Actividades con "The Logical Song" de Supertramp

Hola a todos y todas. Hoy vamos a ver la serie de actividades que mis compañeros (Javier, Coromoto y Ana) y yo hemos diseñado usando la canción The Logical Song de Supertramp. Espero que os guste.

SUPERTRAMP - The Logical Song

Nombre de la actividad	Singing logically?
Autores	Brea Lodeiro, Elena González Barreiro, Ana Souto Taboada, Coromoto Vilar Gavieiro, Javier
Nivel/ curso	4º ESO
Tipo de actividad	Aprovechamiento didáctico del recurso multimedia The Logical Song del grupo británico Supertramp en una sesión de la materia de lengua inglesa.
Objetivos	Trabajar vocabulario referente a la descripción de la personalidad basándose en un archivo multimedia de tipo auditivo.
Actividades comunicaticas de la lengua que se trabajan	Comprensión auditiva, expresión oral, interacción oral, comprensión escrita, expresión escrita.
Competencias básicas que se trabajan	Competencia en comunicación lingüística, competencia cultural y artística.
Contenidos	Léxico: Adjetivos de personalidad.
Dinámicas	Individual, pequeño grupo, gran grupo.
Material	Documentos con actividades, recursos multimedia de tipo audio o video del material didáctico “The Logical Song”
Duración	Una sesión de 50 minutos.

[Warm Up]: All the activities are focused on Supertramp and on Supertramp’s Logical Song. I think that the best way to “warm up” is through a Brainstorm Activity. A Brainstorm activity is a group or individual creativity technique by which efforts are made to find several ideas or suggestions to find several ideas or suggestions for a specific problem or question by gathering a list of ideaas spontaneously contributed by its member(s). The teacher's purpose is to give a topic (classical rock music or music in general) and ask learners to think of anything related to it. The teacher will write the responses for all to see. He can use this this to elicit vocabulary related to the lesson. This activity will help students to face this topic in a dynamic way.

ACTIVITY 1: Think about classical rock music and everything related to it. Think about this topic and share your thoughts with the rest of the class. Try to use vocabulary related to music.

ACTIVITY 2: As you may know, song rhyme in English is made different than in other languages. Now, you are going to listen the song once, circle the words which appear in the chorus among those others which sound similarly.

There are times when all the world's asleep/speak/sleep,
The questions run too quick/deep/sing
For such a simple man/hand/sound.
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned/played/said
I know it sounds absurd/obscure/ocurred
But please tell me who I am/was/have.

ACTIVITY 3: Here, you have the first part of the song you listened before. You are going to listen to it again, and you will have to match the first half of the lines on the left column, with the second half of the lines on the right column.

a. When I was young,                                     a. well, they’d sing so happily                                   
b. A miracle,                                                   b. where I could be so dependable
c. And all the birds in the trees,                      c. cynical         
d. Joyfully,                                                      d. responsible, practical
e. But then they sent me away                        e. oh, it was beautiful, magical
f. Logical, responsible,                                   f. to teach me how to be sensible
g. And they showed me a world                     g. it seemed that life was so wonderful
h. Clinical, intellectual,                                   h. playfully watching me

ACTIVITY 4: Now that we have listened to the song twice we are going to read a small biography about the band who sings this song. The band is called Supertramp. Read the text and try to answer the following questions:

ARTISTFACTS FOR SUPERTRAMP

This group formed in London, where they released their first (self-titled) album in 1970. The band leaders were Davies and Roger Hodgson. Their third album, Crime of the Century, was a breakthrough, making #4 in the UK on the strength of hits "Dreamer" and "Bloody Well Right."

Davies and Hodgson did all the songwriting, and even though they wrote most of their songs separately, they agreed to share composer credit on all the songs. Hodgson's song were spiritual and introspective: "Give A Little Bit,", "Take The Long Way Home." Davies' were more pragmatic: "Goodbye Stranger," "Bloody Well Right," "Crime of the Century."

In 1979, Supertramp became one of the most successful bands in America, thanks to an album (Breakfast in America) that explored the country from the perspective of an Englishman. The band moved to California in the mid-'70s; Hodgson loved it and lived there permanently. Davies was less enthusiastic about California, and moved to Long Island.

There was a lot of personal tension between Davies and Hodgson, which came out in the open in a 1979 Melody Maker piece where they were both interviewed. "We've never been able to communicate too much on a verbal level," said Hodgson. "There's a very deep bond, but it's definitely mostly on a musical level."

Hodgson left the band in 1983 and released the solo albums In the Eye of the Storm (1984) and Hai Hai (1987). He has never appeared with Supertramp since he left in 1983. The band has continued on with Davies as the leader, but any attempt to reunite Hodgson has always failed.

                                      

ACTIVITY 5: Questions, version 1: True or false? Try to explain why, taking into account what the text says (para los alumnos con un nivel un poco más bajo)

1. The third album of the band was a success.

2. Davies and Hodgson wrote together their songs.

3. Davies and Hodgson had not always had a very good relationship.

4. Hodgson has felt tempted many times to return to the band he left in 1983.

ACTIVITY 6: Questions, versión 2: Try to answer the following questions (para los alumnos más avanzados, pues tendrán que usar más la imaginación y las preguntas son de respuesta muy abierta):

1. Why, do you think, both Hodgson and Davies didn’t mind to say that both had composed all the songs from the band?

2. What kind of problems could arise, in your opinion, between Hodgson and Davies?

3. Why, do you think, the band hasn’t been able to convince Hodgson to return to the band?

4. Had you heard the name of this band before? Do you remember where?

ACTIVITY 7: Read the song again and, in groups, discuss the following questions orally:

1. About the vocabulary….

a. Look again at all the adjectives from the song. Try to list them below and classify them into two categories: positive and negative. Take into account that there may be more than one possibility in some cases.

b. Would you use some of those adjectives to describe yourself? Which ones? Why?

2. About the content of the song…

c. In your opinion, what’s the main topic of the song? Why?

d. How does the narrator of the song feel, in your opinion? Why?

e. Have you ever felt like the narrator of the song? When? Share it with your group

ACTIVITY 8: (les damos el siguiente texto cuando hayan terminado de hacer la actividad anterior)

Now you are going to read a fragment of an interview of the band. Read it, and in groups, compare what you had discussed in the previous activity with what you read in this text:

ACTIVITY 9: Now that we know what the song is about, why don’t we change it?. Try to change the lyrics of the song with some other adjectives that you might know. If you want you can also change the other parts of the lyrics. (Homework)