Theme: Record charts, the Christmas singles chart, the taste in music at Christmas.
Lexical area: Types of music, types of song
Cross curricular links: Music

Instructions for assistants in italics

Classroom materials

Introduction
This lesson is a series of activities around a text on the current race in the UK singles chart for the number one spot. The Christmas singles are for many a soundtrack to their Xmas at home, school or work. You can use the latest releases or samples from a compilation CD to give this lesson the music it needs. See the Internet links for sources but this music could also be borrowed from colleagues and friends in your host country. You could use this lesson, or part of it, and then lead into doing one song. You could also mention and add some carols and traditional songs if you can get your hands on them and sing them, depending on the age of your students.

• Both higher and lower levels can be encouraged to guess from the title 'Christmas number one' what the lesson will be about. You can also put key words on the board and ask pairs to guess what type of information there will be.
  
  Keywords:
  

1. UK groups and singers
Magazine pictures of UK artists will help support this task and you can use them to pre teach types of music:' Who's this? What type of music do they make?' If you do not want to restrict this to UK artists you could include local artists from magazines in your host country so you too can find out what is popular. Put students in pairs to do the task and then hold a quick class round up. Note that the artists mentioned have all at some time released a Christmas record but they have not necessarily got to the number one spot. Some artists, like Cliff Richard, are old hands and he releases a religious record nearly every year. Last year Girls Aloud were number one at Xmas.

Task 1 UK groups and singers

• Look at this list of UK artists. Who do you know? What type of music do / did they make?
  • Robbie Williams
  • Elton John
  • East 17
  • The Darkness
  • Girls Aloud
  • The Pet Shop Boys
  • John Lennon
  • Queen
  • Cliff Richard
  • Spice Girls
  • David Bowie
  • George Michael
  • Blue

• Which type of music do you like best?

2. Your record buying habits and tastes
Students can fill in this questionnaire individually and then work in pairs. Run through example questions, getting answers around the class before they work in pairs. Give your own examples as a model. If they are higher level students encourage as much expansion as possible by giving full answers yourself and asking them more. Hold a class feedback: Do they buy more albums than singles? Are they traditional at Christmas time?

Task 2 Your record buying habits and tastes

Answer the questions in this questionnaire then ask your partner the questions.

• How often do you buy CD singles?
• How often do you listen to or follow the music charts?
• Do you buy records if they are number one or high in the charts?
• Do you buy more music at Christmas or other times of celebration?
• Do you like listening to music at Christmas time? If so, what type? (religious, party music, romantic ballads etc.)

3. Read and find out
Give out the questions and make sure that the students understand them, then give them the text to read.

Task 3 Read and find out

• Which artist is the current favourite in the UK race for a Christmas number one single? (Pop Idol singers)
• Are Christmas number one single's usually religious? (no, not necessarily)
• How old are the people who buy singles? (usually young but at Xmas everyone buys them)
• Why are the UK charts different at Christmas time? (the people who buy the records are different and the types of record can be unusual)

4. Christmas music
For this activity use the current contenders, if you have samples, last year's contenders (available on the BBC Newsround site) or any combination of 4 or 5 Christmas recordings which show a variety of styles. You don't need to play the whole song. Put students in pairs for the first part of the task then get them to listen again and check round the class. For the second part ask pairs to decide and have a class vote with a show of hands for each song.

Task 4. Christmas music

• Listen to these samples of Christmas chart music and decide which one is:
  
  • Religious
  • A romantic ballad
  • Good for parties
  • An anthem
  • Silly or humorous.

• Ask and answer these questions in pairs.
  
  • Which single do you think should be number one?
  • Is there a single you like at the moment? Which one?
  • What's your favourite single of all time? Why?

5. The video tie-in
If you can use a video of a Christmas single to introduce this it would be excellent but it is not necessary. Most students will be aware of the importance of video in making a hit record. If you do not want to continue the focus on Xmas choose three other songs and their videos to look at. For the first part put students in small groups to brainstorm and compare their ideas

For the second part either have a single which you have exploited in class and save this video activity to follow up the song as an extension of the work on it and find out how they imagine the song on video. Or use the Lennon song if you can get it and give them the lyrics to use when discussing the video.

Task 5 The video tie-in for higher levels

• Watch these three video clips and decide
• Which video is the most effective and why
• what the video got anything to do with the song
• If it tells a story
• The success of the Christmas number one can depend on the video produced to accompany the single. Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman's romantic video, full of snow and love, made their song go to number one in 2001.
• What do you think are the key ingredients of a Christmas single video? (remember that the music buying public are different and Christmas)
• Plan a video for the Pop Idol single Merry Xmas (war is over) or for another single you would like to be number one. Describe the situation, the location, what people should wear, what happens in the video.

6. Pop quiz
Run through each question type and give an example and try to elicit another example from the class.

Some lower levels may need your help. Ask them in pairs to write 1 or 2 questions. Put them all in a hat. Hold a class quiz with 2 teams or ask the whole class the questions, run through the answers and see who scored the most. Higher levels can work in small groups to develop a set of questions. They can challenge another group with their questions. Limit it to about 6 questions maximum per group.

Task 6 Pop quiz

Test everyone's knowledge of your country's charts. Prepare questions like these.

• Name the song: Who sang the song ......?
• Give the month or year: When did ..... have a hit single with .....?
• Describe the song: Which single by ..... talks about .....?
• Know the singer: What is the singer ......'s real name?
• Know the nationality: Where are ..... from?
• Say the age: How old is ..... ?
• Know the real name: What is .....'s surname?
• Describe the type of music: What type of music does ..... make?
• Know the band: Who sings with .....? Name 2 members of the group .....
• Know the songs: Sing 2 lines from the song .....by … .Sing the chorus of …..

7. Discussion: Manufactured pop and the charts.
Small groups can work through these or pick the topic which most interests them and then report back on their discussion to the rest of the class.

Task 7 Discussion: Manufactured pop and the charts.

• Many young people in the UK complain that the pop charts do not reflect their tastes.

• What about the charts in your country? Do they reflect the tastes of most young people?
  
  • How? Why not?

• Not many singles in another language ever make it to the UK chart. The UK record buying public prefer records in English.
  
  • What is the balance between English records and your own language records in your country?
  • Do you agree with this?
  • Was this the situation when your parents were young?
  • Is this changing?

• Do you prefer listening to music in your own language?

• Are the lyrics important?

The number of bands manufactured by record companies is increasing. Some of these artists cannot play instruments and do not write their own songs. There are also TV shows where young people compete to become a famous pop star.

• Is there much manufactured pop in your country?
• Do you like this type of music?
• Do you think TV shows offering the prize of "becoming famous" are a good thing?
• Would you go on a show like that?

Internet links

Newsround site features articles and samples from last year's Christmas singles
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/

This is a good gateway to the charts and the latest information.
www.bbc.co.uk/music

This site has Christmas carols.
www.carols.org.uk

Has popular music lyrics and midi files.
www.djpeanuts.co.uk/dir/lyrics/christmas

Archive links

Toy Fads and Fashions in Essential UK extends the topic of the commercialisation of Christmas and Christmas for young
Brits looks at changing ways of communicating amongst young people.

By Clare Lavery