Sample Formal Lesson Plan:

Listening
Eminem
Bruce Lawrence

Objectives: Students will learn different slang and some swearing related to Eminem and
rap music. Some of this language may be offensive to some, but it is a window into
American culture, and hey it sells records.

Prerequisites: Students need to have an intermediate level of listening comprehension,

because the words are really fast and they must have heard some profanity before.

Level: Intermediate-Advanced; Adults only

Duration: 20 minutes dictation and 20 minutes discussion

Materials: Eminem tape; lyrics from www.lyrics.com

Set up: whole class group work

Anticipated problems: Some students will get discouraged because the language is so
fast. Encourage them. Pause the tape if necessary, but make them work at it!
Warm up:

<General Qs>

T: What did you do on the weekend?

S: Sleep. Eat. Watch TV. Go clubbing. Study grammar.
T: Did any of you watch TV?
S: Y/N
T: What did you watch?

<Specific Qs>

T: Do you know MTV?

S: Y/N/a little
T: Who is a famous rapper on MTV?
Ss: Various answers.
T: Do you know Eminem?
S: Y/N
T: Who is he?
Ss: Various answers.

<Anecdote>

Yeah, when I came back to Vancouver in 2000 I had an afternoon class full of mostly
Latin American students and they really liked this rapper named “Eminem.” So I asked
them to bring in a tape and I got the lyrics for it and wow! Man, it was just full of
swearing. He is really controversial because he raps about sex all the time.

Teaching:

<building interest>

T: Today you’re going to do a dictation!

T: Groan!
T: But it will be on Eminem and a lot of it is baaaaaaaaaaaaaad language.

<Prediction>

T: What do you think he will say? What kind of bad language do you know.
Ss: Silence. They won’t admit that they know it. (various guesses)
T: Oh, come on. You all know some. What are they?
Ss: Son of a bitch?
T: Right
<Vocabulary>

<elicit various profanity>

son of a bitch
mother fucker
oh my god
shit
fuck

<eliciting definitions>

T: Who knows what this is? <point to first one?

Ss: various guesses/unnerving silence
T: Well, is it a nice thing to say? Or is it an insult?
Ss: insult
T: Who do you say that to? A woman?
Ss: No, a man.
T: Right. Is it insulting his father?
Ss: No his mother.
T: Yeah, what about the next one?
(continue to elicit all swear words)

Main activities:

<Part I: First listening>

<Instructions & example>

T: OK, here is a sheet with the words to the song on them. But you will notice that some
of the words are missing. You are going to listen to the song and try to write the correct
words in the blanks. I have put spaces to indicate how many words there are in the
missing sentence to make it easier.

For example in the first line of the chorus on page 2, how many words are there
Ss: 8
T: Right. The apostrophe indicates a contraction.
OK, everyone ready? Let’s go.
<play the tape>

<Part II: Pair work>

T: OK, that was difficult wasn’t it? So, get together with your partner and work together
to try to get all the words.
<Let Ss work for 5 minutes or so>
<Part III: S to T dictation>

T: OK, now let’s work together to get the right answers. What was the first blank?
<T writes down whatever Ss say, even if it is wrong. If there is more than one answer
write them both down.

<Part IV: Second listening>

<Instructions>

T: OK, now to listen again to the song to get the right answers. I’m going to play the tape
and pause after each blank and we’ll see if we got it right.
<T plays tape and pauses after each blank and sees if Ss got it right or can self-correct. If
they can’t, play again. If they still can’t give them a hint. If they still can’t, give it to
them.

<Post Activity>

T: OK so now that we have all the words right, what does the song mean?
Ss: various answers

<give Eminem comprehension sheet>

T: OK, now I want you to try to figure out this very difficult grammar handout!
Closure: Are you finished? What’s the answer to number one/two/three/ etc.

<give Eminem discussion questions>

OK, now in groups of 3 discuss these questions.

Closure: Yoon, what do you think of question one?
<elicit opinions from Ss>

Wrap up:

<Review Qs>

What does “flipping the bird” mean?

What does “fucked up” mean?
What does “damn” mean?

<Common errors>

What finger should you use when you point?

How do you play “Got your nose”?
As a joke how should you respond to your friend teasing you?
Contingency plan:
If students finish early have them use the new vocabulary in a sentence.

Homework:
Easy: Write three sentences using the new words you learned.
Difficult: Write a paragraph stating swearing is a good or a bad thing to learn!
 Eminem comprehension sheet

1. What do the following words mean?

a. Ass i. Bitch
b. You-know-what j. VD
c. You-know-who k. Head trip
d. Hump l. Balls
e. Cuss m. Valiums
f. Fuck n. Jackin off
g. Damn o. Viagra
h. Head p. fingers

The word “fuck” is probably the most versatile word in the English language. As
you can see form the list below it fits into almost every grammatical category. It’s a
shame it’s not taught more often. Tee hee.

Verb (to have sex with someone): I fucked her. She fucked me. We fucked.
Verb II (to do something bad to someone): She fucked with my mind.
Interjection (when something bad happens): Fuck! Aw Fuck! Fuckin’ A!
Adjective I (negative attribute): Fucking X. Fucked up X. This X is (all) fucked up.
Adjective II (to be drunk or stoned): We were really fucked up.
Noun (general insult): I hate that fucker. You mother fucker. You dumbfuck.
Infix I (before the stressed syllable): re-fucking-markable, in-fucking-credible.
Infix II (after a WH-word): What the fuck are you doing?

Try to fill in the blanks from the list below.

dumbfuck in-fucking-credible fucked up

fuckin’ A mother-fucking the fuck
fucked fucked with fucker

1. Can you believe how much George W. Bush _________________ his country?
2. She’s beautiful, but she really ___________________ my mind.
3. Just because we __________________ he thinks he owns me.
4. I can’t understand anything that ____________________ professor says.
5. That guy’s stupid. What a __________________.
6. Class is over! ____________________ !
7. You finished your homework? ______________________ !
8. Sammy! You old __________________! How are you?
9. I’m late for the test! What ____________________ am I doing?
 Eminem Discussion Questions

1. Do you like the song?

2. What do you think of the lyrics?

3. What kind of person is Eminem?

4. Why is he so popular?

5. Do you think all American teenagers are like him? Why? Why not?

6. Is American/Western culture decaying because of morality?

7. Is Asian culture decaying because of American influence?

8. What do you think about premarital/lesbian/gay/other sex?

9. How are young Asians and old Asians different in their views about

sex/music/jobs/other?

10. Do you think it is appropriate for ESL students to study swearing? Why? Why

not?

11. Why do humans swear?

 EMINEM
The Real Slim Shady
May I have your attention please?
May I have your attention please?
Will ___ _____ _____ _______ please
stand up?
I repeat, will ___ _____ _____ _______
please stand up?
We're gonna have a problem here..
Y'all act like you never seen a white
person before
Jaws all on the floor like Pam, like
Tommy just burst in the ______
and started whoopin her ____ worse than
before
they first were divorce, throwin her over
furniture (Ahh!)
It's the return of the... "Ah, wait, no way,
you're ____________,
he didn't just say what I think he did, did
he?"
And Dr. Dre said... nothing you idiots!
Dr. Dre's dead, he's locked in my
basement! (Ha-ha!)
Feminist women love Eminem {*vocal
turntable:
chigga chigga chigga*} "Slim Shady,
I'm sick of him
Look at him, walkin around grabbin his
____-_______-________
Flippin the ____-_______-________,"
"Yeah, but he's so cute though!"
Yeah, I probably got a couple of screws
up in my head loose
But no worse, than what's goin on in
your parents' _____________
Sometimes, I wanna get on TV and just
let loose, but can't
but it's cool for Tom Green to ______ a
dead moose
"My bum is on your lips, my bum is on
your lips"
And if I'm lucky, you might just give it a
little kiss
And that's the message that we deliver to
little kids
And expect them not to know what a
woman's clitoris is
Of course they gonna know what
_______________ is
By the time they hit fourth grade
They got the Discovery Channel don't
they?
"We ain't nothing but mammals.." Well,
some of us cannibals
who cut other people open like
cantaloupes {*SLURP*}
But if we can _______dead animals and
antelopes
then there's no reason that a man and
another man can't elope
{*EWWW!*} But if you feel like I feel,
I got the antidote
Women wave your pantyhose, sing the
chorus and it goes
Chorus: Eminem (repeat 2X)
__’_ _____ ______, ____ __’_ ____ ______ _______
____ ____ _______ _____ ________ ____ ______ _____________
___ _____’_ ____ ______ ______ _________ ________ _______ ___
Will Smith don't gotta cuss in his raps to
sell his ___________;
well I do, so fuck him and fuck you too!
You think I give a damn about a
__________?
Half of you critics can't even stomach
me, let alone stand me
"But Slim, what if you win, wouldn't it
be weird?"
Why? So you guys could just lie to get
me here?
So you can, sit me here next to _______
__________?
Shit, Christina Aguilera better switch me
chairs
so I can sit next to Carson Daly and Fred
Durst
and hear 'em argue over who she gave
head to first
You little ____, put me on blast on MTV
"Yeah, he's cute, but I think he's married
to Kim, hee-hee!"
I should download her audio on _______
and show the whole world how you gave
Eminem VD {*AHHH!*}
I'm sick of you little girl and boy groups,
all you do is annoy me
so I have been sent here to destroy you
{*bzzzt*}
And there's a million of us just like me
who cuss like me; who just don't give a
_______ like me
who dress like me; walk, talk and act
like me
and just might be the next best thing but
not quite me!
Chorus
I'm like a head trip to listen to, cause I'm
only givin you
things you joke about with your friends
inside your living room
The only difference is I got the ______
to say it
in front of y'all and I don't gotta be false
or sugarcoated at all
I just get on the mic and spit it
and whether you like to admit it
{*ERR*} I just shit it
better than ninety percent of you rappers
out can
Then you wonder how can kids eat up
these albums like valiums
It's funny; cause at the rate I'm goin
when I'm thirty
I'll be the only person in the nursin home
___________
Pinchin nurses asses when I'm jackin off
with Jergens
And I'm jerkin but this whole bag of
__________ isn't working
And every single person is a Slim Shady
lurkin
He could be workin at Burger King,
spittin on your onion rings
{*HACH*} Or in the parkin lot, circling
Screaming "I don't give a _______!"
with his windows down and his system
up
So, will the real Shady please stand up?
And put one of those fingers on each
hand up?
And be proud to be outta your mind and
outta control
and one more time, loud as you can, how
does it go?