Fun 4 teens and adults: listening, speaking and writing activity

Since we are in the beginning of a new semester, we ask ourselves how we can prepare interesting activities to involve and engage students. I find it really difficult specially when I get a new group and I don't know some of their characteristics such as level of English, interests, learning styles, etc.

Most teens and adults have as their hobbies watching videos and listening to music, so why not integrate both of them in an engaging activity?

I have used "I do" by Colbie Caillet with both adults and teenagers and their feedback was great. Here are the stages for this activity.

1) First of all, tell students they are going to watch a video with the sound off and that after that they are going to tell each other what they think the video is about (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0oyglKjbFQ&ob=av2e).

2) Pair students up and ask them to tell each other what they think the video is about.

3) Ask them to watch the video with the sound on and check if their guesses were correct.

4) Ask students to order the sentences and fill in the blanks:

Colbie Caillat (I Do)

( )If all relationships were nothing but a waste of time

( )It's always been about me myself and I

( )That was the only way I knew till I met you

( )I was happy to say that our love wouldn't last

( )I never wanted to be anybody's other half

You ……….. me wanna say
I do, I do, I do, do do do do do do doo
Yeah, I do, I do, I do, do do do do do do doo
Cause every ………… before we spend like
Maybe yes and maybe …………….
I can ……. without it, I can let it …………………
Ooh, I did, I get myself into
You …………. me wanna say I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do,

Tell me is it only me
Do you ………. the same?
You know me well enough to know that I'm not playing …………..
I ……………. I won't turn around and I won't let you down
You can trust and never feel it now
………….. there's nothing, there's nothing we can't get through

So can we say

I do, I do, I do, do do do do do do doo
Oh baby, I do, I do, I do, do do do do do do doo
Cause every ………… before we spend like
Maybe yes and maybe …………….
I can ……. without it, I can let it …………………
Ooh, I did, I get myself into
You …………. me wanna say

Me a family, a house a family
Ooh, can we be a family?
And when I'm eighty years old I'm sitting next to you.

And we'll remember when we said
I do, I do, I do, do do do do do do doo
Oh baby, I do, I do, I do, do do do do do do doo
Cause every ………… before we spend like
Maybe yes and maybe ……….
I won't ……….… without it, I won't let it ………….
Just look at what we got ourselves into
You ………. me wanna say I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do,
Love you

5) In pairs, ask students to come up with a story explaining how the song characters first met and fell in love.

6) Ask students to vote for the most creative and interesting story.

Devoted teacher

My name is Priscila Vanderlei (@PriVanderlei-pri.vanderlei@hotmail.com). I was born in Recife and I also live here. Since I was a child I have thought about being a teacher. My dream has come true and it's been eight years I'm a teacher.

I love teaching all kinds of levels and ages, but after some years teaching adults and teenagers I was asked to teach young learners. At first I thought I would never learn how to deal with them, but after the first classes I was completly in love .

This blog was created to share some of my ideas with other devoted teachers and also to help me reflect on my own teaching. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.