Blog #4-"If I Had a Million Dollars, I'd Still Teach Something on the Side."

I think one of the greatest things about teaching is that, when the chance arises, you can personalize a lesson by incorporating a hobby or talent into it. I enjoy playing and making music, so I have from time to time used my guitar and singing as a teaching tool. For the most part, I find that students quite enjoy seeing the 'real' side of their teacher, and consequently tend to be more attentive to the lesson being taught. There is a song that myself and many another teacher in the ESL field like to use for teaching the second conditional tense. I am sure you have heard it or perhaps used it yourself. It's called, "If I Had a Million Dollars" written and performed by Canadian group, The Barenaked Ladies.

While the main goal of this lesson is generally to teach a grammar point, there are a few simple inherent goals that I hope for my students to achieve by the end of this lesson or any lesson where I have used music. First, the ESL class can sometimes be a nerve-wracking place for students. I have found, however, that since most students like music, they will usually tend to loosen up a bit after they have a melody to hum along to. Secondly, before you know it, they are learning a kind of false fluency by attempting to sing with their groups. Regardless of whether they completely understand what is coming out of their mouths, they are moving their vocal muscles in different ways than they are used to and singing in a foreign language. This is in my opinion is usually a wonderful precursor to building the third goal: confidence in their ability to communicate.

Listed below is the basic procedure for the way I teach this song to intermediate students(of about middle school age and up). Depending on numerous factors, it will usually take about an hour or more and goes as follows:

1. Tell students they will be learning a song.
2. Present some pictures on PPT or in a matching exercise to do in pairs. Check/Feedback
3. Ask them to explain what they think the title means? Check/Feedback
4. Use the vocab items to fill in random blocks of a bingo sheet.
5. Listen to the song and work individually or in pairs to cross off the words as they hear they here them. The winning person/pair yells bingo when they have a predestined amount of lines. Check/Feedback
6. Listen a second time to fill-in the blanks of one verse and check with a friend. Check/Feedback
7. Listen a third time to order sentences of another verse.Check/Feedback
8. Do comprehension check of 'if' and 'would' with yes or no answer questions.
 i.e. Teacher: Does he have a million dollars?"
      Students: No.
9. Go over structure and have students write simple sentences about things they would buy.  Check/Feedback
10. Students form groups to sing a short verse that they've created using their sentences from the previous exercise. This last one can  usually be a competition of sorts depending on the enthusiasm/ability level of the class.

I really enjoy this type of lesson and find it to be useful when appropriate. I have definitely experienced far more positive results than negative when bringing the guitar to class. I would encourage you to try(if you've not already done so), to incorporate your interests or talents into your lessons in some way. Not only will it help improve your rapport with students, your level of comfort and enjoyment teaching a particular point will almost certainly increase more quickly by tackling it with some previously honed skill.