Only Love Can Break Your Heart

The music is by Neil Young, who I hated when I was young but has grown on me over the last couple of years. All pictures by Teacher Dude.

Only Love Can Break Your Heart

"When you were young
and on your own
How did it feel
to be alone?
I was always thinking
of games that I
was playing.
Trying to make
the best of my time.

But only love
can break your heart
Try to be sure
right from the start
Yes only love
can break your heart
What if your world
should fall apart?

I have a friend
[ Find more Lyrics at www.mp3lyrics.org/AmOb ]
I've never seen
He hides his head
inside a dream
Someone should call him
and see if he
can come out.
Try to lose
the down that he's found.

But only love
can break your heart
Try to be sure
right from the start
Yes only love
can break your heart
What if your world
should fall apart?

I have a friend
I've never seen
He hides his head
inside a dream
Yes, only love
can break your heart
Yes, only love
can break your heart"

Using music in class

Last week I posted a Rage Against the Machine video, Wake Up and said that I was going to do the song as a lesson. Here is the lesson plan for post intermediate classes. For this you'll need the song along with copies of the lyrics and some information about the song and singer/group (see here).

Wake Up - Rage Against The Machine

"Come on!
Uggh!

Come on, although ya try to discredit
Ya still never read it
The needle, I'll thread it
Radically poetic
Standin' with the fury that they had in '66
And like E-Double I'm mad
Still knee-deep in the system's shit
Hoover, he was a body remover
I'll give ya a dose
But it can never come close
To the rage built up inside of me
Fist in the air, in the land of hypocrisy

Movements come and movements go
Leaders speak, movements cease
When their heads are flown
'Cause all these punks
Got bullets in their heads
Departments of police, the judges, the feds
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
You know they went after King
When he spoke out on Vietnam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot

Yeah!
Yeah, back in this...
Wit' poetry, my mind I flex
Flip like Wilson, vocals never lackin' dat finesse
Whadda I got to, whadda I got to do to wake ya up
To shake ya up, to break the structure up
'Cause blood still flows in the gutter
I'm like takin' photos
Mad boy kicks open the shutter
Set the groove
Then stick and move like I was Cassius
Rep the stutter step
Then bomb a left upon the fascists
Yea, the several federal men
Who pulled schemes on the dream
And put it to an end
Ya better beware
Of retribution with mind war
20/20 visions and murals with metaphors
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
Ya know they murdered X
And tried to blame it on Islam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot

Uggh!

What was the price on his head?
What was the price on his head!


I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard, I think I heard a shot

'He may be a real contender for this position should he
abandon his supposed obedience to white liberal doctrine
of non-violence...and embrace black nationalism'
'Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to
pinpoint potential trouble-makers... and neutralize them.
Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to
pinpoint potential trouble-makers... and neutralize them
and neutralize them, and neutralize them, and neutralize them'

Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

How long? Not long, cause what you reap is what you sow"


Lesson Plan

1 Explain to the students that they will hear a short extract from a song (20 - 30 seconds). As they listen they should think of some questions using the following question words;

What
Where
Which
When

E.g Where is the band from ?
Which album is it from ?

2 Students write down their questions. Get them to check their grammar with each other before you go around and check them.

3 If a student recognises the song and/or performer then they take over your role. All the class's questions will be directed at him or her. Otherwise you answer them.

4 Write questions on the board;

This might be a good time to deal with any vocabulary issues. Just don't get too bogged down in explaining every possible nuance.

1 Why do you think the song is called "Wake Up"?
2 What do you think the song is trying to tell us ?
3 What names (people, places) are mentioned ?

5 Hand out the lyrics and play the song.

6 Students discuss their answers in pairs and groups.

7 Elicit answers from the class, and ask them if they know any of the names/places mentioned.

8 Now tell them that for homework they have answer a longer list of questions(see below) which I've posted on their class blog (I also posted a video and the lyrics to help them). The answers can either be written in their notebooks and discussed in the next lesson or posted on the blog.


Questions 1 Why is the song called "Wake up"?
2 Who was (Martin Luther) King?
3 How did he die?
4 What was happening in Vietnam in 1966?
5 Who was (Malcolm) X?
6 How did he die?
7 Why do you think the song was used in the Matrix movie?
8 What does the last line mean?

Using songs in your EFL/ESL lessons

I know I said I'd leave off the ideas for a while but this came to me on the bus ride back from the centre of Thessaloniki and it seemed too good to waste. This exercise is a good way for students to express opinions and different degrees of certainty and uncertainty, i.e. modal verbs etc.

Lesson plan

1 Explain to the students that you are going to play a song and all you want them to do is write down ten words that come to mind when they hear it.

2 Play Your Beautiful by James Blunt. (You could try Torrentspy, but you didn't hear that from me, ok?)

3 Students then work together in pairs or groups, explaining which words they choose and why.

4 Hand out the lyrics to the song and explain to the students that they are going to write down four columns;

-What we know for sure about him
-What we can guess about him
-What we know for sure about her
-What we can guess about her

JAMES BLUNT LYRICS

"You're Beautiful"

My life is brilliant.

My life is brilliant.
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I'm sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won't lose no sleep on that,
'Cause I've got a plan.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

Yeah, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Flying high, [ - video/radio edited version]
F##king high, [ - CD version]
And I don't think that I'll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last till the end.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it's time to face the truth,
I will never be with you

This might be a good point to go over modal verbs such as might be, could be, will have been etc. and other ways of expressing certainty/uncertainty such as perhaps, it seems that etc.

5 Play the song again and student.

6 Each student fills in their four columns and then compares their answers with their partner.

7 Elicit answers from the whole class.

8 As a follow up exercise, student write a short dialogue, imagining that the two people meet again in a cafe or bar. The class could then vote on the best performance.

You could even ask them to act it out and record it using a video camera then post it on YouTube.

Some more song lyrics to think about

A Fairy Tale of New York by The Pogues

It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won't see another one
And then he sang a song
The rare old mountain tune
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you

Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
I've got a feeling
This year's for me and you
So happy Christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true

They've got cars big as bars
They've got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
It's no place for the old
When you first took my hand
On a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me

You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night

(chorus)
The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day

You're a bum
You're a punk
You're an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it's our last

(chorus)

I could have been someone
Well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone
I've built my dreams around you

(chorus)A FAIRY TALE OF NEW


Who is singing ?
What is the relationship between them ?
What do you think will happen to them in the future ?