Thanks to a friend and fellow Spanish teacher, I have found the music of Kevin, Karla y la Banda (KKLB). They have dozens of OUTSTANDING Spanish versions of today´s top pop songs. They cover many artists that our students are listening to, such as Taylor Swift,  Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, One Direction, Selena Gomez, etc. Since our students are already familiar with the tune and basic messages of the songs, it will facilitate comprehension of the lyrics in Spanish! For this reason, I am planning to make several activities with KKLB songs. Here´s the first one! Below you will find links to an activity sheet and answer key for this excellent rendition of Katy Perry´s «Wide Awake» for practicing the preterit. Also, I included the following introductory explanation to use the message of the song to help students understand why the verbs are in the preterit:

«In this song, the singer declares that she has “woken up.” She has decided to put an end to a difficult period in her life and to move on.

All of the preterit verbs in the song express actions that were completed at a specific point in the past.»

Hoja de actividades: «Hoy desperté» (PDF)

Clave de respuestas: «Hoy desperté» (PDF)

Update: Check out Profesora Hanson’s blog for another post about KKLB & activity sheet for the song «Siempre supe» (cover of Taylor Swift’s «I Knew You Were Trouble)!