Lesson Plan: Tempted

Lesson based on a song ´Tempted´ by Squeeze
Level(s): (B1) Intermediate / (B2) Lower Upper-Intermediate
Aimed at: Teenagers/young adults catering for different learning styles (reflected in students´ comments in appendix 3)

Aims:
Listening for gist and specific information Vocabulary in the context of the song Speaking in the context of a discussion on why do people decide to leave/run away from home Predicting

Materials:
Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9ba-as5t8Y
Song handout: See Appendix 1
Song lyrics (for teachers): See Appendix 2
A4 paper/coloured pencils or pens/
Projector (ideally) and laptop or just laptop.
Students´ comments: Appendix 3
Time: +/- 1h20 minutes.

Lesson procedure:

1. Start with a story told in a very dramatic way:
   Having been through an extremely tough day, Imagine you get back home after the class and you say to yourselves: “I´m sick and tired of it all! I hate school, parents, teachers and I even hate my friends! I need to escape!”.
   Students work in pairs and come up with 5 items they would take with them if they only had 5 minutes to run away from home before their parents get back. (10 minutes). List their ideas on the board.
2. Ask the whole group:
   Why do people usually run away/leave home? Why children do it? Why men/women do it? Students work in pairs and make a list of 5 reasons why people run away from home/leave. (5 minutes). List their ideas on the board and have the whole-class brief feedback.
3. Tell the students that they are going to listen to a song about a man who left his wife. Ask the students to go through the lyrics quickly to find out ´why´? Have brief feedback with the whole-group. (5 minutes)
4. Ask the students to put the lyrics of the song face down in front of them. Have them listen and watch the clip of the song paying attention to the images. (5 minutes)
5. Students look back at the lyrics in pairs and fill in the blanks with any words they can remember from the images seen. (5 minutes)
6. Students listen to the song again and fill in the blanks individually. Have the students compare their answers in groups before open-class feedback where you list the words on the board in order they appear in the song. (10 minutes)
7. Take double the number of words from the song as there are students in the class and write them up on the post-it/bits of paper, each word separately. Students pick two each. (2 minutes)
8. Hand out A4 sheets of paper to each student and asks them to draw their words (one side – one word). (10 minutes)
9. Students are divided into two teams and stand in the opposite sides of the room. Play the song. When students hear the word they have drawn they move towards the opposite team, holding up their drawings. The winning team is the one who reacts promptly to all the words and moves across the room in more creative/funny way. Remember to model first! (10 minutes)
10. a) Follow-up: Students work in groups and brainstorm ideas on ´what will happen next? ´Where will the man go? Will he go back to his wife? Will he change? Etc.
    b) Debate: Should his wife have him back? For&Against. (10/15 minutes)

Appendix 1

I bought a ____________________
Some ___________________
A _______________ for my face
Pajamas, a ________________
New shoes and a ________________
I said to my reflection
Let´s get out of this place
Passed the ___________ and the _______
The _________________________ on the hill
____________________and the buildings
Memories of it still
Keep calling and calling
But forget it all, I know I will
Tempted by the fruit of another.
Tempted but the truth is discovered
What’s been going on
Now that you have gone, there’s no other
Tempted by the fruit of another.
Tempted but the truth is discovered
Im at the ____________ ______________, the airport
The baggage _____________________
The people keep on ____________
Ain’t wishing I was well
I said it’s no occasion
It’s no story I could tell
At my bedside empty _______________
A foot without a sock
Your body gets much closer
________________ for the clock
Alarmed by the seduction. I wish that it would stop

Appendix 2

I bought a toothbrush, some toothpaste
A flannel for my face
Pyjamas, a hairbrush
New shoes and a case
I said to my reflection
Let’s get out of this place
Past the church and the steeple
The laundry on the hill
Billboards and the buildings
Memories of it still
Keep calling and calling
But forget it all
I know I will
Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered
What’s been going on
Now that you have gone
There’s no other
Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered
I’m at the car park, the airport
The baggage carousel
The people keep on crowding
I’m wishing I was well
I said it’s no occasion
It’s no story I could tell
At my bedside empty pocket
A foot without a sock
Your body gets much closer
I fumble for the clock
Alarmed by the seduction
I wish that it would stop
The following part of the song has not been used in the lesson:

I bought a novel, some perfume
A fortune all for you
But it’s not my conscience
That hates to be untrue
I asked of my reflection
Tell me what is there to do

Appendix 3
Comments written by a group of intermediate students from Portugal, aged 13 to 18 (in original):

1. I liked this lesson, because it was different. It was a different way to learn. The only thing I didn´t like was drawing, because I´m not good at it and probably it´s a children thing. At the same time it´s good to be a kid again! The thing that I liked the most was when we talked about running away from home because I usually don´t think about it.
2. The activity that I liked the most completing the lyrics. I also liked it because it was a really relaxed lesson, and at the same time we were learning some nice vocabulary. I´d make it better by using another song.
3. In my opinion the class was great in general. I liked the first activity where we as students should choose 5 objects if we run away from home. I just didn´t like the second activity that we should fill the gaps of a song.
4. This class helped us improve our memory and we learnt lot of new words. In the end we played a game holding our pictures and listening to the song. That was very challenging and fun. I would like the class even more if we had more games.
5. I like the lesson in general, but I prefer not to draw. I like especially the part when we ran when a certain word appeared in the song.
6. In this lesson the activity that I like the most was listening the song and complete the lyrics with the words. I think that this developed our listening and opened our mind to new words. The activity that I less liked was watching the video because it was a bit boring.

Katarzyna Piotrowska