Let's get to know about MUSIC...

Today I did the first hour of my teaching unit.
While my colleague was recording me, I introduced the topic by telling them a very short story about a concert of my favourite music band that I went to see last weekend. That was just to involve them in the subject.

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After that, I asked them some questions just to check whether if they understood everything I said and talked a bit about their musical preferences. Then I showed them the Power Point Presentation I had prepared for this day. I wanted to show them the different music styles, some musical instruments, and basic things about Music for half an hour.
It worked really good and they seem very interested and engaged, maybe because I knew some of them play musical instruments and also because I knew a bit about their musical interests. They spoke a lot, mentioned groups that they like and characteristics about music styles and they even dare singing and playing some instruments the following day. What a success!!! I felt very happy because I saw they were participating and they liked the topic, and even if singing or playing some instruments in class was not in my plans, I really found it a very good idea. Let’s see if we can make it!
:)

Finally, I gave them a photocopy with a couple of dialogues and more vocabulary. We read them together and then some volunteers read them aloud. They asked what they didn’t know and then, in pairs, they had to create a new dialogue, similar to these ones, but including all we had seen during the lesson.

Some did it very good, others’ compositions were a bit short or simple, but they all tried their best and that’s the important fact! I have to say that I was a bit nervous at the beginning of the class, since I didn’t know whether if they would get engaged and it would be the first time I spoke in English for the whole hour. I guess they understood everything (although some are very shy and it’s hard to make them speak) and even if they tried to speak in English some of the times they found themselves a bit lost because they didn’t now how to express what they wanted to say.

Wow! I feel much more confident now, once I’ve overcome the first hour of class because this was, for me, the most difficult stage and I’ve already got through it.

Tomorrow I will present them an artist’s biography, we will go through it together and then I will explain them what they are supposed to do. Since there won’t be a final exam, I want them to create a project, and this will consist of writing a biography about a singer or group, and from there, we will do some funny and nice activities, like an interview or a “Who is who?”. We will also do a crossword and a treasure hunt and we’ll listen to a song but I will let you know more about how my teaching unit is going later on.