It’s the end of the year. We’re still in school! The days seem endless and the students are not very motivated. What to do? Fall back on the one thing that has connected us from the very beginning: music! When I start thinking about how much music my Spanish IV students (who have had me for 2 years) have been exposed to, it’s a bit overwhelming. They LOVE music. There is no other way to put it. Even the most hardened, most resistant, most determined to not like anything student has connected with some song. I really don’t know how many of my students maintain Spanish playlists that they listen to on their own time, but it is a lot! They love being able to rush to me on Mondays and ask me if I have heard the latest from…. Sometimes they discover new songs before I do! So, I decided that I would try a version of a game that I loved a long time ago: Name That Tune! Of course, I have modified it for my purposes and it probably doesn’t resemble the original very much. Additionally, if I had more time (and more motivation), I could have made it a lot better and added categories for specific items (sports, individual artists, individual countries, individual genres, etc.). However, I didn’t (and don’t), so I’m going to give this format a try. If you’d like to try it, I’d love to hear from you. If you have the time/initiative and you add to it, please let me know.
Step 1
I created a master list of songs that my students should/may know. I put them in three different categories: easily recognized, a little more difficult, and difficult. It looks like this:
Step 2
I decided that there would be four rounds. I will have the students form teams (3 -4 students). Each team will have a white board, markers and an eraser. (For my students, I have opted not to use paper, but that certainly could be done). With the white board, I can instantly assess which teams are correct. Each round will be different. All of my information is on a SMART presentation.
I have placed each round on a separate page on my wikispace (Yes, I know, wikispaces are going away forever, but I still have this month before I figure out how I’m going to switch!!!). In rounds one and two, the songs start near the beginning with the opening words. In round three, the songs begin mid song. In round four, they start all over the place! The songs that I selected alternate between songs that were tremendously popular with almost everyone, songs that were popular with specific groups of students, songs that were “anchors” for our units and songs that will be recognized but they will need to really think. Each round is progressively more difficult ( or so I think). The students will NOT see the wikispace page as I play their selections.
Links to the page for each round:
Round ONE Round TWO Round THREE Round FOUR
First round: In this round, each team will have the opportunity to select 2 different songs (depending on how many teams are playing). The selecting team has the opportunity to score more points than the other teams if their answer is correct. All teams with correct answers will score 2- 3 points. The selecting team may score an additional 7 points if they answered correctly in 1 second. I will check their answer separately after the selected number of seconds. If they are not correct, they will be able to listen to the remainder of the available seconds with the other teams to still be able to score 2 – 3 points. 
The red X has been cloned on my SMART board, so that I can easily mark each song as it is chosen.
Second round: In this round, each team will have the opportunity to select 2 different songs (depending on how many teams are playing). The selecting team has the opportunity to score more points than the other teams if their answer is correct. Any other team may “challenge” saying that they can name that tune in fewer seconds. All teams with correct answers will score 2- 3 points. The selecting team, or winning challenging team, may score an additional 10 points if they answered correctly in 1 second. I will check their answer separately after the selected number of seconds. If they are not correct, they will be able to listen to the remainder of the available seconds with the other teams to still be able to score 2 – 3 points. Wrong answers carry a two point penalty deduction.
Third Round: In this round, each team will be able to select two songs (depending on number of teams). If the team that selected the song is correct, they are the only team to receive points. If they are not correct, the other teams may receive the points. In this round, there is a three point penalty deduction for incorrect answers.
Round 4: Final Round ALL IN All teams have the same amount of time to listen to each song. All teams may score points in this round.
elmundodebirch 