“Stressed Out”

Twenty One Pilots, 2016

Because of the complexity of the grammatical construction repeated in the song (wish + a verb in the past tense), it works best as a teaching tool for levels low intermediate and up.

Choose from the following activities:

  • Listening Listen to the audio-only video while reading the annotated, punctuated lyrics below. Lyrics intended for nonprofit educational purposes only.

stressed out, lyrics.docx     stressed out, lyrics.pdf

  • Listening Watch the official music video on YouTube.
  • Grammar The reproducible worksheet below gives students practice with the construction wish + simple past to make a wish in the present. The song repeats the construction ten times. (I wish I had a better voice, Wish we could turn back time, etc.)

wish worksheet.docx          wish worksheet.pdf         wish worksheet (webpage)

  • Grammar The Memory Circle game gives students practice making wishes about the present. First, have students complete one of  the sentences below:

I wish I had _______________________________.
I wish I could _______________________________.
I wish I didn’t have to _______________________________.

Students 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 wish I had more time to study.)
  2. Student 2 repeats what Student 1 said. (For example, Maria wishes she had more time to study.)
  3. Student 2 then adds his/her own sentence. (For example, I wish I had a new car.)
  4. Student 3 repeats what Students 1 and 2 said. (For example, Maria wishes she had more time to study. Yoshi wishes he had a new car.)
  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!)