James Blunt, 2015
This song about a chance encounter on a subway train was based on a real-life experience. The song topped the charts in Great Britain, Australia, and the U.S. for weeks.
Choose from the following activities, for levels low intermediate and up:
- Listening Listen to the song “You’re Beautiful” while reading the lyrics.
- Post-Listening Tell students that in this song, the singer/songwriter describes a personal experience. Ask them to speculate who the woman on the subway was. For the answer, listen to the story behind the song. (On the Pearson catalog site, click on “Stories Behind Songs Audio” and then on Story 1 in More True Stories Behind the Songs.)
- Listening Watch a live performance video, this one from the Noble Peace Prize Concert. (Caution: Be sure to preview any live performance video before bringing it into your classroom. In some versions of this song, the singer does not say “flying high” but instead says an obscene word. These versions may not be appropriate for your class.)
- Post-Listening Ask students to imagine that they run into someone that they haven’t seen for a long time–perhaps a year. Unlike the man in the song, they have a conversation with their old friend. Students fill in the worksheet below, and then share their drawings and their writing with a partner.
Songs and Activities for English Language Learners 