Activity 2: Summarizing

Just as a story can be summarized, so can song lyrics–as long as the song tells a story. Once the summary is complete, it can be the basis of spin-off activities like the Disappearing Text or Pair Dictation.

Create a Summarizing Exercise in 4 Easy Steps:

Step 1: Choose a song that tells a story, and copy the lyrics from the Internet.
Step 2: Read the lyrics with the students, clarifying new vocabulary.
Step 3: Students listen to the song.
Step 4: Students summarize the story. They can write the summary individually or as a group, in a paragraph or in single sentences.

Example 1: Summarizing the song  “Martha” followed by a Pair Dictation or a Disappearing Text activity

The Tom Waits song “Martha” is about a middle-aged man trying to reconnect with an old girlfriend. Read through the lyrics with the students (outdated terms like “long distance” shouldn’t present a problem), and then have students listen to the song. Finally, working as a class, students summarize the story while you write their summary on the board. Below is the summary my students wrote. (Writing the summary as a list of single sentences makes it easier to use as the basis of a Pair Dictation or Disappearing Text activity.)

His name is Tom Frost.
He calls Martha.
She was his girlfriend forty years ago.
He wants to meet her for coffee.
She has a husband and kids.
He got married, too.
He is still in love with her.

After the summarizing activities, you could ask students, Will Martha meet Tom for coffee? What do you think?

Example 2: Summarizing the song in dialog form

In some songs that tell a story, the singer addresses someone. As a variation on the summarizing exercise, students can write their summary as a dialog between the singer and the person addressed. For example, in the song “Martha,” we hear Tom’s side of the phone conversation with Martha. Working as a class, students imagine what Martha’s responses to Tom are and then write their summary as dialog between Tom and Martha. Once the dialog is written, pairs of volunteers can come forward and act out the dialog for the class. A conversation based on “Martha” might begin something like the one below.

Tom: Hi, Martha. This is Tom.
Martha: Tom?
Tom: Tom Frost. Do you remember me?

Example 3: Summarizing the song “Sk8er Boi” from a different point of view

Next, let’s take a look at another variation of the summarizing exercise: telling the story from the point of view of someone in the song. The Avril Lavigne song “Sk8er Boi” is about a girl who rebuffs a boy because of the way he looks. The story is told in the third person. After students read the lyrics and listen to the song, tell them, “Imagine you are the girl. Tell your story to a friend.” Working together, my students wrote this first-person summary:

I knew him in the past.
He loved me.
I loved him, too.
He was a skater boy.
My friends said, “He’s a bad boy. He doesn’t have nice clothes.”
I listened to my friends.
I said “Bye” to the skater boy.
Now he’s famous.
I feel sad.

Most songs that tell a story can be told from a different point of view. The song “Martha,” for example, could be retold from Martha’s point of view. You could ask students to imagine Martha is telling a friend about the phone call from Tom.

Tip: Search “songs that tell a story” for online lists of songs that tell a story.

Thanks to: Tamara Jones, who presented the summarizing idea in her presentation “Singing the Way to English Success” at a TESOL conference.

Other songs that tell a story:

  • “And We Sang La Da” (Cynthia Chitko, 1996) This song works well for summarizing activities and for teaching the simple past tense. For teaching ideas and a gap-fill exercise targeting past-tense verbs, please see Simple Past Verbs in the Song “And We Sang La Da.”
  • “Another Day of Sun” (the cast of La La Land, 2016) For teaching ideas, please see the Lesson Plan.
  • “Don’t Shut Me Down” (ABBA, 2021) For teaching ideas, please see the Lesson Plan.
  • “Driver’s License” (Olivia Rodrigo, 2021) Caution: There are two versions of this song: the “official” version and the “clean” version, which is the one played on radio stations. Add “clean” to your search terms to find classroom-friendly lyrics and videos. For teaching ideas, please see the Lesson Plan. 
  • “Fast Car” For teaching ideas, please see the Lesson Plan.
  • “Love Yourself” (Justin Bieber, 2015) The official video for this song tells a story. It features dancers who are married in real life and is appropriate for most classrooms. My low-intermediate students watched the video and then wrote the summary below. For more teaching ideas, please see the Lesson Plan.

A couple is having a difficult time.
She thinks only of herself.
He tries to fix the problem.
He tries to communicate, but she doesn’t care.
She doesn’t love him.
He recognizes it’s not a good idea to be together.
She wakes up.
He’s gone.

  • “Mighty Ocean” (David Wilcox)
  • “One Call Away” (Charlie Puth, 2016) The official video tells a story. My low-intermediate students watched the video and then wrote the summary below. For more teaching ideas, please see the Lesson Plan.

He is in love.
But she has a boyfriend.
Her boyfriend is mean.
He thinks about her, but he doesn’t say anything.
He gives her a surprise.
It’s a movie especially for her.