Teacher: Laura McCrea
Date of Presentation: October 15, 1996
Class: Ling. 577
Location: Brigham Young University
Proficiency Level: Proficient English Speakers
Age Level: Adults
Linguistic/Ethnic Composition of Class: Mostly NS, 1 Tongan, 3 Asians
Estimated Time of Lesson: 10 minutes

Teaching Objectives:

• The students will be able to recognize the following six Australian words: swag, swagman, billabong, coolibah tree, billy, waltzing matilda
• The students will be able to define the above Australian words.

Materials Needed:

• "Waltzing Matilda" CD
• "Waltzing Matilda" book
• Handout -- transcript of "Waltzing Matilda," first verse cloze
• Overhead cloze of first verse
• Flash cards of following six terms:
• swag, swagman, billabong, coolibah tree, billy, waltzing matilda
• Swagman doll

Warm-up Activity: (2 minutes):

(Play first verse of "Waltzing Matilda.")

Preassessment:

• How many of you understood all of the song? part of the song? none of the song?
• What kind/genre of a song is this?
• What country do you think this song is from?

Presentation (4 minutes):

Discussion:

• What do you think made this song difficult to understand?
• accent
• new vocabulary

Let's go over these new words :

Billabong: A river branch that forms a backwater or stagnant pool.
Billy: A can for boiling water over a camp fire.
Coolibah Tree: A kind of eucalyptus gum tree.
Swag: A bundle of personal belongings usually rolled up in a blanket.
Swagman: A man who travels about the country on foot carrying a swag, living on his earnings from occasionally jobs or gifts of food or money.
Waltzing Matilda: Tramping through the countryside with a swag on one's back.

Practice/Assessment (2 minutes):

Please get out a pen. I'm passing out a transcription of the song--but the words we just went over from the first verse are missing. Take a minute to read the first verse. I want you to fill in the blanks with the proper words which we just discussed. I'm going to give you about a minute. Then we're going to listen to the first verse again, and you can check your answers.

Is everyone ready? (Play tape.)

Application (1 minute):

How'd you do this time? I want you to show me how you did. Jack, the Swagman, is going to help me with this part of the lesson. I'm going to say each of the words, and I want you use Jack to explain the word. (Go over swag, swagman, billy.)

Now, there are three other words we learned. What are they? (Go over definitions.)

Contingency Plan:

• "Waltzing Matilda"
• A.B. "Banjo" Paterson

Once a jolly camped by a __________,
Under the shade of a ____________,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his ___________ boiled,
"Who'll come a ____________ with me?
, Who'll come a __________ with me?"
And he sang as he watched and waited till his ___________ boiled,
"Who'll come a ___________ with me?"

Down came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong:
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee.
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker-bag,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me."
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker-bag,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me."

Up rode a squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred;
Down came the troopers, one, two, three:
"Who's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker-bag?
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.
Who's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker-bag?
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!"

Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong;
"You'll never catch me alive!" said he;
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!"
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!"
"Waltzing Matilda"
A.B. "Banjo" Paterson

Once a jolly ___________ camped by a billabong,
Under the shade of a ___________ ,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his ___________ boiled,
Who'll come a __________ with me?
_____________, _______________,
Who'll come a ___________ with me?"
And he sang as he watched and waited till his _________ boiled,
Who'll come a ____________ with me?"

Self-Evaluation:

Strengths: The one aspect of my lesson that the class really seem to enjoy was my materials. I had a variety of different materials: realia, flash cards, handouts, overheads, as well as the actual song. I think that this variety made the lesson more interesting and fun. They had an opportunity to both hear the words in an Australian dialect and see what these words actually represent. I think I had a positive, energetic teaching style. I believe that this style set the tone for the students, helping them to feel excited about the lesson and to have fun with it. My activity gave the class an opportunity to experience a more real-to-life, listening activity. The Australian accent was difficult to understand, and many of the words were new. Thus, the class was similar to advanced-level ESL class who understands a lot of English but still has to decode a difficult accent and new vocabulary.

Weaknesses: I didn't expect the class to not want to hear the whole song; in fact, I thought they'd feel cheated if I didn't let them hear it through once. I realize now that because the singer's accent was strong and the song has so many unfamiliar words, the class felt overwhelmed. Like an ESL learner, they didn't understand very much of the song and got frustrated. I have changed my lesson plans so that we only listen to the first verse. At the end of the lesson, I was rushed for time. I had to hurry the discussion so I wouldn't go over ten minutes. By playing only the first verse of the song, I will have about two additional minutes which I can use to "un-rush" the closing discussion.