Cyndi Lauper, 1986
Lyric videos, 2016 and 2019

This 1986 song was revitalized by two lyric videos: the 2019 video with Cyndi Lauper and the 2016 video with Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick. The language and images in the lyric videos are appropriate for all classrooms.
Combined with the “compliments” activity below, this song would be an upbeat way to end a semester or school year.

Choose from the following activities:

• Listening Watch either the 2016 lyric video from the movie Trolls or the 2019 lyric video. (The 2016 video, with its slower tempo, is easier to understand.)
• Listening Listen to the beginning of the audio-only video while filling in the missing adjectives in the song. Lyrics intended for non-profit educational purposes only. For levels high beginning and up.

true colors gap-fill.pdf        true colors gap-fill (webpage)

• Listening Watch one of these covers of the song: a brother-sister duet by Joshua and Erin Evans; the cover in Spanish by the Rubios. (The Spanish version is not a word-for-word translation.)
  
• Grammar The song repeats the line “I see your true colors shining through.” The verb see is a “verb of perception.” (Other verbs in this group are: notice, discover, find, hear, feel, and smell.) Verbs of perception are often used in sentences that follow this pattern: verb of perception + someone or something + the -ing form of a verb. The worksheet below gives students practice using verbs of perception. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use.

verbs of perception.docx          verbs of perception.pdf

verbs of perception (webpage)

• Writing The line “I see your true colors shining through” could be the springboard for an activity in which students compliment one another. (The activity works best at the end of the school year, after students have gotten to know one another.) First, preface the activity by brainstorming with the class to come up with a list of appropriate compliments. (For example, You always try your best. You are polite.) Then structure the activity as follows:

1. Students write their names at the top of a piece of paper and then sit in a circle.
2. The papers get passed to the right, and each student writes a compliment about the student whose name is at the top of the paper.
3. After a short period of time, the papers are passed to the right again.
4. Students continue passing the papers until each paper is full of compliments. (Of course, compliments are given more readily in some cultures than others; teachers will need to assess how comfortable their students would be with this activity.)