DESCRIPTION: This song-based activity STEP-BY-STEP LESSON PLAN for ENGLISH language TEACHING features the lyrics and audio video for “Better Days” by OneRepublic. Students PLAY a hangman game with the title of the song, READ The lyrics word cloud, WRITE sentences with WILL, CORRECT each other’s sentences, TALK about the song, LISTEN to it and DO a verb exercise with the lyrics. OBS: This lesson plan was made for ONLINE TEACHING, but it can be modified for face-to-face instruction, as well. Language level: B1 Learner type: All ages Skills: listening, writing, speaking, reading Topic: a better Future Materials: Youtube videos, google doc and google slide Duration: 1 hour - 1h 30 min

1. [5 Stars 2020]
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DESCRIPTION:
This song-based activity STEP-BY-STEP LESSON PLAN for
ENGLISH language TEACHING features the lyrics and audio
video for “Better Days” by OneRepublic. Students PLAY a
hangman game with the title of the song, READ The lyrics
word cloud, WRITE sentences with WILL, CORRECT each
other’s sentences, TALK about the song, LISTEN to it and DO
a verb exercise with the lyrics.
OBS: This lesson plan was made to be used for ONLINE
TEACHING, but it can be modified for face-to-face
instruction, as well.
songactivityfactory.com
RECENT
RECENT
PDF
PDF
INSTRUCTIONS
INSTRUCTIONS
Click the pictures to access
Language level: B1
Learner type: All ages
Skills: listening, writing, speaking, reading
Topic: a better Future
Materials: Youtube videos, google doc and google
slide
Duration: 1 hour - 1h 30 min
Downloadable materials: Google Doc - Word Cloud
(to make a copy you can edit); Google slide Lyrics

2. STEP-BY-STEP LESSON PLAN
Step 1 (5 min)
Play a hangman with the title of the song - use the Zoom
WHITEBOARD. Do not say the band’s name! Save it for step 7
Step 2 (5 min)
Share the link to the google doc Word cloud activity.
Explain that it is a representation of the words that appear in
the song. The bigger words appear more frequently in the
lyrics. Help them with vocabulary if necessary.
Explain that “shed” is used as a verb in the lyrics with the word
“tear”. SHED A TEAR means CRY.
Step 3 (3 min)
Tell students that you are going to divide them into groups (3
-4 students, depending on the size of your class) and they are
going to work with the word cloud doc in their breakout
rooms.
Assign group numbers. Eg. group 1, group 2, etc
Send the link to the word cloud doc to the students and
explain the task:
TASK:
In the space designated for your group in the word cloud doc:
WRITE 3 sentences with WILL/ WON’T and THERE’LL BE using
the words from the word cloud
songactivityfactory.com
About this song: (from genius.com)
Better Days” is a song by OneRepublic that Ryan Tedder wrote while in“
quarantine amid the coronavirus pandemic. Tedder says that things will inevitably
get better and that once this is all done and over, everyone will rejoice together
.and have better days than before
Ryan Tedder, Brent Kutzle, and Tyler Spry were exposed to two people with
coronavirus when they were in London. When they came back, they had to be in
quarantine for two weeks. Tedder didn’t know how serious the pandemic was until
more bits of information and actions, such as the LA lockdown, came to him. Nine
months prior to his quarantine, he had written the chorus for “Better Days” but
didn’t know what the verses were to be about. Then the opportunity presented
itself and Tedder was inspired to write this song as fast as he could so he could
“ .drop it as soon as possible
At this time, while OneRepublic is still continuing to promote their latest major
single “Didn’t I”, Tedder thought it was extremely appropriate to finish and release
this song to the public during this
.pandemic
Through September 2020, a portion of the streams of “Better Days” will be
donated to MusiCares’ COVID-19 Relief Fund to help fellow artists whose
livelihoods have been affected by the pandemic.
Step 4 (10 min)
Zoom BREAKOUT ROOMS - (see HERE how to use breakout
rooms)
Tell students the groups will have 10 min to write the sentences.
Open the breakout rooms. The groups do the task
Step 5 (10 min)
When the time’s up close the breakout rooms and students come
back to the main room.
Tell your students they are going to underline the mistakes in the
sentences from the other groups. However, there’s an order:
Group 1 reads and underlines the mistakes from group 2.
Group 2 reads and underlines the mistakes from group 3, and so on.
The last group reads and underlines the sentences from the first
group.
Example with 4 groups:
Group 1 reads group 2’s sentences
Group 2 reads group 3’s
Group 3 reads group 4’s
Group 4 reads group 1’s

3. CLICK HERE TO TRANSFORM YOUR TEACHING
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CLICK HERE TO TRANSFORM YOUR TEACHING
APPROACH NOW!
That’s it for this week! I hope this activity is helpful and enjoyable!
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songactivityfactory.com
Step 6 (10 min)
Check if the sentences are really wrong and ask random
students to say the corrections. Edit all the sentences yourself
or have a student do it.
Step 7 (7 - 10 min)
Ask students if they think the song is sad, happy, fast slow, etc
and why.
Play the song once and have students check if they guessed right
or wrong. Ask them if they know the band. (One republic) ask if
they like the band etc.
AUDIO VIDEO LINK
Play the song again, but this time students see if there was any
sentence in the lyrics that was similar to the ones they wrote in
step 4.
Step 8 + 9 (10 - 20 min)
Share your screen with the lyrics exercise in the google
slide.
Students have to fill the gaps with the verbs in
parentheses using will or won’t.
Go slide by slide and give time for students to write
down their answers in the chat.
Do not correct them. They are going to do this by
watching the lyrics video later.
Step 9
Play the lyrics video and students check their answers
VIDEO LINK
Answer key: 1- there’ll be 2- there’ll be 3- won’t go 4- ‘ll
wash 5- will tell
Step 10 (10 min)
Ask students what they thought of the song and why
Have a discussion about the positive message of the song.
For homework, ask them to express how they think the BETTER DAYS
(better future) will be through art, for example: a drawing, a poem, a
song, a story, a video, etc. any way the student chooses!
In your next class, students share their work with the class.