LYIN’ EYES I

DOUGLAS W. CANFIELD

Purdue University Calumet Hammond, IN

UNIVERSITY ESL COURSES

SUBJECTS

Main Subject ESL III

Secondary Subject ESL II

Other ESL Korea

OVERVIEW

Students will listen to the song “Lyin’ Eyes” by the Eagles, do some auditory discrimination

exercises, review unfamiliar terms, then come to class to answer questions of usage and

then discuss the themes (love, marriage, and infidelity) brought up in the song. During the

free-form discussion, questions of antonyms will arise and be discussed in preparation for

work to come after class.

TIME FRAME

One session (for the benefit of PP 104, one session includes class time and the pre- and

post-activities that precede and follow class time).

OBJECTIVES

In this lesson, students will:

• Compare the treatment of song themes with their personal (L1 cultural) experience, and

gain a better understanding of the underlying motives of song themes in American culture.

• Begin to identify lyric structure in conjunction with their ongoing study of music in

American popular culture.

• Begin the practice of identifying antonyms of random words in the lyric context as they

have with synonyms, with the goal of making this a course of habit in their daily studies as it

has become with their automatic practice of synonyms.

MATERIALS

• Computer lab (with Multimedia capable computers and Internet access)

A configuration of at least fifteen Pentium III 600 MHz or faster with color monitor, printer

and ISDN is preferred. The International Media Center is equipped with nineteen

networked Pentium III 1.0 GHz student computers with T1 Internet access and two printers.

Student access in other labs or from home must match these specifications, or they should

be encouraged to use the IMC.

• FLL Studio (with Multimedia capable computer and Internet access)

The FLL Studio is the course classroom, and should be configured to run the Pentium IV

2.2 GHz faculty computer with T1 Internet access and the accompanying projector and

surround-sound audio.

• Student Software Used in this Lesson

RealNetworks RealPlayer 10.0 (to access the music), Microsoft® Internet Explorer (to access

wWebCT Vista), WebCT Vista (to access the LOM).

• Instuctor Software Used in this Lesson

Hot Potatoes (to produce quizzes and exercises), RealProducer (to digitize the song),

Macromedia Dreamweaver (to prepare the “reading text” portions of the HotPot pages) ,

QuizImage (to produce the image quiz on the Eagles), Macromedia Flash (to compress the

video for HTML embedding).

Procedure

The students will be asked to do the first half of the Lyin’ Eyes worksheet at

http://wizard.hprtec.org/builder/worksheet.php3?ID=70121, including listening to the song, a

dictation-type exercise, and a reading exercise. In addition to the online questions and

activities, they will have the following questions from class to answer:

Which instruments do you recognize?

What is a stanza? A refrain? A solo? A duo? In unison?

Who sings the first three stanzas? The fourth? What about the refrain?

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n class, questions will be taken. After, the class will brainstorm about what they hope from

life…what will make their life a success. (Love, wealth, etc.). Continue:

I

f you had to choose only one area of life to have success, what would you pick? How might

this choice affect your life? Make a list of your life priorities and compare it with your

classmates and with the characters in the song.

Discuss the love triangle in the song and ask if the class can find examples from popular

culture (Anna Nicole Smith is an obvious start…)

Do you agree or disagree with this choice? Defend your opinion. (At an appropriate

moment, have the students take the assignment to prepare an opinion paper of around 250

words for the next class.)

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n the conversation that ensues, antonyms will bubble up naturally. Note them, and prompt

students to give antonyms of random words that appear during this conversation.

Ask students will be asked to do the second half of the Lyin’ Eyes worksheet at

http://wizard.hprtec.org/builder/worksheet.php3?ID=70121, including watching the antonym

presentation, doing the antonym activities, and identifying the members of the band.

Students will be instructed to take the antonym quiz on WebCT Vista in the course

announcements on the day after this lesson.

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Standards for Foreign

Language Learning

• Standard 1.1 Interpersonal Communication

o Students work cooperatively in class to understand the story behind the song

• Standard 1.2 Written and Spoken Communication

o Students gain an understanding of the spoken language on the topic of love, marriage,

and infidelity.

• Standard 2.1 Practices of Culture

o Students demonstrate an understanding of the types presented in the song, and make

analogous comparisons.

• Standard 3.2 Distinctive Viewpoints

o Students study song truly intended for the native English speaker.

• Standard 4.1 Linguistic Comparisons

o Students compare and contrast vocabulary in L1 and L2 in the context of antonyms.

• Standard 4.2 Cultural Comparisons

o Students compare and contrast love, marriage and infidelity in L1 and L2 in the context

of the song.

• Standard 5.1 School and Community

o Students use the language in the classroom and online.

• Standard 5.2 Life-long Learning

o Students develop skills in identifying antonyms, expanding vocabulary, and listening to

American popular music.