One of my favourite programs on TV is the ballroom dancing competition Strictly Come Dancing.
For my Friday class I thought that as we were saying farewell to some of our students, it would be fun to build a lesson around the vocabulary linked to dance and instructions one would use when learning the Samba. There is an excellent resource one can use about dance in building a lesson on the British Council LearnEnglish website. Please see resource links at the end of this article.
What really made it great fun was a resource I came across that described in stages how to do the samba.
I made a hand-out from the link and it proved a fun reading and practical exercise as well, as the students in pairs had to read the instructions and try to work out how to do the Samba.
The dance instructions are described in stages such as stage two is 'Count your steps this way: 1-ah-2, 2-ah-2, etc., so you take three steps in two beats. Samba music is in 2/4 time at a tempo of about 100 beats per minute.Count out the steps in sets of 8' So it's a really good lesson in comprehension and reading instructions.
As you can imagine there was much hilarity as we all tried to make head or tail of the instructions.
Other instruction included,'Step backward on your right foot (2), bring your left foot back next to it and shift your weight from left (ah) to right (2).' We laughed as we tried to work that out.
I include a youtube video clip below on how to do the basic steps which one can ask the students to watch after their initial attempts.
We also looked at the history of the Samba.
We read about how one theory suggests that 'although Samba is known as a Brazilian dance, its origins are African and it was brought to South America by slaves as part of their religious worship. Although the basic step is simple, it allows for great variation.'
I chose the Spice Girls' hit 'Spice up your life' as the song to dance to and early in the lesson we worked through the vocabulary in the lyrics. I printed out the lyrics and accessed the song from my phone.
Keep on dancing to fluency!
The lesson proved so successful that I think I will now and then start to include an end of week class built around the various types of dance.
Next week I think we should look at the Tango!
Best wishes and keep on dancing to fluency
Please see resource links after the videos below.
I include my dance remix DiscoTense video 'Good Times - Present & Continuous' as it could be fun to samba to while learning more about the tense!
More pics from this language workshop can be seen on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/lateachenglish
Spice up your life! Live!
How to do the Samba!
Dance Track - Good Times Present & Continuous!
British Council LearnEnglish article on dance at https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/magazine-articles/quick-guide-dance
How to do the Samba at http://www.wikihow.com/Samba
A video clip on how to do the Samba at http://youtu.be/rMsRzvei_AI
Link to Spice up your life lyrics at http://www.metrolyrics.com/spice-up-your-life-lyrics-spice-girls.html
More information on the history of the Samba at http://dance.about.com/od/partnerdancestyles/qt/Samba.htm
Keep dancing your way to fluency with Lawrence's remixes - DiscoTense songs - Good times - Present and continuous at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS-eQxgMJEd0d6B32n0jInZFAcDAd84fZ
youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Songolola
fluency on twitter @Lawrence_Hilton
Main pic from BBC series Strictly Come Dancing