Famous people—Ella Fitzgerald

An EFL lesson for middle-level students

July 2024. eflsuccess.com ⇔

Warm up: Quickly tell your small group what kind of music you like best (if you wish, give an example or tell us why you like that type—but keep your answer short!).

Vocabulary:

(*key terms) [sth=something, sb=somebody; click here for common English abbreviations]

*20^th century: 1901-2000 (so the “second half” would be 1951-2000)
*amateur: not professional; someone who does sth (like a sport or job) for fun, not for money
big break: a situation or circumstance in sb career that makes them famous or successful
*big name: sb who is famous in a specific field. “Which big name singer do you think we should invite to our festival?”
chart-topping: a successful song or album based on sales, radio play time, and music streaming data
covers: a performance of a song made by sb who did not originally compose or record it
*found(ed): to create an organization, such as a company or charity “I think it’s great when well-paid people found a charity instead of building another big house for themselves.” “Ella is the founder of the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation.”
gawky: moving in an awkward or clumsy way “Many teenagers are gawky until they figure out how to make their growing bodies move more gracefully.”
improvise/improvisation: a performance created “in the moment” (without planning or preparation) instead of using memorized words/music “Ella was famous for improvised melodies that were so good that they seemed to have been planned.”
*legacy: a lasting affect; an ongoing result of sth that happened in history
*nursery rhyme: a short traditional poem or song for children “Many parents read a nursery rhyme to their children at bedtime.”
*to release: to make something (like a song or film) available for people to see or buy
scat singing: a form of jazz improvisation where singers use the voice as if it were an instrument (i.e., without using words)
*solo artist: sb that usually performs alone, or as the only singer
*troubled: difficult; full of problems and/or causing worry

Expressions or proper nouns:

AME: African Methodist Episcopal Church, USA (founded 1816—in a time of racial discrimination), the first independent Christian denomination (or “branch”) to be founded by Black Christians in America
diamond in the rough: refers to a person (or company, etc) whose positive qualities are hidden or undeveloped “Ella was a diamond in the rough as a teen, but her band leader saw her great potential.”
*First Lady: a woman considered to be the very best in her field or in a high rank (AmE: also refers to the wife of the US President)
*The Great Depression: a decade of severe economic hardship that followed the Wall Street (stock market) crash of 1929. “In the Great Depression, many banks and businesses failed, and millions lost their jobs, particularly in the US and Europe.”
NAACP: the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; an American organization that works for the rights of African-American people

Ella Fitzgerald

Underlined vocabulary terms are defined above, followed by discussion questions.

Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), called the “First Lady of Song,” was one of the most popular female jazz singers in the second half of the 20th century. She was born in 1917 in Virginia, and her mother and step-father worked hard to build a good childhood for her. As a child, her family was active in the Bethany AME Church, which provided Ella with her earliest musical experiences. However, an auto accident killed her mother in 1932 (Ella was 15), and she soon moved to live with her aunt in Harlem, NY (known as a dangerous place back then). The next few years were troubled, but music helped Ella survive the Great Depression.

Ella first performed on stage at an Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater in 1934, winning first prize. A year later the “gawky, diamond in the rough” joined Chick Webb’s orchestra. In 1938, Ella became famous when Chick released her chart-topping version of the nursery rhyme: “A-Tisket, A-Tasket.” Following her big break, Ella recorded famous covers of many songs in the “Great American Songbook” and songs by other musicians. Songwriter Ira Gershwin said, “I never knew how good our songs were until I heard Ella Fitzgerald sing them.” Besides her success as a solo artist, Ella wrote and performed music with other big–name performers like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Ella became known for her remarkable skill at “scat” singing, where an artist imitates an instrument, often improvising.

While performing across the world, Ella faced discrimination as a woman of color and used her talent and position to advance civil rights for African Americans. Over her career she earned 13 Grammy awards and sold 40 million albums. Other awards include the 1987 NAACP President’s Award, 1992 Presidential Medal of Freedom, and honorary doctorates from Harvard and Yale Universities. Ella continued to perform until 1993, when she founded the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, which still works to help people of all races, cultures, and beliefs. She died in 1996 at age 79, but her legacy lives on in her recordings and in all the people she continues to influence.

Vocabulary matching:

Match the words from the article on the left with their synonyms on the right. Are your answers the same as other students’?

1. solo                a. lasting effect 
2. big name            b. become available
3. troubled            c. alone
4. gawky               d. difficult
5. legacy              e. not for money
6. amateur             f. created
7. release             g. famous
8. founded             h. awkward

Video (optional):

Before discussing this article, watch one of Bob Dylan’s performances. Here are some suggestions:

https://youtu.be/1bgFkeDLpSI?si=FEFYrR-4RDFSkxeZ (1942; singing “A-Tisket-A-Tasket“; in 1942 Abbott & Costello film Ride ‘Em Cowboy; NBC Universal)
https://youtu.be/myRc-3oF1d0?si=n1u4pY59TPEs-g9Jhttps://youtu.be/0MzyBv4yOPU?si=Stq1GE_iWmEStLuT (singing “Gotta Serve” at Grammys—first Grammy performance)
https://youtu.be/qU7R1w0aNF0?si=qTNbCXTv25q5Pq5K (6-min documentary)
https://youtu.be/qWtD4EN4Xj8?si=tuGDkGVt6OvmB6LL (receiving 1987 NAACP award and singing in her later years)

Discussion:

Are there any terms you want to ask your teacher about? (As always, please do not answer any question that makes you uncomfortable.) If you have a lower English level, ask your partner “content questions” which have answers in the text.

What are the elements that make artists/musicians “famous”?
What musical and other benefits come to small children by attending church?
Tell the class a “diamond in the rough” story (that is, a story about people who were successful after someone noticed their hidden potential)?
Ella faced several challenges: losing her mother at a young age, discrimination because she was black, living in dangerous Harlem, growing up in the Great Depression, etc. Where do people find the inner strength to overcome challenges?
Biographers says that Ella added hard work to exceptional natural talent to become successful. (She had perfect pitch and perfect rhythm.) What other factors influenced Ella’s success? (Do the same factors affect you?)
Ella was excellent at improvisation. Why do you think this is important in the entertainment business? What are some other lines of work where improvisation is important?
Work with a partner to answer this: If you could become the founder of a charity, what would it do (who or what cause would it help)?
Why do you think that music has such an important role in culture?
Tell your partner about a favorite musician or artist. If you can, think about someone whose fame extends beyond his/her art to an unrelated area of life.
If you still have time, each student should create a sentence using one of the vocabulary words.

For additional lessons on famous people, visit: https://famouspeoplelessons.com

Matching (answers)

1. solo = alone 5. legacy = lasting effect
2. big name = famous 6. amateur = not for money
3. troubled=difficult 7. release = become available
4. gawky = awkward 8. founded = created

Sources include

I’m grateful to Meredith Edwards for suggesting and writing the draft for this lesson.
https://www.ellafitzgerald.com/biography/#/
the YouTube documentary cited above
my visit to Museum of Historic Annapolis; https://museum.annapolis.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Fitzgerald (and other wiki articles)

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