“The General” is one of my favourite Advanced (CAE) song activities. The language isn’t especially difficult in itself, but the pace of the song will keep people on their toes. A great activity to use at the end of a word formation lesson or just to practise listening with a twist. You can also take the moral of the song, which was influenced by the 1st Gulf War, but with the American Civil War as reference, to debate war and whether it is ever justifiable.
Contents
The song – The General
Dispatch wrote “The General” as an anti-war song in 1998 taking influence from their parents’ horrific stories of the Gulf War. The anecdote is a legend about General Lee in the American Civil War who is said to have sent his men home. Whether or not the story is true, it contains a moving message of the balance between duty and valour. Pacifism and justification for war could all be discussed following this listening activity. While they aren’t particularly upbeat topics, they often lead to an engaging and valuable debate in the classroom at higher levels. Just be careful to maintain the role of moderator as much as possible in order to let your students take sides. Assigning sides for a debate like this can also work well because it allows people to voice opinions without feeling self-conscious.
Listen to the song on Youtube.
The materials
Use of English Part 3 is the word formation activity in the Advanced exam. The words which have been taken from the song are not as challenging as those which you can sometimes see at C1 level, but the pace of the song makes it an Advanced level challenge. For that reason, I recommend listening to the song once first before giving your students the activity. That way, they can see how well they understand the story and message without having the lyrics in front of them.
EXAM PART: CAE Reading and Use of English Part 3 – Word formation
TIME: 10-20 minutes + lyrics interpretation
PREPARATION: One copy of the CAE song worksheet per student
Procedure
- Put different generals on the board and discuss. Who is each person? What did they do? How are all these people connected? (Wellington, Bismarck, Washington, Sun Tzu, Hannibal, Napoleon, Alexander, Caesar)
- Ask what a general does? Why do they become famous? Which famous generals are there from their country?
- Play the song for gist. What is the story about? What did the general do?
- Students complete the exam-style CAE song “The General” activity.
- Listen to the song to check answers.
- Discuss the justification for war and start a debate.
