I see no changes. All I see is racist faces
Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races
We under. I wonder what it takes to make this
One better place. Let’s erase the wasted
Take the evil out the people. They‘ll be acting right
Cause both black and white are smoking crack tonight

Grammar: Future Progressive

The future progressive (also called the future continuous) has several meanings:

• a future action that is in progress
• a future action that is interrupted
• 2 or more future actions that are happening at the same time

Using Will

Subject + will be + ~ing verb

Subject + will not be + ~ing verb

Subject + won’t be + ~ing verb

Will + subject + be + ~ing verb?

Using Be Going To

Subject + am/is/are + going to be + ~ing verb.

Subject + am/is/are + not going to be + ~ing verb

Am/Is/Are + subject + going to be + ~ing verb?

Example Sentences

• I will be driving to the concert tomorrow afternoon. I will start in the morning and continue driving until the evening. 
  
• She will be studying all day tomorrow, so we should visit her after she takes her test.
• He is going to be waiting for her at the airport. Her flight arrives at 7pm, but he will start waiting at 6:30 pm.
• I will meet you at the restaurant. Where will you be sitting? 
  
• She is very sick, so she won’t be traveling with us to the conference. 
  
• Wish me luck tomorrow. I am going to be giving presentations all day.

Idiom from the Hook: ‘The Way It Is’

The track’s hook samples “The Way It Is” by Bruce Hornsby and the Range.

That’s just the way it is
Things’ll never be the same
That’s just the way it is
Aww yeah

• That’s just the way it is. (idiom) – That’s the normal way of things. That is fate.
  • That’s just the way it goes. 
  • That’s just how it goes. 

Run-D.M.C. is another classic hip-hop group. They also use this idiom in their song “It’s Like That”

It’s like that, and that’s the way it is.

Discussion Questions

What will you be doing tomorrow at 9pm? Will you be working or studying? Will you be relaxing or watching TV? Please write your comments below!

The post Future Progressive with 2Pac appeared first on ESL Hip Hop.

It’s bigger than hip-hop, hip-hop, hip-hop, hip
It’s bigger than hip-hop, hip-hop, hip-hop, hip-hop

Grammar: Making Comparative Adjectives

Use comparative adjectives when you want to compare two people, places or things. Comparative adjectives describe the differences between nouns.

For most adjectives with one syllable, simply add r or er. 

• old – older
• fast – faster
• late – later
• nice – nicer
• big – bigger
  • If the adjective ends with a consonant-vowel-consonant, then double the final consonant.

If the adjective has two syllables AND ends with ~y, then omit ‘y’ and add ~ier.

• pretty – prettier
• happy – happier
• busy – busier

For most adjectives with two or more syllables, add ‘more‘ and do not add ~er.

• modern – more modern
• expensive – more expensive
• beautiful – more beautiful

Some adjectives are irregular and have special comparative forms. You must memorize these special irregular adjectives.

• good – better
• bad – worse
• far – farther
• has/have + more

Using Comparative Adjectives

If you want to compare two people, places or things, use the comparative adjective and than. 

Subject + Verb + Comparative Adjective + Than + Noun

• East coast hip-hop is better than west coast hip-hop. I enjoy east coast hip-hop more than the west coast. 
  
• Lil Wayne is older than  Drake. Lil Wayne was born in 1982, and Drake was born in 1986.
• The Notorious B.I.G. was fatter than 2Pac. 2Pac was very athletic and  fit, and the Notorious B.I.G. always wore size XL. 
• Twista is faster than Snopp Dogg. It’s true. Snopp Dogg is a slow and chill rapper, but Twista is very fast! 
  
• N.W.A. was more violent than De La Soul. N.W.A. often rapped about the violence of inner city life in Los Angeles. De La Soul did not rap about the violence of inner city life. 

 Writing Task

Below are 2Pac (left) and Biggie Smalls (right). Describe the artists using comparative adjectives. Write 3-5 sentences in the comments below! 

The post Comparative Adjectives with Dead Prez appeared first on ESL Hip Hop.

Using poems in class is something that I do not try often enough, but I was inspired to create a found poetry lesson by The Teacher James. The premise of this activity is simple enough: use album titles to make a short, simple poem. You may use any genre of music, but of course, this post will focus exclusively on some of my favorite hip-hop records. There are a number of ways teachers can use this in class. Found poetry can be a great stand-alone activity, especially for warm ups or time fillers, but they can also be the main task of a lesson.

• Level: High Beginning to Upper Intermediate (A2-B2)
  
• Time: 30-50 minutes
• Activity: Reading, Writing, Speaking
• Language Aims: Use your album selection to practice a number of target language items. Some possibilities include:
  • grammatical patterns
  • word order
  • vocabulary
  • confidence-building for speaking
• Materials:
  • Hip-Hop Albums. You may:
    • bring in your own collection, if you have a sizable vinyl or CD collection
    • a list of albums printed on a piece of paper
    • a Pinterest page such as this one, computers or mobile devices needed
  • 5 printed album covers with the artists and titles cut or blacked out
  • Index cards
  • Tape

Procedures:

Before the lesson starts, print out five album covers (preferably color) and cut or black out the artist and title. Then tape them to the walls of the classroom. You may use any albums for this stage of the lesson, but I recommend selecting ones where the cover art and titles are not a very obvious match. 

1. Give students slips of paper with the artists and albums, or dictate them. Tell students that they must walk around the room and match the artist/album with the cover art. Run the activity, and perhaps play a track from one of the selected albums.
2. Have students compare the matches with a partner and then check as a whole class. Have students explain why they matched a title with a particular cover. After facilitating a short discussion, reveal the correct matches. For the above albums:
   
   1. The Roots, Do You Want More?!!!??!
   2. Ice-T, Power
   3. The Notorious B.I.G., Ready to Die
   4. Gang Starr, Hard to Earn
   5. Scarface, The Diary
3. Elicit the word poetry by asking several CCQs, such as:
   1. What did Shakespeare write?
   2. What rhymes?
   3. What doesn’t always follow the standard rules of grammar?
4. Tell students that they will create found poetry, which is a type of poetry created by taking words and phrases from other sources (Wikipedia). They will use only the album titles to write their poems. Demonstrate by creating a poem using the example covers in the first activity:
   Do you want more
   Power?!!!??!
   Hard to earn.
   
5. Explain that they must use the album titles exactly as they appear (or close to it), that poems may only be 3-5 lines long, and that perfect grammar is not important. It’s crucial to emphasize this last point because the poems will inevitably lack articles, prepositions or other words needed to make grammatically correct sentences. Give students a list of albums, bring your own music collection to class and have them sort through it, or create a Pinterest page with 20-50 album covers. Here is my example.
6. Have students write the found poems on index cards and tape them to the walls when they are finished. Run this stage for as long as you would like, or until most students have written 2 or 3 poems.
7. Have students walk around the room and read poems by classmates. Follow up with a discussion and/or survey about their favorites, and ask a few students to volunteer and explain the meaning behind their poems.
8. Form small groups of 3 or 4 students and have them rewrite poems in standard English. A couple of notes regarding the follow up and review:
   1. If you want to practice a specific grammar point, you may need to spend some extra time selecting albums that will lend itself to your lesson’s specific target language item.
   2. Unless you have a specific target language item in mind, be prepared to discuss incidental questions of grammar. Critics of Dogme and TBL point out that many teachers are uncomfortable or not confident enough to discuss grammar points with little or no preparation.

Possible Variations

• Use the student poems on the wall as part of a running dictation. One student runs to the wall, reads a poem and runs back to dictate the poem to his/her partner, who in turn listens and writes it down. 
• Read the students’ poems yourself and have students guess who the author is. Great for practicing language of guessing and the passive voice: I think it is… It might be… It was written by…
• Instead of having students write their poems on index cards, have them submit their poems to a class website, Facebook page, Twitter feed or Pinterest board. Students can comment on and share each other’s work with virtually any social networking site.

Discussion Questions

How have you used poetry in your class? Instead of using album titles, could you create a found poetry lesson around another text? Would you be uncomfortable dealing with incidental grammar questions? Please write your comments below!

The post Found Poetry with Rap Albums appeared first on ESL Hip Hop.

The Grammar and Pronunciation in the Hook

The song’s hook, or chorus, starts off simple enough.

Everything’s falling
Every-Everything’s falling
Everything’s falling
Every-Everything’s falling
Everything’s falling
Every-Everything’s falling
Everything’s falling
Every-Everything’s falling

The verb tense in the hook is called the present progressive or present continuous. Use it to describe actions that are happening right now, in the moment, as you are speaking. Also use it to describe temporary situations and conditions. 

Subject + be (is, am, are) + ~ing verb

• MC Lars is rapping right now!
• You are studying English with hip-hop music!
• I am writing a new sentence.
• MC Lars is not making bad music now.
• You are not studying French with hip-hop music.
• I am  not eating lasagna because it is 10 o’clock at night right now.

Making a question is very easy. Switch the be verb and the subject to make questions.

Be verb + subject + ~ing verb
Wh~ + be verb + subject + ~ing verb

• Is MC Lars rapping right now?
• Where is he rapping?
• Are you studying English with hip-hop?
• Why are you studying English with hip-hop?

Spelling the ~ing rules follows a few basic rules, but there are some exceptions.

• Many verbs add ing at the end
  • play – playing
  • study – studying
  • eat – eating
• If a verb has a final e, delete the e, and add ing.
  • make – making
  • write – writing
• Look at the last three letters in a word. If they are a consonant + vowel + consonant, the double the final consonant.
  • run – running
  • stop – stopping
  • rap – rapping
  • sit – siting

Most people don’t pronounce ~ing. In the track, MC Lars sings, “Everything’s fallin’.” There’s no G.

Adjective Clauses in the Verse

In this track, MC Lars criticizes overly-commercialized music, while also praising  genuine and authentic hip-hop that is poetic and artful. This verse starts at 1:02

What is Hip-Hop? Is it what you wear?
Is it the brands that you rep or the way you wear you hair?
Is it your attitude, gratitude, identity or fate?
Your history, your future or the problems that you face?
Is it the spirit of the times? The Zeitgeist, believe it
Divinity inside of me, we breathe it cause we need it
The Gospel of Hip-Hop, it really changed my life
KRS relieved the stress – I had to read it twice

-MC Lars

The verse has adjective clauses. Adjective clauses give more information about people, places or things.

• What is hip-hop? Is hip-hop what you wear? What you wear = clothes
  
• Is hip-hop the brands (that) you wear? Is hip-hop the way (that )you wear your hair?

noun (object) + that/which/who + subject + verb

• Hip-hop is music (which) many people listen to. 
  
• Tupac is a rapper (that) many people love.

That/which/who are optional if the noun is an object, but you always need what.

• Hip-hop is music many people listen to.
• Tupac is a rapper many people love.

noun (subject) + that/which/who + verb

• MC Lars is a guy. He writes nerdy hip hop. MC Lars is a guy who writes nerdy hip-hop. 

If the noun is a subject, you must use that/which/who.

• MC Lars is a guy writes nerdy hip-hop.

Vocabulary in the Verse

When it all falls apart I remember what he said
It’s not about the cheddar, creme, fame, skill or bread
Its’s carbon truth in beauty, learning to respect
Learning how to love, putting selfishness in check
What is Hip-Hop? Divine self-discovery
Mastering the elements, defining just what love can be
Testifying truthfully, rhyming with the best
I see the light, it feels so right cause hip-hop’s got me blessed
I stay up, even when everything’s falling apart

-MC Lars

• cheddar/creme/fame/skill/bread (noun) – money. Some rappers are artists, and some rappers only want a lot of fame.
  
• put something in check (verb phrase) – to limit something. Hip-hop music helps MC Lars put bad habits in check.
• the light (idiom) – knowledge.
• blessed (adjective) – to be very lucky because you have something special.

Do you like hip-hop music? Who are your favorite artists? When do you listen to hip-hop music? Do you listen to it when you are happy? Do you listen to it when you are sad? Tell us why you think hip-hop music is great! Please write your comment below!

The post Pass the TOEFL with MC Lars appeared first on ESL Hip Hop.