“I Will Remember You”

Sarah McLachlan, 1999

Choose from the following activities:

  • Pre-Listening Predict the missing words. Students write the missing words in the lyrics worksheet below. Intended for nonprofit educational purposes only.

I Will Remember You, cloze.docx        I Will Remember You, cloze.pdf

  • Listening Listen to the song. Students check the answers they wrote in the worksheet above.
  • Post-Listening Watch the official music video. (The video ends with a romantic kiss and may not be appropriate for all classrooms; previewing is advised.)
  • Post-Listening Practice using will to make promises. (The song repeats the promise I will remember you four times.) The worksheet below has two parts. Part 2 is a little more challenging. For levels high beginning and up.

will, making promises.docx          will, making promises.pdf

  • Post-Listening Practice the future tense with will by playing the Memory Circle game. First, each student writes a sentence beginning with I’ll. All the sentences should be related by topic–for example, students could write what they’ll remember from this year’s class (I’ll remember our Halloween party) or a life experience they’ll always remember (I’ll always remember the birth of my daughter). Then they form a circle and follow the steps below. (A circle should not contain more than 12 students, so they may need to form several circles.)
  1. Student 1 says the sentence he/she wrote. (For example, I’ll always remember the birth of my daughter.)
  2. Student 2 repeats what Student 1 said. (For example, Maria will always remember the birth of her daughter.)
  3. Student 2 then adds his/her own sentence. (For example, I’ll always remember the day I arrived in this country.)
  4. Student 3 repeats what Students 1 and 2 said. (For example, Maria will always remember the birth of her daughter. Yoshi will always remember the day he arrived in this country.)
  5. Student 3 adds his/her own sentence.
  6. Students continue going around the circle, repeating what the other students said, in order, and then adding his/her own sentence.
  7. After the last student says all the sentences, ask students to give him/her a round of applause. (It’s not easy to be the last student!)
  • Post-Listening Talk about people we will always remember. Structure the discussion as a Draw-Write-Share activity. First, students draw a picture of someone they’ll always remember. Under their drawing, they complete this sentence: I’ll never forget _________________ because ______________________. Then they share their drawing and their writing in a small group. This activity is from the resource book Drawing Out by Sharon Bassanno and Mary Ann Christison.
  • Post-Listening Talk about how we will be remembered. Structure the conversation with the interactive worksheet below, for levels high beginning and up. The worksheet gives students practice changing verbs in the simple present to the simple past.

remembering you.docx          remembering you.pdf

  • Post-Listening Read two stories about young men, one a soldier in WW I and the other a motorbike racer, who suffered temporary memory loss, including all memory of themselves. The beginning-level stories are in True Stories Behind the Songs, Unit 3.