Music is Great

Introduction:

This lesson is about music and, in particular, music festivals. Students begin by discussing their music preferences and the role of music festivals in their culture. They read a text about a music festival in the UK and develop the skills of reading for gist and for detail. They discuss a dream festival in groups, and prepare to give a presentation. The students’ own experiences and opinions form the basis of much of the work in this lesson. 

Learning outcomes:

• Identify the meaning of vocabulary in the context of music festivals
• Find out information about a UK festival while practising reading skills
• Participate in a discussion about what makes a dream festival
• Give a presentation about a dream festival

Age and level:

13-17, Adults (B1+)

Time:

Approximately 65-75 minutes

Materials:

The materials can be downloaded below.

• Lesson plan
• Student worksheet
• Presentation

Plus chart paper and markers (optional)

Lead-in (10 mins)

• Refer students to the Lead-in activity in the student worksheet or show slide 2 of the presentation. The poster shows a photo of Reading Festival, an annual music festival that takes place in Reading, England. 
• Elicit / teach the meanings of the words in question 1. Ask students to suggest other adjectives e.g. noisy, overwhelming, fun. There are no correct suggestions. Elicit whether the adjectives have a positive or negative meaning e.g. ‘overcrowded’ and ‘claustrophobic’ have negative meanings. 
• In pairs or groups, students discuss questions 2 and 3. You may need to give a time limit for this discussion if students are enthusiastic about music! 
• Invite some pairs / groups to share their answers to question 3.

Task 1: Pre-reading vocabulary activity (10 mins)

• Refer students to Task 1 in the student worksheet or show slide 3 of the presentation. Individually or in pairs students match the words and definitions. 
• Provide the answers or ask students to provide answers. 
• Answers: 1c, 2e, 3b, 4h, 5f, 6a, 7d, 8g 
• Note: You could print and cut the table into individual cards for students to physically match. Ask quick finishers to write synonyms / anonyms for the words. 
• Note: It may be useful to show pictures of some of the words e.g. wellies, quagmire.

Task 2: Reading (15 mins)

• Tell students that they are going to read about Glastonbury Festival, a major festival in England. If appropriate, you could ask students to say what they know about the festival. Explain that they will have a time limit to read the text. As they read, they should note anything that surprises them. 
• Refer students to Task 2 in the student worksheet or show slides 4-5 of the presentation. If students are reading the complete text in the worksheet, give them approximately 5-6 minutes to read. If you use the slides, give students 2-3 minutes to read the text on each slide. Explain that this will help them develop the skill of reading to find the gist of a text. 
• Ask some students to say if they found anything surprising. 
• Put students into pairs or small groups. Tell them to discuss the questions below the reading text. Invite some pairs / groups to share their thoughts. The questions are available on slide 6 of the presentation. If you are using the presentation, you could write the questions on the board and show slides 4-5 again.
• Suggested answers: 

1. There are many more people (more than 100 times as many people), it’s much more expensive, it has distinct zones for different tastes. 
2. Michael Eavis still runs the festival (with his daughter), it is still on the same farm in SW England.
3. Wet weather (& mud), ‘fencejumpers’ (people who get in without paying), fire (the Pyramid stage burnt down). 
4. They’ve built a ‘superfence’ and have increased security, they built a new Pyramid stage. People at the festival accept the mud! 
5. They give money to charity. 
6. Some disadvantages are: local traffic problems, overcrowding, noise pollution, environmental impact (e.g. litter), lack of hygiene facilities, expense. 

• Note: If it’s possible, you could show images / videos of Glastonbury Festival.

Task 3: Complete the information activity (10 mins)

• Option 1: Put students into pairs / small groups. Ask them questions about Glastonbury Festival using the table as a guide. Pairs / groups note answers. Give 1 point for each correct answer. The pair / group with the most points wins. 
• Option 2: Refer students to Task 3 in the student worksheet or show slide 7. Put students into pairs. Students take turns to ask questions and see what they can remember. With lower-level groups, you may need to review how to ask the questions e.g. When did the festival begin? Where does it take place? 
• Answers: began 1970; located on a farm in Somerset in SW England; takes place last weekend in June; usually happens every year; lasts 5 days; was £1 in 1970 / £335 in 2023; contemporary; Sir Paul McCartney, Coldplay, Adele, Beyonce Knowles, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish; also has dance, comedy and theatre

Task 4: Design your dream music festival (20-30 mins)

• Put students into small groups. Explain that each group will design their dream music festival. As a guide, they can make notes in the table in the student worksheet (Task 4), or they can refer to the table on slide 8 of the presentation. 
• Give groups time to discuss their festival. They should prepare to present the festival to others in the class. This could simply be an oral presentation, or they could prepare a presentation or make a poster. Give groups materials if they are making a poster.
• Walk around groups as they work, offering help if necessary. Depending on the level of your group, you could review or put useful phrases on the board for their discussions e.g. making suggestions (What about…?), giving opinions (I think that …), agreeing / disagreeing (I’m sorry, but I don’t think…). If you like, you could note examples of good language use, or language that could be improved, and then review this at the end of the task. 
• When groups are ready, invite them to present their dream festivals to the rest of the class. If you have a larger class, put groups together to present to each other. 
• Ask students to vote for the festival that they would most like to attend. Invite students to give reasons for their choices.