Famous songs with either like or as in the lyrics. Students have to match the song to the artist, then identify whether the lyric should be with like or as.
In spanish (and I'm guessing lots of other languages) the words like and as both translate to the same thing (como) which leads to a lot of confusion. In a really nice talk on using songs in the classroom (see video on the right) Paul Seligson suggested using song lyrics for this problem, so I did!
Warm up
Show slide 2 from the powerpoint above. Students listen to the songs and try to match them to the artists (at this stage don't draw their attention to the like/as conundrum). In groups, speculate about when each song was released. With teenagers, this will probably be down to guess work based on the images. However, with adult students it's a great opportunity for past speculation:
It must have been before 1990 because I remember listening to it at school.
p.s. this last activity also works well with movie titles.
Main Activity
Show slide 3 - students decide whether each line should contain like or as and why.
Explanation:
In English we use like to mean "similar to" and as when it is this thing. Here are some questions which might help students to figure out the song lyrics (in order):
Is the person actually ice, or just similar to it?
Was she being a waitress or just impersonating one?
Was madonna a Virgin, or did she just feel simlar to one?
Were The Bangles being Egyptians or just impersonating them?
Does Kurt Cobain want you to be yourself, or just similar to yourself.
Is he Mick Jagger, or just dancing in a similar way?
Show slide 4 to reveal.
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