COURSE TITLE: ENGLISH LANGUAGE & TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION LANGUAGE LABORATORY PRACTICE

1. Learning English through Music:

Purpose:
1. They are authentic materials
2. You can also teach culture and history
3. Songs contain repetitions and repetitions enhance learning
4. Good way to teach vocabulary and pronunciation
5. They are fun and they can easily energize the unmotivated


Methods:
Classic gap-fill: Every language student at some point has been given a song to listen to and the lyrics with gaps in them to fill in as they listen. This activity is not as simple as it sounds; and before making one yourself think about why you’re taking out certain words. It may be better to take out all the words in one group, such as prepositions or verbs, and tell students what they should be listening out for. Another option is to take out rhyming words. The teacher should be careful as to be not tempted to take out too many words, eight or ten is normally enough. To make the task easier the teacher could provide the missing words in a box at the side for the students to select, or could number the gaps and provide clues for each number.

Spot the mistakes: The teacher may change some of the words in the lyrics and as students listen, they have to spot and correct the mistakes. As with the gap-fill, the teacher should limit the mistakes to a maximum of eight or ten and, if possible, choose a word set. The teacher could make all the adjectives opposites, for example. Another example of this for higher levels students is to show the students the real lyrics and correct the English and make it proper! E.g. ‘gonna’ change to ‘going to’ ‘we was’ change to ‘we were’ etc. This is a good way to focus on song language.

Order the verses: With low level students, this is a very simple activity. The teacher has to chop up the lyrics of the song by verse and give a small group of students the jumbled verses. As they listen they put them in order.

Discussion: Certain songs lend themselves to discussions and the teacher can use the song as a nice lead in to the topic and a way to pre-teach some of the vocabulary. An example is ‘Where is the love?’ by the Black Eyed Peas which can be used to lead in to a discussion about war.
Write the next verse: Higher level students can write a new verse to add to a song. The teacher should focus on the patterns and rhyme of the song as a group and then let the students be creative. If they are successful, the new verses can be sung over the top of the original! Norah Jones’ Sunrise is a good one for this.

Songs that may be used:
Protest Song: “Where have all the flowers gone” by Pete Seeger, “Sunday Bloody” by U, “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” by John Lennon, “Give Peace a chance” by John Lennon, “Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan, “The Times They Are a-Changin’” by Bob Dylan, “The Byrds” by  Pete Seeger.
Social Work and Social message: “We are the World” (intended to raise funds to help famine relief efforts in Ethiopia) by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, “Another Day in Paradise” by Phil Collins, “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke, “Respect” by Aretha Franklin, “We Shall Overcome” by various artists, “Big Black Buck” by Donnie
Songs to teach Pronunciation: “An Englishman in New York” by Sting, “Little Boxes” by Reynolds, “Leaving on a Jet Plane” by Denver, “Yellow Submarine” by Beatles, “And I Love Her” by Beatles, “Yesterday, Hay Jude” by Beatles, “Show me the Prison” by Joan Baez


2. Learning English through other various Texts:

There is a growing body of literature that describes how business faculty can effectively use movies to teach a variety of difficult topics in the classroom. Many students, but in particular undergraduate students, do not have the business experience and organizational context within which to place much of what is learned in the classroom. This is especially the case when studying the group discussions, managerial motivations (e.g., personalities, egos, and greed) surrounding strategic decisions, such as corporate takeovers, proxy fights etc.
Films from Classic Texts: Teach communication, textuality in films, social issues etc – and compare texts to grow analytical skills.
1. Charulata/ Nashto Neer
2. Vijay Tendulkar Silence: The Court is in Session (film)
3. “Occurrence at Owl-creek Bridge” –(short story and the film)
4. Pygmalion/ My Fair Lady (importance of pronunciation and language)
Other Films: films that can teach leadership, business ethics, personality traits and communication etc.
1. Tim Robbins: Dead Man Walking (bonding, religious imagery, death penalty, vocabulary, pronunciation)
2. Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo (phobias, vertigo, diff and similarities with the novel ‘From Amongst the Dead’: role of men and woman in the 1960’s etc)
3. The Breakfast Club – (The film portrays the relationships and inner journeys of five suburban high school students serving a one-day detention at school. In the course of the film, each student moves from the posturing and external identity of prototypical mid— late adolescents (i.e., The Criminal, The Athlete, The Brain, The Basket Case, and The Princess) to a revealing recognition of their inner worlds and the similarities that exist between them. ----promotes active learning, behavior, psychological traits, communication etc.)
4. Reginald Rose – Twelve Angry Man (Group Dynamics, group decision making etc,)
5. It’s a Wonderful Life ( analyse the character of George bailey – leadership qualities, successful entrepreneur)
6. Apollo 13 (creative leadership, crisis management etc.)