‘using songs and music in class’
Give me some sunshine!
Written by Merve Oflaz
Tuesday, 30 July 2013 16:33
7 Comments
3idiots1_634824539631370572

SONG: ‘Give me some sunshine’ by Rajkumar Hirani

LEVEL: Elementary / Pre-intermediate

AGE: Teenagers / Young Adults / Adults

As an ‘enthusiastic’ (or maybe a crazy English teacher:) ) I always feel like the antennas of a radio receiving every little signal around so that I can find something useful and enjoyable for my students. It really doesn’t matter where I am, who I am with or what I am doing. Anything can seem to be a tool to be used in my class or any visual or auditory material can turn into a fun activity for my students. Especially if it is a day I am visited by the ‘Muses’ :)  That can happen while hanging out in a toy shop, gazing at the ads in the metro or even flying in a lucid dream :)

Well, a couple of days ago, I was watching  ‘3 Idiots’ (which has been the only film which made me laugh and cry so I strongly recommend). The music was as good as the awesome story. Anyways, I decided to prepare the following set of song activities and I think the 33rd Blog Carnival will be the most conducive atmosphere for sharing it. Thanks to my dear colleague Eva Buyuksimkesyan‘s CALL for blog posts to be hosted on her fabulous blog at the carnival.

The activities below are all about ‘Give me some shine’, my favourite song in the film I mentioned above. Although a big part of the song is in Hindi, I found it very meaningful and enjoyable. I even visualized myself singing it with the students joyfully and using some gestures and mimes.

Below are some ideas about how you can use this song in your classroom. I hope you will like them:)

BEFORE SINGING

  • Make the students listen to the chorus and ask them to sing along. Repeat it altogether till they can do it alone without hearing the music.
  • Tell them that they have to stop what they are doing and sing it when you call out ‘GIVE ME SOME SUNSHINE’. If you want, you can even add some gestures and tell them to imitate you.
  • Give each student a piece of paper and ask them to draw and colour ‘some sunshine’.
  • While they are drawing, stop them by calling out ‘GIVE ME SOME SUNSHINE’ and sing the chorus with them. When they finish, ask them to continue  to draw their picture.
  • Repeat the same a couple of times till they finish their own ‘sunshine’ picture.

Give Me Some Sunshine CHORUS.

WHILE SINGING

  • Play the English part of the song and tell the students to hold up their ‘sunshine’ pictures when they hear the word ‘sunshine’. They can also sing along during that.
  • Ask the students to work in pairs / groups and give them a set of word cards (the lyrics of the song).
  • Tell them to put the words in the right order while they are listening to the song.

Give Me Some Sunshine ENGLISH PART.

  • Before playing the full song, inform the students that a big part of the song is not in English but in Hindi as it is one of the songs in an Indian film called ‘3 Idiots’. Encourage the students to guess what the lyrics may be by watching the video clip.
  • Tell them to get into pairs / groups again and share their ideas. They may also share their ideas with the whole class.

Give Me Some Sunshine FULL SONG.

  • Finally, play the song with the English subtitles. You can choose the group with the closest answer in the end and reward them with a smiling sun on the board.

Give Me Some Sunshine LYRICS (Hindi and English).

AFTER SINGING

  • Ask the students to change some words in the English part of the song and create their own lyrics.

Here is mine:

Give me some chocolate

Give me some sweets

Give me another piece

I wanna eat them all

:)

  • Then, they can sing their parts in the class or record it to play for their friends.
  • As an extension activity, you can make them watch the film in the class or at home. They can write their comments on their ‘sunshine’ picture or post them on the class blog / wiki  etc.

P.S 1:  Watch the film before you decide to use it in your class. I think it is not a good idea to use it with young learners, but you can still use the English part of the song with them.

P.S 2: Please don’t go mad with me if you keep singing it in your mind again and again for the whole day or maybe week:)

 

Please do not hesitate to share your experiences if you try any of these activities. Let me end the post with another version of the lyrics:)

Send me some comments

Tweet my post

Send me your ideas

I wanna hear them all

:) :) :)