Job Discussion Forums

[doreenp]

Wow, many thanks for all the suggestions, I wish i had posted this before we did "song " week. would have saved me listening to hours of songs and getting lost in the moments........although it was fun, but didn't get the lessons planned.

Seasons in the sun? what a depressing song. My kids thought it was great till they learned what it was all about.....

I'm still waiting for someone to come up with the real meaing of McArthurs Park.........although i think the writer is too...

[Wolf]

I realize my taste in music ranges somewhere between awful and nonexistant. Even so, a couple of music-related ideas come to mind.

Songs by that Elvis guy. He's got a pretty good voice Some of his slower love ballads are also pretty easy to follow. And if The King can't help you improve your listening skills, well, you ain't never caught a rabbit and you ain't no friend of mine.

Depending on the time of year, Bing Crosby's rendition of White Christmas. If people want to listen to Christmas music, then they ought to listen to good Christmas music. Once again, easy to follow, topical at Christmas, and east Asia could sure use a bit of good Christmas music at Christmas.

[Shaman]

The Barenaked Ladies' "If I Had a Million Dollars" is good for the 2nd conditional.

I recently had a student ask the meaning of "Stairway to Heaven".

I told him that the song had most likely been written in an "influenced" state. Still, we managed to get through it (without the substances).

Shaman

[Lynn]

I used Christina Aguillera's, "Beautiful" At the last five minutes of class, I passed out the lyrics and we all sang it together. The students could understand, "I am beautiful" and "you are beautiful". It worked out quite nicely. They got to keep the lyrics and I think some of them went home to practice with their teenaged children.

[jud]

Beatles songs are great, they cover most grammatical points, and most people love the Beatles so they'll end up singing along.

I like She loves you for elementary students. We play slam. They generally love it and take it seriously, and everyone sings at the end without me even asking them to.

From me to you is good for the first conditional.

More complex songs can work for low-level students if you're clear on what you want. We did Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. The students did selective listening, filling in the gaps for words that they had already learned. It was nice as it's not a simple song and students don't feel they're being taught down to.

Hello Goodbye is good for starters but I feel like an idiot using it for adults. It's one of the few Beatles songs I don't like.

[sidjameson]

Just got to share this with any Morrissey fans out there. Listened to Maudlin Street with my girlfriend the other day. She thought that "women only like me for my mind" was "women only like me for my nine"
I always knew the great Moz was gifted but not THAT gifted.

[Capergirl]

Puff the Magic Dragon?

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds?

You know, there are lots of great songs out there that are not about drugs. (j/k)

[jud]

I actually like pointing out the initials of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. The ones who go "OH!" are the ones I keep my eye on.

Actually, Peter Yarrow is a friend of my father's, and he gets really angry if you say Puff the Magic Dragon's about drugs. He says it's not.

Boh? as we say here in Italy.

[doreenp]

So we now have a debate over what is and what is not a song that is about extra sensory perception?

how about Itchycoo park, 8 miles high and McArthurs park, for those of you that remember these songs.

and they say if you remember being there,,,,,,,,,,,,you never were.

[jud]

Didn't want to debate.

Peter Yarrow wrote the song (Peter, Paul and Mary).

Either he's honest, lying or was too stoned to remember what he was thinking.

[doreenp]

sorry, didn't mean to sound rude. there has been a few other mentions of songs that were from that era and there always is debate as to "in what state" they were written, or what they 'really' mean....etc. What was decadant at the time is blasee, (blasay?) now.

Peter Paul and Mary.? I do remember them and I do remember thinking that Puff the Magic dragon was a kids song. Another good sing a long song of that day was the Unicorn song by the Irish Rovers , One of whom lives right down the street from me, (but no unicorns in sight!)
d.

[gerard]

There must be new songs that are good. By new post 1990. Problem with the Beatles is the students have already heard Yesterday and Let It Be.

I like Shamans idea but will the students make sense of all these Brian Wilson references? Anything in my own CD collection is out of the question since I can't even understand the lyrics myself.

[richard ame]

Hi Again

On the subject of Beatles songs I recently discovered a set of their songs done by a Turkish group ,in English, of course, but with a very Turkish musical arrangement with the saz and flute ,very atmospheric as soon as that familair sound hits their ear they sit up and take notice they recogise the singers voice as being from MFO,suddenly they want to know all about the songs ,the cassette goes by the name of Beatles ala Turka same as the new soft drink . Its available widely in Turkey for about the equivelent of about 3 pounds stirling,the kids can't get enough of it . The nice thing as well is that the cassette comes complete with the lyrics as well ,so a lot of the students have bought it .

[Joachim]

I never understand why teachers feel that in order to justify a lesson based on a song, it should have cultural significance or be an old one.

In Asia anyway, kids seem to know worryingly little about older Western music and are more likely to be inspired by Britney Spears et al.

I tend to use a song as a gap fill at the begiin of classes with older students (10 mins max) - and ones that work well are:

"Crawling" - Linkin Park
"In Your Eyes" - Kylie Minogue
"Breathe Easy" - Sugababes
Anything by Dido
"Little By Little" - Oasis
"Electrical Storm" - U2
"Yellow" - Coldplay
"Hollywood" - Madonna
"Nothing Really Matters" - Madonna

[denise]

Joachim--

Just out of curiosity, why is it worrying that (Asian?) children know little about older Western music? What do you consider "older"?

d