Lesson explanation, post-lesson reflection, etc: http://dogmediaries.wordpress.com/2013/08/02/we-are-the-champions-using-songs-in-the-classroom

1. We Are The Champions Picture Story Lesson ©2013 Chiew Pang acliltoclimb@gmail.com
We are the champions (Picture story)
Level: Pre-intermediate (B1- upwards) Time: 120 minutes
Materials: cut-out pictures, song(if you don’t have it, it’s available on YouTube), space,
students!
Skills: speaking, listening, reading, grammar(present perfect), lexical (idioms, antonyms),
pronunciation (rhymes)
Types of learning styles: kinaesthetic, auditory, tactile, visual
1. Split the class in groups of 3 or 4. Ensure they have space on the desk in front of them. Ask them
to put away all their other materials, if necessary.
2. Hand out the jumbled pictures. (Note: there are a lot of pictures; you might like to remove some
of them, especially for lower levels)It may be an idea to print each set on a different coloured
paper so that in case they get mixed up, it’s easy to re-group them. I print them as black-and-
white images, but if you can afford colour, by all means, do it. If you could laminate them, even
better. With all the hands groping and clutching, don’t expect them to last many rounds!
3. Ask the groups to spread the pictures out in front of them. They should have 27, or however
many you have reduced it to.
4. They discuss and think of words that best describe each picture. With lower levels, you may
have to help them. For higher levels, tell them not to worry if they don’t know the words; they
will have to try to listen out for them in the song. There are no right or wrong answers. The
purpose is to activate their schemata, nothing more.
5. Tell them they will hear a famous song and they have to arrange the pictures according to the
order they appear in the song. Can they guess what the song is?
6. If they can, ask them what they know: the group, the names of the band members, the song
title, how often they have heard the song, where they have heard it, what it means to them,
what they think the writer was writing about, etc.
7. Play the song and away they go! It’s very challenging, so it is unlikely they will get it done
correctly the first time. You will have to play it at least twice. It’s a short song anyway. So, if they
still have difficulty, do the fill-in-the-gap activity while listening to the song again, and have
them rearrange the pictures with the help of the completed lyrics.
Alternatively, instead of playing the song, read the lyrics at a “normal” pace.
Whether they do the gap activity before or after arranging the picture story, have them read
the lyrics first and guess the missing words.
8. Hand out the lyrics worksheet, which includes a glossary.
9. Free practice – discussion. Beam up some examples of possible topics (see accompanying
PowerPoint). In this PowerPoint, there is also the rhyming activity and writing tasks.

2. We Are The Champions Picture Story Lesson ©2013 Chiew Pang acliltoclimb@gmail.com
Worksheet: Fill in the gaps
We are the champions ©1977 Freddie Mercury
I've_ _ _ _ _ _ _ my dues
Time after time
I've _ _ _ _ _ _ _ my sentence
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
I've _ _ _ _ _ _ _ a few
I've _ _ _ _ _ _ _ my share of sand
Kicked in my face
But I've _ _ _ _ _ _ _ through
And we mean to go on and on and on and on
We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting
Till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the World
I've _ _ _ _ _ _ _ my bows
And my curtain calls
You _ _ _ _ _ _ _ me fame and fortune
And everything that goes with it
I thank you all
But it's _ _ _ _ _ _ _ no bed of roses
No pleasure cruise
I consider it a challenge before
The whole human race
And I ain't gonna lose
And we mean to go on and on and on and on
We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting
Till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the World
We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting
Till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions

3. We Are The Champions Picture Story Lesson ©2013 Chiew Pang acliltoclimb@gmail.com
Worksheet: Fill in the gaps (Answers)
We are the champions ©1977 Freddie Mercury
I've paid my dues1
Time after time
I've done my sentence2
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand3
Kicked in my face
But I've come through4
And we mean to go on and on and on and on
We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting
Till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause5
we are the champions of the World
I've taken my bows6
And my curtain calls7
You brought me fame and fortune
And everything that goes with it
I thank you all
But it's been no bed of roses8
No pleasure cruise
I consider it a challenge before
The whole human race
And I ain't9
gonna lose
And we mean to go on and on and on and on
We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting
Till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the World
We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting
Till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions
dues1
[PLURAL] money that someone has to pay regularly, for
example to be a member of a club or union
pay one’s dues [idiom]to work hard for little or no compensation,
early in one's life or at the beginning of a career
sentence2
noun [C] a punishment given by a judge
kick sand in someone’s face3
[idiom] to frighten or hurt someone who
is smaller or weaker than you
come through4
phrasal verb[T] come through something: to be still alive,
working, or making progress after a difficult or dangerous experience
‘cause5
/kʌz/a way of writing
'because' that shows how it sounds
in informal speech
bow6
/baʊ/ to bend your body forwards from the
waist, especially to show respect for someone
take a bow[idiom] acknowledge praise or accept
credit
curtain call7
noun [C] the appearance of performers
or a performer at the end of a performance to
receive applause from the audience
something/life is not a bed of roses8
idiom [usually
in negatives]used for saying that something is not
always good or easy
ain’t9
/eɪnt/a way of saying 'am not', 'is not', 'are
not', 'has not', or 'have not'

4. We Are The Champions Picture Story Lesson ©2013 Chiew Pang acliltoclimb@gmail.com
Match the word on the left with its antonym (opposite).
1. do a. give
2. loser b. pain
3. fight c. good
4. end d. surrender
5. bad e. winner
6. pleasure f. hardship
7. fortune g. start
8. pay h. earn
9. take i. undo