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Use song to combine pirate life with everyday vocabulary.
"I'm a pirate, look at me!/Stealing, sailing, wild and free!"
That sounds fun. But how do you give a lesson on pirates to secondary children without teaching useless vocabulary such as "cutlass" and "doubloons"?
You could start with a song. In Spanish, there is Yoho, Yoho, Un Gran Pirata Soy!, and in Italian, Yo-Ho, La Vita di Un Pirata Per Me! Both are lively ways to practise the first-person plural. In French, there is La Fiancee du Pirate, a dramatic way to practise first-person singular and the future tense.
Pupils could listen to the song while reading the lyrics, with necessary vocabulary. The whole class could then speak, sing or chant the words together. Whichever way you do it, the rhythm helps pupils to memorise the language.
Then ask them this:...