Expert School: Teachers...use that activity!

Prof Gustavo Passarin

SWEET DREAMS (ARE MADE OF THIS) by Eurythmics

‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’ (or simply ‘Sweet Dreams’) is a song by pop music duo Eurythmics (David A. Stewart and Annie Lennox). It is notable as the song which provided the group with their breakthrough into commercial success. On Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time issue in 2003, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" was ranked number 356: it was the group's only song on the list. The lyrics of the song allude to a search for fulfillment, and the "Sweet Dreams" are the desires that motivate us.

The original recording's main instrumentation featured a sequenced analog synthesizer riff, which Stewart discovered accidentally in the studio when he played a bass track in reverse. Apart from the synthesizer, the arrangement also uses Movement Systems Drum Computer, piano in the middle eight, and Lennox's multitracked harmony vocals.

Grammar: Passive Voice

Vocabulary material (glass, silver, leather, etc.)

Level: intermediate

Teacher’s notes

1. Write out and pre-teach the word abuse.

2. Tell your students they are going to listen to the song and fill in the gaps with the proper forms of the words in brackets. Play the song.

3. Discuss the difference between each pair of the Some of them sentences.

Answer

Ex. 1

Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
I travel the world
And the seven seas--
Everybody's looking for something.
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused.

(Hold your head up--Keep your head up—Movin’ on)

Ex.2

a) a glass vase – A vase is made glass.

b) the cotton T-shirts – The T-shirts are made of cotton.

c) a leather jacket – A jacket is made of leather.

d) a silver watch – A watch is made of silver.

e) the plastic pens – The pens are made of plastic.

SWEET DREAMS (ARE MADE OF THIS) by Eurythmics

1. Listen and fill in the gaps with the proper forms of the verbs in brackets.

Sweet dreams ____________ (make) of this
Who am I to disagree?
I travel the world
And the seven seas--
Everybody's looking for something.
Some of them want to ___________ (use) you
Some of them want to get _________ (use) by you
Some of them want to ___________ (abuse) you
Some of them want to ___________ (abuse).

(Hold your head up--Keep your head up--MOVIN' ON)

2. Match the objects and material. Use the word box to fill in the gaps. Then write what these objects are made of (e. g. Sweet dreams are made of this).