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Learning English with CBCListening Lessons for Intermediate StudentsBased on CBC Manitoba Radio Broadcasts

January 29, 2009Lesson 39: Teacher’s EditionLevel: Benchmark 5 and up

Topic: The Story of Minnedosa’s PianoLanguage Skills and Functions: Listening – listening to a short interview for detail

and inferenceSpeaking – participating in a group discussionReading – read a text to guess meaning from contextWriting – writing a letter to ask for information

Language Competencies: Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Listening and Speaking Strategies, Sociocultural/sociolinguistic Competence

Language Tasks: Completing a quiz to determine suitability to small town life

Discussing the advantages and disadvantages of urban and rural living

Listening for detail and inference in a radio interview with Stuart McLean, host of the CBC radio program The Vinyl Café

Reading a newspaper article about The Vinyl Café and guessing the meaning of words and expressions from context

Problem solving on how small towns can encourage newcomer settlement

Writing a letter to a newcomer who has settled in a smaller or larger community to ask for more information on what it’s like to live there

Essential Skills: Reading text, working with others, problem solving, thinking skills, oral communication

Worksheets1: 1. Is Small Town Life Right for You?2. Vocabulary Match3. Listen for Detail and Inference4. Guess Vocabulary Meaning from Context5. Help a Small Town Solve a Problem6. Write a Letter to a Fellow Newcomer

Appendices: Transcript of the podcastHamilton Spectator article: On the Menu at The Vinyl Café

1 Answers to worksheets are in the self-study version of the lesson plan.

Manitoba Memo

Where is the best place to live? Where do we find the best quality of life? Is it in a large, medium sized or small city? Is it in a city’s downtown area or in its suburbs? Is the quality of life better in a small town or village or in a rural or remote area?

How we answer these questions is strongly linked to what is important to us. What do we value most in our lives? Our answers may also be related to our age. We may look for different things in our communities when we are in our twenties than in our forties or in our seventies.

Some will say life in smaller communities is best because the pace is slower and you get to know everyone. Others will say that a slow pace is boring and that they prefer the anonymity of a big city! But many of us are somewhere in the middle. We like the entertainment options, career opportunities and diversity that cities have to offer but we also appreciate the safe, close-knit nature of small communities and the spirit of their residents.

Two-thirds of Manitobans live in cities. Winnipeg is by far the largest city in the province with over 600,000 residents. Brandon is the second largest with approximately 45,000 residents. The province’s seven other cities have populations of between 9,000 and 15,000. There are over 70 towns and villages across the province and 62 First Nations communities. The remaining population lives in rural or remote areas.

Yet despite the predominance of urban life in Manitoba, and across Canada, most urban dwellers have a strong attachment to the towns, villages and communities where their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were born. Our appreciation for small communities, their people and their stories is reflected in our country’s literature, theatre, television and radio. Classics such as Stephen Leacock’s Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town and humorous portrayals of everyday life in the Wingfield Farm plays, The Vinyl Café stories on CBC radio and the television show Corner Gas entertain us all, no matter where we live.

Pre-listening activities

1. Complete the quiz: Is small town life right for you?

Review the instructions to Worksheet 1. Students can discuss the statements with a partner, but each student should complete their own copy of the quiz.

When students are finished, ask for a show of hands. How many answered yes to at least 9 out of 12 statements? Ask students to do the math. What percentage of the class could be suited to small town life?

The Story of Minnedosa’s Piano Learning English with CBC of 17

2. Discuss these questions as a class

Discuss the following background questions on today’s topic with the class.

What do you see as some of the greatest advantages of living in cities? What are some of the greatest disadvantages?

What do you see as some of the greatest advantages of living in small towns or rural areas? What are some of the greatest disadvantages?

How do cities in your country differ from cities in Manitoba? How do small communities and rural areas in your country differ from those in Manitoba?

In your country, do people find humour in everyday experiences? Can you think of any examples of this?

3. Vocabulary

Elicit or present key vocabulary that students need to understand prior to listening to the podcast (see suggested vocabulary and explanations which follow). You can write the words on the board and elicit possible meanings from the class or break students into groups and give each group a few words to review. Groups can then present the vocabulary to the rest of the class. You can also ask students to mark the syllables and stress for each word, identify word families and practise pronouncing the words. You may want to ask students to think of sentences that use the new vocabulary. If your students keep a vocabulary journal, they can copy the vocabulary into their journal.

AND/OR Have students work with a partner to complete Worksheet 2 and match vocabulary words with their meanings.

VocabularyThe Vinyl Café The Vinyl Café is the name of a CBC radio show.

The show travels to communities across the country and host Stuart McLean gets to know the community by dropping by local restaurants and businesses. He shares the unique features and stories of each community with the rest of Canada on his show. In the show, Stuart tells short stories about a fictional family and their neighbours. The family owns a used record store called The Vinyl Café and that’s how the show got its name.

touring To travel from place to place to perform a show.

rehearsing To practice a performance in advance.

lugged To carry something around with you. If you are lugging it, as opposed to carrying it, this implies it is heavy.


wrestled (with) If you wrestle with something, it means you have difficulty moving it. For example, you would wrestle with a piano if you were trying to move it out of your way.

moment of inspiration A time when you are feeling inspired. You have an idea about something.

painfully empty Very empty or bare. For example, if your wallet is painfully empty, it implies you have little or no money in it, or in your bank account.

folding money Bills or paper money, not coins.

handed over To give to someone.

4. Predict what the podcast is about

In this story, Marilyn Maki interviews Stuart McLean, host of The Vinyl Café radio program on CBC. The show is returning to Minnedosa, Manitoba for the first time in a decade and it is returning for a special reason. Ask students to think of questions Marilyn could ask Stuart about why they are returning. Use the W5 system and write the following question starters on the board.

She could ask him:

Who is….coming with you on the trip?What are you….Where will you…When will you…Why are you….

While-listening activities

1. Introduce the podcast

Tell students that in this podcast, they will hear several speakers. They will hear:

Marcy Markusa – hostMarilyn Maki – interviewerStuart McLean – host of The Vinyl Café radio program

Play the podcast for the first time.

2. Listen for detail and inference

Hand out Worksheet 3. Review it with students and have them work in pairs to complete it.

Take up the answers as a class.


3. Listen for the aside

When students listen this time, draw their attention to lines 15 to 19.

And once we went to Minnedosa and it was the three of us, John Sheard on the piano, I’m at I’m at John’s house right now, we’re rehearsing, ah there was Chris Whiteley playing the guitar and myself driving this van all through Manitoba.

Tell students that when Stuart inserts I’m at John’s house right now, we’re rehearsing into his sentence, that’s what we commonly refer to as an aside. It’s a remark that isn’t part of the main subject he’s talking about, although in this case, it’s related. As soon as Stuart mentions John’s name, he thinks about where he is at that very moment and adds in the line about the rehearsal. Then he jumps right back into the midst of the thought he had previously started. You may also want to note that this is a good example of the spontaneous nature of spoken English!

Post-listening activities

1. Review pre-listening predictions

Ask students to quickly review the W5 questions they thought Marilyn might ask. Were they able to guess some of the questions that were asked in the interview?

Extension activities

1. Read a newspaper article and guess the meaning of expressions from context

Ask students to work in small groups. Hand out Appendix 2 and Worksheet 4 and review the content and instructions with students. Assign each group 3 or 4 of the expressions to work on and the corresponding paragraphs in the article.

Take up the answers as a class.

2. Practice your problem solving skills: How can small towns encourage newcomers to settle in their community?

Hand out Worksheet 5 and review it with students.

Ask the groups to share their ideas with the rest of the class.

3. Write a letter to a newcomer in a larger/smaller community and ask for information about living there

Hand out and review Worksheet 6. Students can work together on the activity with a partner but they can write their own letter.


4. Listen to a broadcast of The Vinyl Café

Unfortunately, the show from Minnedosa is not being broadcast. But you can download a podcast of the weekly stories at:http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/index.html?arts#vinylcafe

Or you can suggest students listen to the show at home. The program airs:

Saturdays at 10:05 AM across Canada (Radio Two)

Sundays at 12:05 PM across Canada (Radio One)

Tuesdays at 11:05 PM across Canada (Radio One)

If you need to check the CBC frequency for your area, go to: http://www.cbc.ca/frequency/

Want to know more…

The website for the town of Minnedosa is: http://discoverminnedosa.ca/

For profiles of communities in Manitoba, go to:http://www.communityprofiles.mb.ca/index.html

The Vinyl Café website is: http://www.cbc.ca/vinylcafe/

Manitoba libraries have copies of Stuart McLean’s short story collections and audio recordings of his stories. One story newcomers might enjoy is Christmas with Rasheeda and Ahmeer. It’s a seasonal story that focuses on the challenges of adjusting to new cultural traditions. It’s in The Vinyl Café Coast to Coast Story Service collection.

An Ontario teacher has put together a book of lesson plans based on Stuart McLean’s stories. The Educator's Guide to The Vinyl Café with Stories by Stuart McLeanincludes the original Dave and Morley stories as well as related activities, reading assignments, discussion topics, and project ideas. It’s for grades 6 to 10, but the ideas could be adapted for an EAL classroom. You can order the book for $30 from: http://members.shaw.ca/artbookbindery/vinylcafe.html

(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external websites)


http://members.shaw.ca/artbookbindery/vinylcafe.html

http://www.cbc.ca/vinylcafe/

http://www.communityprofiles.mb.ca/index.html

http://discoverminnedosa.ca/

http://www.cbc.ca/frequency/

http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/index.html?arts#vinylcafe

Worksheet 1: Is Small Town Life Right for You?

Whether you enjoy living in a small town or rural community is related to what you value and enjoy most in life. It’s not for everyone, but many small town dwellers wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

Select your response to the following statements to get some sense of whether small town life could be right for you!

My Priorities Yes No

1. I like to get to know my neighbours well. Yes No

2. I like to live my life at a slower, more relaxed pace. Yes No

3. I like to spend a lot of time outdoors. Yes No

4. I enjoy driving on country roads and highways. Yes No

5. I like becoming involved in organizations in my community. Yes No

6. I don’t mind if my community knows things about how I live my life. Yes No

7. I’d rather hear frogs and birds outside my window than vehicle horns and traffic.

Yes No

8. I’d rather live somewhere where crime rates are low and I feel safe. Yes No

9. I like to volunteer to help out my community. Yes No

10. I don’t mind living in a community where there is less cultural diversity. Yes No

11. I would like my children to attend a small school. Yes No

12. Making money is less important to me than how I live and where I live. Yes No

If you answered yes to 9 of the 12 statements, you might want to consider small town life!


Worksheet 2: Vocabulary Match

If you learn some of the new vocabulary before listening to the interview, it will be easier to understand what you are hearing. Can you match the vocabulary words with their meaning? The first one is completed for you as an example. You can use an English Language Learners dictionary to help you.

Vocabulary Word Meaning

1. _c decade a) go from place to place

2. __ touring b) to try to move a large or awkward object

3. __ rehearsing c) 10 years

4. __ lugged d) practicing for a performance

5. __ wrestle with e) carried

6. __ moment of inspiration f) bare

7. __ a painfully empty wallet g) bills (not coins)

8. __ folding money h) to give to someone

9. __ hand over i) you have an idea


3: Listen for Detail and Inference

When you listen this time, listen for detail and/or inference. Decide whether each statement is true or false or whether there isn’t enough information for you to be able to answer the question. If there isn’t enough information, underline unsure. The first one is completed as an example. You may have to listen to the audio more than once.

1. The name of Stuart McLean’s show is The Vinyl Café. True False Unsure

2. Stuart McLean will make a return visit to Minnedosa this winter. True False Unsure

3. He is keen to return to Minnedosa. True False Unsure

4. The community arts centre did not have a piano the last time he was there.

True False Unsure

5. Stuart likes to play the piano. True False Unsure

6. Stuart was in the middle of a rehearsal when CBC called to interview him.

True False Unsure

7. The Vinyl Café performers discussed helping Minnedosa raise money for a piano amongst themselves before they offered to help fundraise.

True False Unsure

8. They raised $300 to $400 for the piano at performances across Canada.

True False Unsure

9. They handed the money over to an ex-Mountie from Brandon. True False Unsure

10. It will be a very special moment for the show when The Vinyl Caféreturns to Minnedosa and John plays the piano.

True False Unsure


Worksheet 4: Guess Vocabulary Meaning from Context

We don’t need to understand every word of a newspaper article to get the gist of the story. And when we read, we can guess the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary and expressions by taking hints from the context

Your teacher will assign you several paragraphs of the article in Appendix 2. With your group, brainstorm possible meanings of the phrases or words which are in bold in these paragraphs. Use the context to help you. Write your best guess on what the word or phrase means on the chart below. The first two are completed for you as examples.

Para-graph

Word or phrase What your group thinks it means

title on the menuthe article is about what happens on the show and what listeners can expect to hear

1 extraordinary bondthe host has a special bond or connection with his listeners

2 like a warm winter blanket and a cup of hot chocolate

4 brave the elements

7 a radio phenomena

7 the latest goings on

7 a good dose

8 without a doubt

11

back-up band

12 invigorating

12 unpalatable

12 more engaged


Worksheet 5: Help a Small Town Solve a Problem

Problem solving is part of everyday life. Sometimes we are solving problems that involve our family or home life. Often, we solve problems at work or at school. Or we may solve problems that face an organization or a friend.

Problem solving has a few basic steps. For example:

1. We define the problem.2. We gather information related to the problem.3. We brainstorm possible ways to solve the problem.4. We recommend a solution.5. We implement the solution.

Sometimes, we aren’t required to undertake all the steps. The problem may already be defined, or it may be up to others to determine or implement the solution. In this case, your group is being asked to focus on steps 3 and 4 of the list above.

The problem: A small town in the province has decided it would like to encourage newcomers to Manitoba to come to settle there. But the town’s organizing committee is not certain what newcomers are looking for, or how they should go about telling newcomers what the town has to offer. They are asking you to help them with this problem.

Your task: Using the chart on the next page, discuss the specific problems the town has identified with your group and read the additional information. Make notes of your thoughts and ideas in column three and of possible solutions in column four.

When you have completed the chart, discuss what other advice you’d like to give the town on encouraging newcomers to settle there. Make point form notes of your advice below.


Problems the town has identified

Additionalinformation

Thoughts and ideas Possible solution(s)

1) The town does not offer EAL classes.

The town is not certain if language classes are needed.

There are several retired teachers in town.

A nearby town has EAL classes. It is a 30-minute drive away.

It’s likely that some EAL instruction will be needed.

The town could ask the retired teachers to tutor newcomers and they could look for language partners in the community.

Getting help from a nearby town makes sense.

Recruit volunteers in the beginning. If the newcomer population continues to grow, then consider offering classes.

Talk to teachers in the nearby town to see if their classes have space for more students.

2) In addition to language training, the town doesn’t know what other settlement issues are most important to newcomers.

The town has job openings in such areas as health care, retail and agriculture.

Housing is available.

3) The town doesn’t think newcomers know what the town and the region has to offer. They also don’t know the best way to communicate this information to newcomers.

The town has schools, a hospital, an arts centre, recreational opportunities and a business district.

It is located in a picturesque area of the province.

Agriculture is an important part of the local economy.


Worksheet 6: Write a Letter to a Fellow Newcomer

Scenario: You and your family are thinking about moving to a community in Manitoba that is much smaller (or larger) than the one where you presently live. Your teacher knows an EAL teacher in that community. That teacher has given him/her the address of a newcomer family that has settled in that community, and has lived there for two years. You are writing to them to find out more information about what it is like to live there.

Who are you writing to? Dear ____________________________

Start with why youare writing the letter.

Thank you for helping us! My family and I are thinking about

________________________________________________.

I have a few questions I hope ____________________

_________________________.

Ask for information about the community. First of all, can you tell me

_______________________________

________________________________? I would also

like to know if___________________________________.

My family really enjoys ___________________________.

Will we be able to ___________________________ in your

community?Say what’s most important to you when you consider moving.

In addition to the things I have already mentioned,

what’s most important to me is _________________________

________________________________________. How would

you rate __________________________________________

in your community?

Thank, close and sign your name

I really appreciate _______________________________.

I look forward to hearing from you.

___________________________________The Story of Minnedosa’s Piano Learning English with CBC of 17

Appendix 1: Transcript

January 29, 2009 Speaker Podcast Line

Marcy Hi I'm Marcy Markusa and you're listening to Learning English with

CBC. Well have you ever listened to The Vinyl Café on CBC

Radio? Host Stuart McLean takes his show to small communities

across the country. He explores and gets to know rural towns and

cities and the people who live there. Well this winter, he’s

returning to Minnedosa Manitoba for the first time in a decade.

Radio noon host Marilyn Maki finds out what’s bringing him back.

5

Marilyn So are you looking forward to coming back to Minnedosa?

Stuart Yes very much, ya, we were there about a decade ago I think.

Marilyn Tell us the story about why you’re coming back. 10

Well in the early days of The Vinyl Café, we began the touring

shows of The Vinyl Café in Manitoba, and we used to, ah for two

seasons, that’s just about the only place we went. We travelled

around Manitoba in a little van and went to places like Boissevain

and Neepawa. And once we went to Minnedosa and it was just

three of us, John Sheard on the piano, I’m at I’m at John’s house

right now actually, we’re rehearsing, and ah there was ah Chris

Whitely playing the guitar and myself driving this van all through

Manitoba. We got to Minnedosa, went to the the community arts

centre I think where we um were going to do the show and there

was no piano on stage. John plays the piano and we said, well,

well where’s the piano and they said oh, we’re going to get it. And

they went over to somewhere else, a school or somewhere and

got this upright piano in the back of someone’s pick-up truck and

they lugged it over and wrestled it onto the stage. And then they

told us that they were they were trying to raise money to ah buy a

baby grand for the for the town and John piped up and he says

15

20

25


Stuart

(continued)

oh I’ll donate some money, I’ll give fifty bucks. And then everybody

looked at me and I thought, hey, wait a minute, have I gotta donate

too? So then I in ah a moment of inspiration, in a desperate

attempt to keep my hand out of my wallet which was painfully

empty in those days, I I said, I’ll tell you what we’re gonna do,

we’re gonna raise money at all The Vinyl Café concerts we do.

And we we had an old um Kodak ah plastic um lunch cooler, like a

little plastic lunch cooler that Shoppers Drug Mart was giving away

at a premium at the time and we lugged that little bag to all the little

towns all across all across the country actually. And at the end of

every show we would tell everybody about Minnedosa where they

were trying to buy a piano and we passed the bag and John would

play the piano and ah we’d only collect we said we wouldn’t take

any folding money and I think we raised three or four thousand

dollars ah which we then ah handed over to a a Mountie, an ex-

Mountie, from Minnedosa, um in a in a strip mall in Brandon a year

later after one of our shows in Brandon. And ah so we’re coming

back to Minnedosa so that John can play the piano.

30

35

40

45


Appendix 2

On the Menu at The Vinyl Cafe

Grant RockinghamThe Hamilton Spectator

(Dec 20, 2007)

1 An extraordinary bond exists between Stuart McLean and the hundreds of thousands of fans of his radio show, The Vinyl Cafe.

2 The CBC program has become like a warm blanket and a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter's day.

3 So in the middle of Sunday's blizzard when the decision was made to postpone two live Vinyl Cafe shows at Toronto's Convocation Hall, McLean knew he owed the fans something more than a handwritten sign on the door announcing the shows would be postponed until Jan. 13.

4 It was the first time in 10 years of touring that McLean had been forced to cancel or postpone a live show. He knew that while many wouldn't be able to make it, many others would still brave the elements.

5 He couldn't make it for the matinee, but his producer, Hamilton native Jess Milton, did, greeting fans at the doors to Convocation Hall and handing out free copies of Vinyl Cafe. McLean was there himself to catch people arriving for the evening show.

6 "I met people at the theatre," McLean said in a phone interview this week from his tour bus. "I brought CDs and everyone who showed up got a free CD and a little visit with me."

7 It's that kind of loyalty that has made The Vinyl Cafe a radio phenomena in this age of high definition TV. Every weekend some 700,000 listeners tune in to hear the latest goings on in the fictional lives of Dave, the proprietor of The Vinyl Cafe, his wife, Morley, and their children Stephanie and Sam. As well, listeners receive a good dose of Canadian music they probably hadn't heard before. Vinyl Cafe books have won three Stephen Leacock awards and regularly occupy the top of the bestseller list.


8 Without a doubt, McLean's Christmas stories are the most popular. There's the one when Dave decides to give Morley a break and cook the Christmas dinner himself. And the episode where Sam take home the school ferret for the holidays. Last Sunday we heard about how Arthur, the family dog, became buddies with Trouble, the live turkey Dave was keeping in the garage for Christmas dinner.

9 Tonight, McLean will deliver one old favourite -- The Christmas Pageant -- plus two new stories that haven't yet made their way to radio.

10 "Dave promises Morley that indeed she'll have a white Christmas," McLean says about one of the new stories. "So he assembles a snow-making machine and sets out to make snow for Morley's Christmas."

11 McLean also prides himself on the quality of music he has on the show. He has a strong back-up band consisting of multi-instrumentalist Chris Whiteley, pianist John Sheard and bassist Dennis Pendrith. On this tour his musical guests are singer-songwriter Danny Michel and Allison Russell, lead singer of the roots trio Po' Girl.

12 "We made a decision about five years ago that we would play only Canadian music on the show and focus on young people," McLean says about the musical selection. "It's been wonderfully invigorating for me. For most people, their musical education stops somewhere in their 20s or 30s, it becomes the music of their life. Now I'm being led by my music producer Julie Penner and my producer Jess Milton, both of whom are in their 20s. At first I found the stuff unpalatable almost, it wasn't what my ear was used to. But then I started listening the way I used to listen as a teenager. I'm enchanted by it now. I'm more engaged with the music of the shows than I ever have been. And I'm loving it. I'm a very lucky man in that way."

Source: http://www.thespec.com/printArticle/298871


http://www.thespec.com/printArticle/298871

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