Unit 2

Writing the words

Students should refer to the resources gathered in Unit 1 and ensure they have fully immersed themselves in the issues and facts on your given theme.

Activity 2 can be used as model for a class composition and of course you can adapt this for use with your material.

Then students should study the lyric sheets from songs they listened to in Unit 1. They should pay particular attention to how the rappers make use of rhyme, alliteration, word association, everyday slang, figures of speech and clichés etc. Some may find it helpful to use a special phonetic rhyming alphabet to help them ... they begin the word with each of the following letters and consonant blends and make a list of all the 'words' that make sense. It might be a good idea to enlist the support of the English department in this work!

B,D,F,G,H,J,K,L,M,N,P,Q,R,S,T,V,W,Z, BL, BR,CH,DR,FL,FR,GL,GR,KL,KR,PR,SH,SHR,Sl,ST,STR,TH,THR,TR

Further resources can be found in online rhyming dictionaries - Write Express and RhymeZone - and a web article on How to Write Rap Lyrics

Download: Writing the words [Word document]

Download: Writing rap lyrics activity sheet [Word document]