Interpreting Lyrics With Pictures

Oh no, we're missing several lines of lyrics! Using the song, "Keep Going," test the listening skills of your English language learners. They listen as you say the word lyrics aloud. Can they correctly identify the missing lyrics? 

The class locates lyrics from familiar songs and decides if the metaphors and similes found were used effectively. They prepare and present a speech based on the lyrics of a song and explain how metaphor and simile were used.

Students discuss how oral interpretation varies with prose and poetry. They select a piece of prose or poetry to present to the class, and then assess each other on the organization and delivery of their speech as well as on their...

Familiar songs get an educational spin with a parody writing lesson. Scholars take their favorite songs and change the lyrics to reinforce topics taught in the classroom.

Do your language arts young scholars love to draw? Use this lesson to reinforce poetic techniques with illustration. After drawing what they think poem would look like with no words, middle and high schoolers work on several different...

Bruce Springsteen’s “My Hometown” and Billy Joel’s “Allentown” motivate young lyricists to craft poems about their own home town. Groups compare the two songs, identifying details, symbols, and conflicts. Individuals then picture a place...

Introduce young learners to imagery with a instructional activity that asks them to look closely at the lyrics from popular songs. Class members listen to a song rich with imagery, draw a picture of the images that come to mind, and then...

Students discuss how the musical composition was created. They listen to "Pictures at an Exhibition." Students discuss how the Promenade in the beginning of the opus is based on Mussorgsky walking through the exhibit of paintings....

With the songs "My Hometown" by Bruce Springsteen and "Allentown" by Billy Joel, learners examine external versus internal conflict. When they have finished the first part of the lesson plan, they create their own poem (or song) about...

Critical thinkers compare the impact of visual versus aural perception in how they comprehend artistic intent. They consider the meaning of a set of pop lyrics first by reading them, then by listening to them orally, and finally viewing...