This activity is based on the popular British radio show Desert Island Discs, which asks famous people what music they would take with them to a desert isle. According to Peter McDonald, one of the contributors to the show, the purpose of the activity is to express opinions, feelings, emotions, talk about likes/dislikes, converse about past experiences. This music activity will help students to create and voice their feelings in a positive way and can lead to in-class discussions.

The deserted island song activity can also be used in the online classroom. One possible adaptation could be having each student share their screen and play their favorite verse of the song from their end. As a result, students will have the time to reflect about their classmates as they listen to each song.

Another possible adaptation, contributed by Maha Bali, is creating a video and using an online collaboration hub such as Slack. For asynchronous activity, students can create a video or write a post and embed the video of their favorite song. Their peers will be able to comment on their videos or posts.

Another possibility is to ask two students to share the song they would take to a deserted island. The song can be shared ahead of time on Slack and will be discussed at the start of class as if they are the celebrity being interviewed.