Activity: Emotions, Situations, and Helping the Homeless

If possible you may want to get a recording of "Another Day in Paradise" by Phil Collins (see student handout on next page for this lesson).

Most people have one or more favorite songs. Many times it's the beat, melody or the instrumentation that draws a person to like the song. But, just as often, it is the lyrics that give us an attachment to the song. It may remind us of something or someone in our life. When this happens, we personalize a song. Many of us can remember saying one time or another, "That's my song."

If we examine the lyrics closely we can see that there is more to the song than the beat or melody. We may find that we like something, or someone more than we had realized. Also, by examining the lyrics, we can learn how lyricists express themselves.

All songs have some sort of theme. You may want to discuss some of the songs your students are familiar with. Ask them to define the theme or meaning of the song. If you have the record or tape with the song, bring it in and play it. How many of you are familiar with the song "You Are the Wind Beneath My Wings"? We know this could be classified a love song, but the theme is dependency. Who can explain how this song expresses dependency? After a discussion of the song you may want to move on to other possibilities.