The English Smelter

The Lazy Song

Level: B1 / Intermediate and above
Aim: To choose from: Time-management discussion / Pronunciation: fast natural speech / Expressing wishes and wants

Exercise 1:

Listen to the song and write down the things that the singer would llike to do today and the ones that he is planning to do tomorrow.

You can check your answers while listening to the song again and following the lyrics at the bottom of the post.

LESSON PLAN FOR TEACHERS

Lesson Plan for Teachers in PDF

Exercise 1 / Warm-up

Start by asking your Ss what they would do and what they wouldn't do if they could stay in and do nothing all day.

Exercise 2 / Pre-teaching vocabulary

Put the following words on the board. If Ss know them - ask them for definitions. If not - explain the meaning.

to chill

to dougie
a fan

P90X

Snuggie
strut in my birthday suit

Exercise 3 / Pre-listening exercise

Taking into consideration the words from exercise 2, ask your Ss to predict what the singer wants to and doesn't want to do today.

Exercise 4 / Listening

Ss listen to the song to check their predictions from exercise 3 and listen for more ideas. Feedback.

Exercise 5 / Follow-up

Ask your Ss if they ever had a day like the one described in the song; how often idle their time away; if they did it more or less often when they were younger and why.

OTHER IDEAS TO EXPLORE:

1. Speaking: You could continue the lesson as a discussion on time management. Probably your Ss do have days when they 'don't feel like doing anything' but they cannot stay at home and do nothing (because of jobs, families, children, responsibilities etc). Ask them how their lives have changed in the last 10-20 years. If their are happy with the change. Ask if there is anyone who learned how to manage their time in order to fulfill all their resposibilities and still have time to do nothing - how did they do that? what advice can they give the rest of the group? etc

2. Pronunciation: You could continue the lesson as pronunciation practice. Ask Ss to look at the lyrics and underline the words that are shortened by the singer (wanna, freakin, gonna). Explain. Practice fast natural speech where Ss do not stress every single word. You may practice reading out the lyrics or bring other materials that you find suitable. You may bring Cuisenaire rods and build sentences, later delete the rods representing the words which are not stressed and practice correct pronunciation.

3. Vocabulary: You could practice different ways to talk about what one would like to be doing. Ask your Ss to underline phrases like that in the lyrics (e.g. feel like doing…, I (just) wanna…, I'll be doing…, I might do…). Put them on the board, add any other (e.g. I'd like to, I wish). Draw your Ss attention to what they are followed by (grerund, infinitive, bare infinitive). Practice them in sentences.

BRUNO MARS 'THE LAZY SONG'
Today I don’t feel like doing anything
I just wanna lay in my bed
Don’t feel like picking up my phone
So leave a message at the tone
Cus today I swear I'm not doing anything

I'm gonna kick my feet up and stare at the fan
Turn the Tvee on
Throw my hand in my pants
Nobody's gon’ tell me I can't

I'll be lying on the couch just chillin in my snuggie
Click to MTV so they can teach me how to dougie
Cus in my castle im the freakin man
Oh Oh

Yes I said it I said it I said it cus I can

Today I don’t feel like doing anything
I just wanna lay in my bed
Don’t feel like picking up my phone
So leave a message at the tone
Cus today I swear I'm not doing anything

Nothing at all Ooh hoo ooh hoo Hoo ooh ooh Nothing at all
Ooh hoo ooh hoo Hoo ooh ooh Nothing at all

Tomorrow I'll wake up do some P90X
Meet a really nice girl, have some really nice sex
And she's gonna scream out 'this is great' (Oh my god, this is great)
Yeaaah

I might mess around and get my college degree
I bet my old mam would be so proud of me
But sorry paps you'll just have to wait Oh Oh

Yes I said it I said it I said it cus I can

Today I don't feel like doing anything
I just wanna lay in my bed
Don't feel like picking up my phone
So leave a message at the tone
Cus today I swear I'm not doing anything

No I ain't gonna comb my hair
Cus I ain't going anywhere
No No No No No No No No No Oh

I'll just strut in my birthday suit
And let everything hang loose
YeahYeahYeahYeahYeah...
Ohh ohh

Today I don't feel like doing anything
I just wanna lay in my bed
Don't feel like picking up my phone
So leave a message at the tone
Cus today I swear I'm not doing anything

Nothing at all Woohoo ooh Woohoo ooh hooh ooh ooh
Nothing at all Woohoo ooh Woohoo ooh hooh ooh ooh Nothing at all

As sly as a fox

Level: A2 / Pre-Intermediate and above

Aim: to practice comparing

Note: The album has not been released yet but you can get the song on iTunes or www.amazon.com

Exercise:
Listen to the song and fill in the gaps:

LENKA 'Everything At Once'

As sly as a .............., as strong as an ..............
As fast as a .............., as brave as a ..............
As free as a .............., as neat as a ..............
As quite as a .............., as big as a ..............

All I wanna be, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything

As mean as a .............., as sharp as a ..............
As deep as a .............., as dark as the ..............
As sweet as a .............., as right as a ..............
As long as a .............., as ugly as a ..............

As pretty as a .............. hanging from a fixture
Strong like a .............., strong as I wanna be
Bright as .............., as light as ..............
As hard as .............., as grand as a ..............

All I wanna be, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything at once

As warm as the .............., as silly as ..............
As cool as a .............., as scary as the ..............
As hot as .............., cold as ..............
Sweet as .............. and everything nice

As old as .............., as straight as a ..............
As royal as a .............., as buzzed as a ..............
Stealth as a .............., smooth as a ..............
Pure as a .............., pure as I wanna be

All I wanna be, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything

The KEY can be found at the bottom of the post.

LESSON PLAN FOR TEACHERS

Lesson Plan for Teachers with materials for printing in PDF.

Level: A2 / Pre-Intermediate and above

Aim: to practice comparing

Note: The album has not been released yet but you can get the song on iTunes or amazon.com

Exercise 1:
Put the following words on the board.
Ask Ss which words are clear and tick those off.
If you have time - distribute dictionaries and ask Ss to look up the rest of the words (the ones they don't know). If you have less time - explain yourself.
Here are the words:

ox hare bite bee bear bird day family fire fox fun glider word house ice line mouse melody nice
night nails wolf tooth toad tree time tiger song sun sea sugar road queen picture play wrong whale

Exercise 2:
Distribute the lyrics to the song with gaps (available in PDF) and ask Ss (in pairs) to fill in the gaps with the words from the previous exercise. Tell them to think about what would make sense. As an additional clue tell them that the lyrics rhyme so if they know one answer it may be easier to find the next one paying attention to pronunciation.

LENKA 'Everything At Once'

As sly as a .............., as strong as an ..............
As fast as a .............., as brave as a ..............
As free as a .............., as neat as a ..............
As quite as a .............., as big as a ..............

All I wanna be, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything

As mean as a .............., as sharp as a ..............
As deep as a .............., as dark as the ..............
As sweet as a .............., as right as a ..............
As long as a .............., as ugly as a ..............

As pretty as a .............. hanging from a fixture
Strong like a .............., strong as I wanna be
Bright as .............., as light as ..............
As hard as .............., as grand as a ..............

All I wanna be, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything at once

As warm as the .............., as silly as ..............
As cool as a .............., as scary as the ..............
As hot as .............., cold as ..............
Sweet as .............. and everything nice

As old as .............., as straight as a ..............
As royal as a .............., as buzzed as a ..............
Stealth as a .............., smooth as a ..............
Pure as a .............., pure as I wanna be

All I wanna be, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything

Exercise 3:
Play the song to check the answers.
Feedback.
Discuss the meaning of the similes.

Exercise 4 - Follow-up:
Depending on the level of your group you could either:
a) practice comparing using as...as doing more and less controlled grammar exercises
OR
b) allow your students to be more creative and ask them to prepare a similar description of who they would like to be.

KEY:
As sly as a fox, as strong as an ox
As fast as a hare, as brave as a bear
As free as a bird, as neat as a word
As quite as a mouse, as big as a house

All I wanna be, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything

As mean as a wolf, as sharp as a tooth
As deep as a bite, as dark as the night
As sweet as a song, as right as a wrong
As long as a road, as ugly as a toad

As pretty as a picture hanging from a fixture
Strong like a family, strong as I wanna be
Bright as day, as light as play
As hard as nails, as grand as a whale

All I wanna be, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything

As warm as the sun, as silly as fun
As cool as a tree, as scary as the sea
As hot as fire, cold as ice
Sweet as sugar and everything nice

As old as time, as straight as a line
As royal as a queen, as buzzed as a bee
Stealth as a tiger, smooth as a glider
Pure as a melody, pure as I wanna be

All I wanna be, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything

One Night in Rio

Level: A2 / Pre-intermediate and above

Aim: to practice storytelling and to revise Past Simple regular and irregular verbs

Exercise 1:

Listen to the song and write down the cities that the singer talks about.

Exercise 2:

Look at the lyrics of the song and put the verbs in the correct Past Simple form. Listen to check your answers.

One, one night in Rio, (in Rio)

Two, two days in LA (in LA)

We …................... [have] a short, a short stop in Moscow

But there …................... [be] no, (no…) no time to stay (to stay, to stay, to….)

We …................... [have] to meet this promoter in New York

So we …................... [meet] at the Hilton Hotel at the lobby

We …................... [say] we have to leave immediately to Germany

So we …................... [hire] a cab,

When I …................... [see] the cab I …................... [think] I'll faint! because this little cab

…................... [be] just a Mitsubishi, a shifted car,

I'm used to ridin' limousines, luxury cars, with all my stuff,

a minimum one suitcase, two pairs of shoes and three backup singers

I'm used to this, I need this!

Anyway, this driver …................... [have] no idea how to get to the airport,

‘cause at the 14th street he …................... [take] a left turn, instead of a right turn,

and I …................... [be] really mad at him which us:

Hey man we have to.. to be at the airport in a few moments!

So how hard can you do that!

‘cause the flight, leaves, to Berlin!

One, one fancy cocktail (in the sky)

Two, two pieces of lemon

Three, three crying babies (next to me)

And after four drinks, they wouldn't serve me no more…

Well after flying for seven hours in economy class

I …................... [be] really mad, three crying babies

And no more liquor, and no sleep

So finally we …................... [arrive] in Berlin

It …................... [be] raining, of course

So nobody's picking us up

‘cause where the hell are these guys?

But anyway, so let's go get the luggage

And we …................... [go] down and, there …................... [be] no luggage, there …................... [be] no luggage!

So I …................... [wait] half an hour for my luggage

So I …................... [go] down to the counter and said: excuse me, where is my luggage?

We …................... [fly] from New York to Berlin

So he …................... [look] into his computer, and he …................... [say]:

Sir, it's on the way to LA (LA, LA, LA…)

I …................... [have] one, one, one bedroom apartment (one bedroom apartment)

There …................... [be] two, two things on my mind (my mind)

I want to go back (back), back to my luggage

I want to leave (leave), leave this place behind

Ok, I'm sitting at the airplane to Los Angeles to get my luggage back

It's quiet and next to me there is a friendly guy from Morocco or somewhere

So we talk, and I …................... [want] to show him the pictures of my boat, and guess what?

I find out, that I forgot my wallet in the apartment, in Berlin!

And here I am, no cash, no credit cards, not wearing a suit, for four days!

Suddenly, the nice guy beside me jumps up with a pistol in his hand!

Runs to the cockpit and demands that the pilot has to go to Rio de Janeiro!

One, just one night in Rio (in Rio)

Too, too tired to complain (buagh)

Three, three stamps in my passport

For you it might sound funny (well…)

But I …................... [be] in pain

All right after twenty six hours

We …................... [get] rescued by the Brazilian anti-terror squad

Nice guys by the way

Later at the gate, I see this BEAUTIFUL lady smiling at me

I go over there, and talk to her

And she, invites me to go to her house

Sounds like, there's a chance to shave

And is one, one night in Rio (Rio)

We …................... [have] two, two glass of champagne (champagne)

And after three, three minutes of talking (hahaha)

We …................... [make] love (love...), again and again (again again again…)

Aagghh, its four o'clock in the morning and I'm getting a little rest

You know what I'll say, hah it …................... [be] a rough night

My cell phone rings it's my agent Steve

He's telling me he's waiting on my boat in Malibu

with all my luggage Thank God!

Ready to go to Honolulu, I …................... [can] dress, go to the airport,

pick up my ticket,

because I have to go back, back to LA

KEY:

Exercise 1:

Moscow, New York, Berlin, L.A., Rio de Janeiro, Malibu, Honolulu

Exercise 2:

Key at the very bottom of the post

LESSON PLAN FOR TEACHERS

Lesson Plan for Teachers in PDF

Level: A2 / Pre-intermediate and above

Aim: to practice storytelling and to revise Past Simple regular and irregular verbs

1. Warm-up

Ask your Ss about any flights they have had. Ask for details, how long, which class, what they had to eat/drink, what they did during the flight (chat to the passenger sitting next to them? watch a film? sleep?), how they felt during and after the flight.

Ask if there was anything that went wrong (problems with documents, security; delays; lost luggage).

2. Exercise 1

Play the song. Depending on the level of your group ask them to listen for some information (e.g. what are the cities the the singer mentions? how many flights did he take? what problems were there? why did he go to Berlin? to Rio? etc)

Feedback.

3. Exercise 2

Give out the handout with the lyrics with gaps (in the PDF version or above) and ask your Ss to fill in the gaps with the right forms of the verbs in Past Simple.With higher levels you could erase the verbs in brackets.

Play the song to check the answers.

Class feedback.

4. Exercise 3

Ask Ss to go through the lyrics again and underline all the expressions that the singer uses to tell the story (e.g. so, anyway, after flying, guess what)

Feedback.

5. Exercise 4

You may also elicit expressions to show interest, such as:

Right...

Oh no...

You’re joking!

5. Exercise 5

Ss practice telling the story in pairs. Ask them to pay attention to the correct use of grammar (Past Simple) and storytelling expressions. Tell the person listening to the story to write down all the irregular verbs and narrative expressions that the speaker uses. In this way, you will make sure the speaker pays attention to what they are saying and the listener listens and helps them.

As feedback - ask who used how many of the storytelling expressions.

6. Exercise 6

If time/Homework - Ss prepare a short account of one of their journeys.

7. Extra Idea:

To practice storytelling in a really fun way, I recommend “Once Upon a Time", a card game with easy instructions. You can play the game in the next lesson as revision.

KEY to the lyrics:

One, one night in Rio, (in Rio)

Two, two days in LA (in LA)

We had a short, a short stop in Moscow

But there was no, (no…) no time to stay (to stay, to stay, to….)

We had to meet this promoter in New York

So we met at the Hilton Hotel at the lobby

We said we have to leave immediately to Germany

So we hired a cab,

When I saw the cab I thought I'll faint! because this little cab

was just a Mitsubishi, a shifted car,

I'm used to ridin' limousines, luxury cars, with all my stuff,

a minimum one suitcase, two pairs of shoes and three backup singers

I'm used to this, I need this!

Anyway, this driver had no idea how to get to the airport,

‘cause at the 14th street he took a left turn, instead of a right turn,

and I was really mad at him which us:

Hey man we have to.. to be at the airport in a few moments!

So how hard can you do that!

‘cause the flight, leaves, to Berlin!

One, one fancy cocktail (in the sky)

Two, two pieces of lemon

Three, three crying babies (next to me)

And after four drinks, they wouldn't serve me no more…

Well after flying for seven hours in economy class

I was really mad, three crying babies

And no more liquor, and no sleep

So finally we arrived in Berlin

It was raining, of course

So nobody's picking us up

‘cause where the hell are these guys?

But anyway, so let's go get the luggage

And we went down and, there was no luggage, there was no luggage!

So I waited half an hour for my luggage

So I went down to the counter and said: excuse me, where is my luggage?

We flew from New York to Berlin

So he looked into his computer, and he said: