SONG: 'CALIFORNIA DREAMING' LISTENING EXERCISE

                                                   

Hi everybody,

Now that the school year is almost ending if it is not already over, at least in some parts of the world, I would like to upload the song California Dreaming as summer starts approaching.

This song was released a long time ago, in 1966, just as face B of a single by The Mamas and The Papas.

It was Monday Monday, released in March 1966, the song which became the band's only number-one hit in the US, reaching number three in the UK, and first number-one on Spain's new radio programme Los 40 Principales.

 Monday, Monday won many awards in the following years. However, it is California Dreaming, that face B song, the one we have been hearing non-stop throughout the years.

Quite an easy listening exercise for A1 & A2 students, follow the steps at the end of the song lyrics or go through the stanzas as you think your students may like.

Aspects of the language to be considered may be:

. PHONETICS: /liːvz]/versus /livz/ - /skai/ versus /ski/ -/seif/versus /seiv/ -  /əʊ/ versus /ɔː/, etc… and different meanings of words accordingly

. PRONUNCIATION: e.g.: ‘winter’s’ and other words in American, Australian or British English.

. LANGUAGE SYSTEM/GRAMMAR: conditional sentences, verbal tenses (present, past, present perfect), prepositions (on, in, into), nouns and adjectives.

The first link is the official video by The Mamas and the Papas and it is a shorter version than   Sia’s. The third link is just the shortened version for a Spanish magazine store summer advertisement.

At the end of the song there are some more versions: the one including the lyrics, so that the students can self-correct, and a light karaoke version, so that they can sing.

I hope you and your students like it.

June 7th,  2016

OFFICIAL VIDEO CLIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kcmwXUdDCE

SIA'S VERSION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TFmncOtzcE

SONG + LYRICS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=263rXSAGp0U

karaoke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plRNTt-_Bhs

           

STEPS TO FOLLOW

1. Print the lyrics/project the lyrics on a screen.

2. Watch the video and listen to the song (official song video).

3. Read the lyrics before listening to the song for a second time.

4. Then, while listening choose the right word.

5. Listen to it again and check.

THEN,

6. Watch the video + lyrics and check the exercise again.

7. Finally, listen to the karaoke version, if possible, and sing.

            Singing and learning the songs by heart will improve your students’ pronunciation, stress, rhythm & intonation, apart from other skills and aspects of the Language, such as vocabulary and language system.

Please, note that any link may stop working.

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