Piloting ELT Rap Workshops as ECA for Students

Piloting ELT Rap Workshops (as ECA) for Students in a Secondary School • ELT Rap Workshop series (8 workshops spread over: Oct 2006 – Feb 2007) • Artists-Students Dialogue Sessions: – 14 th December, 2006 - 2: 00 -3: 30 pm (Form 1 -Form 3 Students) – 15 th December, 2006 - 2: 00 -3: 30 pm (Form 4 -Form 6 Students) Objectives: – To encourage students to pursue their goals inspired by artists’ personal stories. – To promote a positive outlook on life with a belief in “life influencing life”. – To establish the artists as teenagers’ role models in 3/6/2021 search of their dreams even in times of difficulties. 1

Instructor’s Manual • Research Focus of the Project: – Change in students’ self-esteem, self-image and selfconfidence through positive interactions with the artists/instructors. – Change in students’ motivation, interest and attitude in learning English through rap music and hip hop dance Acquisition of Positive English Speaker & Learner Identities – Change in students’ English language proficiency, and specifically some phonetic awareness (e. g. , rhyming). 3/6/2021 2

3: 30 pm ECA-Workshop Series: Typical Workshop Rundown Instructors arrive school and set-up venue: Rap (25 students per group)– 2/F Home Management Room Dance (30 students) – 1/F School Hall 3: 45 -4: 00 (15 -min) I: Lead-in Instructors to interact with students; rap student/team names. 4: 00 -4: 30 (30 -min) II: Review previous week’s rap(s). 4: 30 -4: 45 (15 -min) III: Language Tutor to present language items. 4: 45 -4: 55 (10 -min) 10 -min Break 4: 55 -5: 35 (40 -min) IV: Teach new rap: Present Practise Produce. 5: 35 -5: 45 (10 -min) V: Lead-out Recap; rap school name as closing. 3/6/2021 3

Teaching Objectives Workshop 1: Oct 19 th/20 th I: Lead-in (15 -min) Workshop 2: Nov 2 nd/ 3 rd Workshop 3: Nov 9 th/10 th Workshop 4: Nov 16 th/ 17 th “Rapping Student / Team Names” II: Review (30 -min) “How Are You? ” + “BLBLBB” III: Language (15 -min) Final E Collect Homework 26 Letter Sounds Long A & E IV: Teach (40 -min) “Rapping School Name” “BLBLBB” “B-A-Bay” V: Lead-out (10 -min) Homework: 26 letters (off 1 week) “BLBLBB” “How Are You? ” + “BLBLBB” “Rapping School Name” Remarks 3/6/2021 Oct 19 th Video Marg absent 4

Teaching Objectives Workshop 5: Nov 23 rd/ 24 th I: Lead-in (15 -min) Workshop 6: Nov 30 th/Dec 1 st Workshop 7: Dec 7 th / 8 th “Rapping Student / Team Names” II: Review (30 -min) “How Are You? ” + “BLBLBB” + “B-A-Bay” + “Rap the Tenses” III: Language (15 -min) Long I, O & U Rhyming Words Irregular Verbs IV: Teach (40 -min) “B-A-Bay” “Rap the Tenses” V: Lead-out (10 -min) Remarks 3/6/2021 Workshop 8: Dec 14 th/15 th “How Are You? ” + “BLBLBB” + “B-A-Bay” + “Rap the Tenses” “Rapping School Name” Nov 23 rd Video Dec 14 th & 15 th Video following Artist Dialogue with 5 Students

Rapping Names My team name is: ____________ • My name is: _____ My school name is: HKRSS Tai Po Secondary School 3/6/2021 6

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How Are You? • Lyrics: MC Yan, Dr. Angel Lin • Music Arrangement: MC Yan How are you? I’m fine! Have a good day! Be on time! Have a good life! Nine to five! You wanna drive the vibes, You’d better ride on time. • Phonics Tips: Final E / Silent E / Magic E 3/6/2021 8

Short Vowel Long Vowel can (bed) Tim hop tub cane (bee) time hope tube Final E words from “How are you? ” 1. _________________ 2. _________________ 3. _________________ 4. _________________ 5. _________________ 6. _________________ 7. _________________ 3/6/2021 9

Bee-Lee-Blah-Lah Boom A told B and B told C, “I’ll meet you in the middle of Fu. Heng-Chuen. ” “Whee, ” said D to E, F, G, “I’ll beat you to the top of Fu-Heng. Chuen. ” Bee-Lee-Blah-Lah Boom! Will there be enough room? Look who’s coming – it’s L, M, N, O, P. And Q, R, S and T, U, V. Still more – W and X, Y, Z. The whole alphabet’s up the…Oh! No! Bee-Lee-Blah-Lah Boom! Here comes H to Fu-Heng-Chuen. • Lyrics: Adapted from ‘Chicka Boom’ by John And I and J and tag-along K – Archambault & David Plummer All on their way to Fu-Heng-Chuen. Bee-Lee-Blah-Lah Boom! • Music Arrangement: MC Yan Will there be enough room? 3/6/2021 10

Phonics Tips: 26 Letter Sounds Letter A A word beginning with… e. g. apple Letter N B O C P D Q E R F S G T H U I V J W K X L Y M Z 3/6/2021 A word beginning with… 11

B-A-Bay I B-A-bay B-E-bee B-I- biddee-bye B-O-bo B-U-boo Biddee-bay-bee Bye-bo-boo It’s just a kooky rap. You can do it, too. Any consonant will work with A E I O U. II R-A-ray R-E-ree R-I- riddee-rye R-O-ro R-U-roo Riddee-ray-ree Rye-ro-roo It’s just a kooky rap. You can do it, too. Any consonant will work with A E I O U. • 3/6/2021 Lyrics: Adapted from ‘B-A Bay by John Archambault and David Plummer 12

Phonics Tips: when 2 vowels (a, e, i, o, u, y, w) go walking, the first one does the talking Long A Long E ai (rain) ay (day) ee (see) ea (sea) y (baby) Final e: a-e (cane) • 3/6/2021 Long I ie (tie) y (cry) Long O Long U/ Long OO oa (boat) ow (row) oo (moo n) Final e: i-e (time) o-e u-e (tube) (hope ) 13

Rap the Tense • Lyrics: Dr. Angel Lin, MC Yan, Prof. Dave Coniam • Music Arrangement: MC Yan • *Hook: Rap the tenses; clap your hands. Rap the tenses; rap with friends. I Go went gone Take took taken Rap the tenses Blast your senses 3/6/2021 II Make made Win won won Wow! So quickly done! So much fun! 14

Rap the Tense • • III Lie lay lain Steal stolen Oh, my head Is so swollen! 3/6/2021 IV Keep kept Sing sang sung Sink sank sunk Rapping the tenses It’s so much fun! 15

Phonics Tips: Rhyming Words 26 letters: (a) bcd (e) fgh (i) jklmn (o) pqrst (u) vwxyz b at / take tenses / won stolen _____at / _____________ / _____at / _______ Grammar Tips: Irregular Verbs Present Tense ________________ 3/6/2021 Past Tense ________________ Past Participle ________________ 16

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Rap Lyrics Written by Workshop Students Hey! Listen! My team name is C-A-N Carrie, Apple and Nadia Tang Double T is our friend He collects aluminium cans ADV acts as – Peter Pan Always does something making no sense. Yo! We all meet at ELT Rap Hey – raise your hands And follow us to RAP!!! 3/6/2021 19

Students Works My team name is Five D. D. is 快 D D We study to learn A. B. C. And A. B. C is not so easy! We all like hip-hop Always go to the CD-shop When I go back home The door is tightly locked. 3/6/2021 20

Students’ Works Double Carmen are friendly Sherry, Winnie are funny We are all crazy, you know? HKRSS’ girls are pretty! Teachers are sexy! HKRSS Tai Po Secondary School We study in this school Our teachers are really cool There is no swimming pool Let’s find out the truth! 3/6/2021 21

ELT Rap—Workshop Evaluation Informal Focus Group Interviews • The programme includes 10 workshops, a dress rehearsal and a finale performance • Mid-workshop-series interview: – at Workshop 5 after learning 3 raps (How are you? / Bee Lee Blah Lah Boom / B-A-Bay); – and at Workshop 6 for the dance control group (since the interviewer cannot meet with two groups on the same date). • Post-workshop-series interview: – scheduled in early March ’ 07 after the performance on Feb 9’ 07 and the Chinese New Year school holiday. 3/6/2021 22

Targets of Focus Group Interviews • Nine small groups of students are selected from each workshop for focus group interviews. Same students will be invited for the interviews. Thur Rap Fri Rap Thu Dance (Control Group) High-engagement 3 students Medium- engagement 3 students Low- engagement 3 students 3/6/2021 23

Context of Focus Group Interviews • Each group of students will be invited to go to a quiet area/corner during the workshop for an informal chat • No taping or photography will be used to create a more relaxed environment • The purpose of collecting their personal opinion without disclosing to the school will be stated upfront to encourage sharing of thoughts. 3/6/2021 24

Method of Data Collection • Face to face mini focus group interviews with students • Some guiding questions will be asked, followed by some follow-up, open-ended questions • The interviewer (also one of the instructors) will keep a small notebook to jot down notes • Immediately after the interview, the researcher will review the notes and add more details to the notes based on her observations in the interviews 3/6/2021 25

Interview Questions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 3/6/2021 Did the workshops meet your expectations (so far / at the end)? What do you think of /feel about the instructors (artists / tutor)? What do you think about the raps learnt? Did your interest in English increase after joining the workshops? Did your English skills or knowledge (e. g. phonics, grammar, vocabulary) increase after joining the workshops? Are you confident in performing the raps? Why and Why not? Why do you think some students have dropped out? In you opinion, how to sustain students’ interest in ELT rap after this programme? Any other things you want to share with us about this programme? 26

Initial Findings • 3 x S 7 girls highly motivated to learn rap and started to write their own lyrics for artists to comment • 2 x S 4 boys not very good in English are eager to rap in their daily conversation (though Cantonese is used), and even expressed interest in joining an ELT Rap Society at school, if any • When asked to freestyle, the output varies from: – using the raps taught at the workshop – rewriting the raps introduced, e. g. substitue "Chinese Poems Can We Rap“ with a paragraph from their textbook – writing original Chinese or English raps of their own choice – applying the style to reciting poems from the Speech Festival etc. 3/6/2021 27

Proposed Format for the Artists. Students Dialogue Sessions • 2: 00 – 2: 30 pm: BASKETBALL/FOOTBALL/TABLETENNIS – Artists to engage in different sports activities with the students at the school court with hip hop music in the background (30 -min) • 2: 30 – 3: 10 pm: PERSONAL STORIES – Artists sharing personal stories on their road to becoming artists (30 -min) • 3: 10 – 3: 30 pm: QUESTIONS & ANSWERS – prompt current workshop participants to prepare some 3/6/2021 questions beforehand. (20 -min) 28

Selected References • Perry, I. (2004). Prophets of the hood: Politics and poetics in hip hop. Durham & London: Duke University Press. • Spina, S. U. (1995). Worlds together. . . words apart: Bridging cognition and communication for second language learners through an authentic arts-based curriculum. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 8(3), 231 -247. • Tharp, R. G. , Jordan, C. , Speidel, G. E. , Au, K. H. , Klein, T. W. , Calkins, R. P. , Sloat, K. C. M. , & Gallimore, R. (1983). Product and process in applied developmental research: Education and the children of a minority. In M. E. Lamb, A. L. Brown, & B. Rogoff (Eds. ), Advances in developmental psychology (vol. III, pp. 91 -141). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum. 3/6/2021 29