Yellow Submarine

 

Level: TBD

Aims: Vocabulary, reading comprehension, dictionary skills

Grammar: no grammar aims here

Time: 30-50 mins

Materials: audio player, photocopies of the text of the song

 

 

 

 

Introduction: Yellow Submarine by the Beetles is a classic of English rock-n-roll. The song is also catchy and tends to be amusing for younger students. The text is simple in terms of vocabulary and grammar. In this author’s experience, Korean students tend to be quite interested in English-language rock-n-roll.

The students will be given photocopies of the Text of the Song. Play the song once. Using the Text of the Song with Notes, go through the text. Follow this with the Discussion Questions.

 

 

 

Text of the Song

Yellow Submarine  (Beetles)

 

In the town where I was born

Lived a man who sailed to sea

And he told us of his life

In the land of submarine.

 

So we sailed unto the sun

Til we found a sea of green

And we lived beneath the waves

In our yellow submarine.

 

We all live in a yellow submarine.

 

And our friends are all aboard

Many more of them live next door

And the band begins to play.

 

We all live in a yellow submarine.

 

And we live a life of ease

Every one of us has all we need

Sky of blue and sea of green

In our yellow submarine.

 

We all live in a yellow submarine.

 

 

 

 

 

Text of the Song with Notes

Yellow Submarine  (Beetles)

 

In the town where I was born

Lived a man who sailed to sea

And he told us of his life

In the land of submarine.

  • Dictionary lookup: “submarine”. Ask the students: “In English words, when you see the prefix ‘sub-‘, what does it mean?” Point out the etymology of “marine”: “’Marine’ means ‘ocean’.”
  • What is the “land of submarine’? It might be useful here to draw a picture undersea showing a submarine hovering above the ocean floor.

 

So we sailed unto the sun

  • Ask the students: “What does this mean?” Basically this line means that the submarine sailed into the horizon.

‘Til we found a sea of green

  • “’til” à “until”

And we lived beneath the waves

  • Dictionary lookup: “waves”

In our yellow submarine.

 

We all live in a yellow submarine.

 

And our friends are all aboard

  • Dictionary lookup: “aboard”. Ask the students its part of speech (“Is it s noun?”). Tell the students: “This is a special word you use at sea. You don’t ‘get on’ an English boat; you ‘get aboard’ or ‘go aboard’.”

Many more of them live next door

And the band begins to play.

 

We all live in a yellow submarine.

 

And we live a life of ease

  • Ask the students: “What does this mean?” Point out the relation between “ease” and “easy.”

Every one of us has all we need

Sky of blue and sea of green

In our yellow submarine.

 

We all live in a yellow submarine.

 

Discussion Questions

1.      What is the story of the song? What story does the song tell? Note the second line: “And he told us of his life in the land of submarine.” What story does the man tell?

2.      Who knows other songs by the Beetles? It might be interesting to show pictures of the Beetles and play some of their other songs.