I entered the room at exactly 11:00 o’clock and
there was nobody in class, I started preparing the material as I waited for
someone to come in. As the time was going by I went after them in order to find
someone out of the class and then I found a student and I asked him to come in.
He said to me only himself had came that day and I told him we would have class
anyway. I greeted him in English and realizing his potential for the language,
I decided to speak most English than Portuguese. He just loved it and made
efforts to communicate as well. He was the most interested student in English
in the class but even so he hardly comes to classes. And since he had not came
in the last lessons, I could not make the warm-up as I had planned by asking
about the latter subjects we worked. I had to leave out the first stage of the
plan as I took the time to warn him about his missing classes and that I did
not have any of his homework even though I knew he was a great English student.
And since he had not read the text about sanitation I asked him to do it
because it will be in the final exam.
I reflected I should work that day just with the
song and when I told him about the song he became so enthusiastic. Then,
beginning with pre-reading activities, I wrote on the board the song's name asking
him if he knew already that song and if he understood its name. He told me it
was familiar, but he was not quite sure about it as he answered he just knew
the word "rainbow". He guessed something like "Onde sobre o
arco-íris", I told him not exactly, then I made him deduce by asking him
"what does the word "where" means?" he knew it and then I
took him to conclude by himself the meaning of "some + where"; after
understanding it, he could deduce the whole title. I was amazed by his
potential to associate and deduce very fast with just one simple elucidation. I
asked him what words he may find in this song, I even asked in English and in
most cases he could understand it properly, he said to me some sentences like a
beautiful and colorful place, a quiet and nice place to go. I was also
surprised by his talent to feel the song with just the title as he told me he
was very good at literature and he enjoys interpreting texts.
So, I started to write on the board the most
challenging words of the song by making him deduce the meaning of them with
just a simple clue. The word "clouds" I drew it on the board and he
immediately remembered it, the word "lullaby" I sang a Brazilian
lullaby song and he got the idea right away. "Bluebirds", he could
understood it without my interventions, for the word "melt", I asked
him: "what does happen if we put an ice under the sun?" He got it so
fast and then I continued doing that with other words as he was very good at
getting the meaning of all of them. After showing him the most challenging words,
I explained to him the while-activities: when he listens to the song at the
first time, he should draw any image that comes in his mind, he should feel the
song as I told him that it was to stimulate his ability of imagination. At the
second time there was another while activity, he should fill in the blanks with
the missing words.
I played the song for the first time as he started
drawing, he was so enthusiastically doing that. After that, he showed me the
picture with a big rainbow, full of birds, and many other impressions he could
sense. He drew it like a dreamful and idealized place as he demonstrated he
could feel the song quite rightly. Finally, I handed out the lyric, I played
the song for the second time as he filled it very efficiently. Unfortunately,
there was no time for us to sing it and in the wrap-up, we started discussing
the main idea of the song.
He demonstrated he was really a great interpreter,
since he argued: "but teacher, this world described in this song is an
utopia, it is like a dream world, there's not such a thing for real." And
I told him that the main idea was about an idealistic person who dreams about
an ideal and nice place where everything is perfect, where there's no wars, no
troubles and that it is there somewhere over the rainbow. It shows a person
dissatisfied with the reality that puts his faith on the horizon of the
rainbow. I explained to him that most artists have idealistic veins which they
appear to be always idealizing and trying to bring it into songs.
I noticed he was really amazed and engaged in our
dialog. We finished and I asked him to read the page number 119 as homework. He
told me he was to study English Letras for it is so attractive to him; he
showed to have potential for literature and artistic inclinations. It was the
most fruitful and pleasant class that I ever taught. I thought about working
with songs every day since it was really appealing for students to pay
attention and engage. He was so fascinated at analyzing and listening to the
song. With this activity we worked the four abilities reading, writing,
speaking and listening since he put his ears in tune with the song and
furthermore with reflections, imaginations and so on. Thus, I want to work with
songs in all the coming Fridays.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário