LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERSLOUIS ARMSTRONG
LinguaHouse
Dec. 6, 2023
Level: Intermediate (B1-B2)
Type of English: General English
Tags: American Culture; Celebrities and Historical Figures; People and Places; 13-15 Years Old; 16-18 Years Old; 18+ Years Old; Article Based; Pronunciation
Publication date: 12/06/2023
This audio-aided lesson tells the life story of jazz legend Louis Armstrong (1901-1971). The lesson focuses on vocabulary, listening comprehension and speaking, and includes a short look at linking consonant and vowel sounds in natural connected speech. There is also an optional video-based extension activity where students work with the lyrics of the famous song, “What a Wonderful World” (by Stephanie Hirschman).
- CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English.
- CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English.
- CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English.
- CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English.
- CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audios (Am/Br English).
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT
Speaker: Louis Armstrong was born in 1901. He was mostly raised by his grandmother in a very poor area of New Orleans and had to leave school before he was a teenager in order to make a living. After an incident with a gun in 1912, Armstrong was arrested and sent to a children’s home. It was there that he learned to play the cornet and fell in love with music. On his release in 1914, he found a mentor in Joe “King” Oliver and began to jam with him and play music professionally.
In 1919, Armstrong started to play gigs on Mississippi riverboats where he came into contact with famous jazz musicians and learned to read music. In 1922, he moved to Chicago to join Oliver; their performances were very popular, and they made several recordings together.
Eventually, Armstrong put together his own band, The Hot Five (later The Hot Seven) and the songs they recorded were extremely innovative because they included more solo performances. He also started singing “scat”, which means singing nonsense words to the tune of the song. The story goes that he invented this style when he dropped his copy of the real lyrics during a recording and couldn’t remember the words. Around this time, he switched from the cornet to the trumpet.
In 1929, Armstrong moved to New York to star in a Broadway show: at last, his career was in full swing. During the 1930s, he toured Europe, but he developed problems with his lips and had to stop playing for a while. However, when he had recovered, he continued playing and recorded a number of hits. He also published an autobiography and became the first African American to star in a Hollywood movie, “Pennies from Heaven”. He was also the first African American to host a national radio show.
Armstrong continued to tour and record with his band, The All Stars, throughout the 1940s, 50s, and 60s but jazz was changing, and his work was seen as old-fashioned by some younger jazz fans. In addition, some members of the African American community were critical of him for not speaking out in support of the growing civil rights movement. However, that all changed after he strongly criticized the governor of Arkansas and the president of the country in the national press when African American students were prevented from attending public schools in Little Rock.
Although Armstrong began to suffer poor health as he grew older, he continued to tour and even visited Communist countries behind the Iron Curtain. In 1967, his song “What a wonderful world”, featuring Armstrong’s distinctive vocals (but not his trumpet), became a number one hit around the world.
Armstrong died at his home in Queens, New York in 1971. This house is now a National Historic Landmark and welcomes thousands of visitors each year. Armstrong’s life is notable for his many musical and personal achievements over more than fifty years, as well as for his political activism.
“WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD” LYRICS
I see trees of green
Red roses too
I see them bloom
For me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
I see skies of blue
And clouds of white
The bright blessed day
The dark sacred night
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
The colors of the rainbow
So pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces
Of people going by
I see friends shaking hands
Saying “how do you do?”
They’re really saying
“I love you”
I hear babies cry
I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more
Than I’ll ever know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Adapted from: https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/general-english/louis-armstrong. Accessed on December 8, 2023. © 2008–2023 LinguaHouse.com. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment