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Every Breath You Take

A classic collocation gap-fill activity




I don't why I haven't posted this earlier
because this is my favourite song when it comes to introducing for the first
time the idea of collocations to students and teachers alike. It is full of verb-noun
collocations ranging from very common (take a step, play a game) to less
frequent (stake a claim). Note that common collocations often involve delexicalised
verbs (take, make etc) with wide collocational fields while less common ones usually
involve more semantically charged words (stake) which collocate with a limited
number of words (claim).













There are two versions in the handout below:
the first version is the one I normally use with students, the second one is for
teachers but can also be used with advanced students (C1/2).





The focus of the activity is not listening so with
both versions the gap fill should be attempted before listening. To
complete the gaps, students should draw on their lexical knowledge; some would
probably know parts of the song by heart J






Version 1






You may have to clarify the following items:

stake a claim = say or show that you think something should be yours

break a vow = break a serious promise: make / take / break a vow

long for your embrace = want very much to hold you in my arms

fake a smile = pretend that you're smiling; also fake his own death, fake her signature














Version 2




In this version, all the missing words are
verbs. No word bank is given. Ask students / teachers to complete as many gaps
as they can before playing the song.






Download both versions HERE or preview below









A subtitled version of the music video can be found on MusicEnglish: http://musicenglish.co.uk/every-breath-you-take-by-the-police/



This activity always goes down well for me.
Hope it works for you too.


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