Period Three

(Pre-reading \Reading\Post-reading)

Step 1 Pre-reading

1. Checking homework

  1) T asks the question: Do you play any musical instrument? What is your favourite instrument? In this way, Ss review names of kinds of musical instrument.

1)      T asks another question: Has anybody got any information about musical styles? Ss tell different kinds of music, such as blues\hip-hop\rap\Latin music etc.

Here is some information about music:

Music is a language that is spoken to everyone—from the day we are born we hear music of some kind of our lives. But there are as many different kinds of music as different languages, and it is impossible to describe them all. Here are just a few well-known types.

   Classical music is serious Western European music from the Middle Ages(1500) to the present and it was often written for a large orchestra, or for a small group of players. Many instruments can be used. A lot of music was also written to be sung as opera. Classical music is very popular and schools often teach this type of music.

Jazz developed in the Southern States of North America at the beginning of last century. The black people of these states, who were originally slaves from Africa, had their own rhythms. Jazz brought classical music and African rhythms together.

Blues was originally Black Country music, which also came from the Southern States of last century. It is slow, usually sad music, which is often sung by one person with a guitar.

Rhythm and blues developed from the Blues in America in the 1940s. It became faster and more complex and used more instruments, e.g. saxophone, guitar, piano, drums. The music was often about city life and white musicians started playing it as well.

Musicians in the 1950s developed Rock from Rhythm and Blues and it became popular with young people. It spread to Europe in the 1960s and is now known in most countries. A lot of pop music comes from Rock and Roll.

Pop music developed from Rock and Roll in America, Britain and Europe in the 1960s and is now in every country. The name is used for most commercial music, i.e. music we can buy on records and hear on “pop radio”. It is usually played by groups who often use electric instruments and make videos to go with their records.

2. Pair-work

 Have Ss discuss these questions in pairs.

1) What kind of music do you like?

2) When you listen to a song, do you listen to words or the music?

2)      Do you like to listen to music form other countries?

 3. A game

Play some music played by different musical instruments, ask the Ss to guess what makes the song. (piano/guitar/trumpet/drum)

Teach the English names of different musical instruments on the slide: violin, trumpet, guitar, jazz drum, mouth-organ, huqin(Chinese violin) etc.

Step 2 Reading

1. Fasting reading

Have Ss read the passage as quickly as possible to find the answer to the question: How many kinds of music are mentioned in the passage and what are they?

2. Careful reading

Have Ss read the passage carefully and fill in the form below according to the passage.

Step 3. Post-reading

1. Answer the following questions:

1) Where does blues music come from?

2) What does the word “rap” mean?

2. The sentences below summarise the article. Read them and decide if they are true or false. Write the letter “T” if the sentence is true. Write “F” if it is false, and then correct the error and give the right information.

1)There are only a few styles of music in the world.

2) Blues is a new style of music.

3)Hip-hop and rap are completely different from blues and rock.

4)Santana is a well-known Latin music artist.

5)Rappers sing the words to their music.

6)There are many Spanish-speaking people in both North and South America.

3. Discussion

       Discuss the following in groups of 4.

1) Why is Latin music so popular in the US? Is it popular in China?(Give some background of Latin music—The cup of life by Ricky Martin)

2) Is music a universal language? Can you enjoy music from other parts of the world even if you don’t understand the words? Are there any other universal languages? What about dancing, paintings and photographs?

4. Demonstration

Have some students report the result to the rest of the students.

 Homework:

1.       Read the article again and make a list of unknown words and expressions.

Write down the result of Discussion 2.