Frank Mills

Lyrics here, for example.

Using this simple and delightfully naive text, the lyrics from a song from Hair, we can observe

• • a number of aspects of ICT

  • the use of music

  • the exploitation of text per se

  • frequent irregular verbs and the patterns in which they function.

Lesson notes

This text can be used as an effective running dictation. There is no need to introduce it: one aspect of running dictations is that the world the text creates gradually emerges as the text is built.

Provide the text in prose form, not verse, so as to not give away the idea that it is a poem or lyrics. The text itself does not contain poetic rhythm or rhyme and doesn't sound poetic anyway. Omit the last word from the text and ask students to suggest what it might be. The answers are often revealing, sometimes amusing.

A nice way to check it, is to have the students listen to the song - the first time they'll know that it is a song.

There are some cultural notions to be explained, for which pictures are very useful. It is not an easy song to put in the context of the musical.

Once the text has been checked, it's time to focus on form, irregular verbs, for example.

The verbs exemplify their typical frames:

• • someone meets who(m) + time + place

  • someone was last seen with someone

  • someone resembles someone

This is important aspect of making their passive vocabulary active. Students can create a questionnaire for their classmates using these verb frames.

Once the students are familiar with the song, it can then be used to demonstrate text flow - how statements set up expectatations, which can be expresed as questions. Every statement is a "consequence" of the previous one. The presentation below, gives an example of this. This is a useful technique in teaching writing. It is mentioned in the Oxford teachers series.

The relationship between the frames above and the text flow activity become quite obvious, and make good teaching points.

In addition, there is a point made by some linguists relating to the linear nature of text, whether written or spoken, which points out how we are always updating the virtual world as we add to a conversation or as we work our way through text. Sinclair mentions this in LUG (2006:30 then later) [RN 2038].

Scrolling lyrics