Communicative Activity Essay, Research Paper

PROJECT 2

PLAN A COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITY FOR A SECONDARY LEVEL CLASS

UNIVERSITE DU QUEBEC A MONTR?AL

THE ESSENTIAL RECORDINGS OF THE ?90s

This activity is based on an article published in the Rolling Stone magazine of May 13, 1999.

This article is about the 150 best recordings of nineties. It consists of a short resume of each record describing its musical influence on the decade and on its listeners. For the fallowing activity, this text as been reduced to 20 recordings ( instead of a 150) that are directly related to the youth of today ( the article is about the music that most of the students have listened to, or are still listening), making this article more appropriate and interesting for the target learners.

The target learners for this activity should be regular second language learners of English at the secondary level 4 or 5.

This text is quite difficult for second language learners of English at the regular level. Therefore, an easy task related to the reading will be given to the learners. The goal is scanning: looking for specific information in the text or article.

This task should meet M.E.Q objectives , Predict information from certain words or sentences, Identify a discrete item of information in a text, Terminal objective 1 (expression of feelings and intentions), and Terminal objective 2 (brief personal response to the topic: impressions, opinions, etc.)

The activity related to the reading of the article will include a pre, a main, and a post-activity.

The pre-activity consist of a discussion where the students will be asked to name music albums that they think are important or essential to the ?90s and briefly explain why (activity done with the whole group).

The main activity is reading the article The Essential recordings of the ?90s and answering 10 questions concerning the reading ( activity done in pair, or in groups of 4).

The post-activity is to write about a record ( that is not mentioned in the article) that the student think should have been mentioned in the article (activity done individually in class or, if not finished, at home).

PRE-ACTIVITY

A brief introduction to the topic (classical recording) by asking some students what is, according to their personal point of view, the greatest album ever. While album titles are given the teacher has to write them on the board. Then, introduce the article by telling the students that this is, according to the Rolling Stone magazine, the list of the 20 greatest rock album ever recorded.

Hand in a copy to each student, and go through the article with them to see if any of the records they have named previously are in this list.

Time needed approx: 20-25 min.

MAIN ACTIVITY

Ask students to team up with another student. Then, hand-in the questionnaire related to the article. Explain that they need to find specific information in the text and that all the answers are found almost as it is in the article (see annexe 1 for questionnaire).

Then, check the answers with them.

Time needed approx: 25-30 min.

POST-ACTIVITY

Ask the students to write about a record that they think should have been in the article, but was not. Ask them to tell why do they think it should have been there, why it is important to the ?90s,

Its influence on people and so on ( 150 words max).

Time needed approx: whatever is left in class, and the rest is to be completed at home as homework.

Annexe 1

THE ESSENTIAL RECORDINGS OF THE ?90S

READING ACTIVITY

Answer these questions about the artists from the article

The Essential Recordings of the ?90s.

QUESTIONS:

1) What album changed the sound of Hip-Hop and R&B?

2) What album changed the face of FM Rock radio?

3) Who was the most combustible MC of all time?

4) What artist gets on people?s nerves?

5) Which group gets hot and nasty about authority?

6) Which artist have shown young women a way to have their sexual freedom and their dignity at the same time?

7) Who was accused of not being PUNK enough?

8) Which album garanteed that the ?90s would not suck?

9) Which album did sell 13 million copies?

10) Which record is the ?90s ultimate Rock&Roll mosh party record?

WRITING ACTIVITY: HOMEWORK

Write about a record that you think should have been listed

listed in the article. Tell us why do you think it is an important

Recording of the ?90s( new sound, sales, influence on young people,

on fashion?.).Write a short paragraph of about a 150 words.