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yamahuh · Joined: 23 Apr 2004 Posts: 1033 Location: Karaoke Hell

This week being the last one before the 'hols' I decided to introduce my seniors to some Christmas songs but not the boring old 'Have yourself a merry little blah,blah,' 'Silent blah' or even the old gem 'Rudolph the red blahed, blah, blah'.
Figured I'd go for something they could actually get some real meaning out of. The kinds of songs that (for me anyway) embody the spirit of Christmas - peace on earth and helping your fellow man (and woman).

So I introduced them to a couple of real classics; modern ones you know?
'So this is Christmas' by John Lennon and 'Do they know it's Christmas?' by Band Aid.
I copied and pasted the lyrics into a word document and made a Cloze Gap exercise out of them; worked pretty well too. At the end of the exercise when we had filled in all the gaps properly I told them a little about the real meaning of the songs; why it had been written in the case of the Band Aid song and by whom in the case of the Lennon song.
At this point I proceeded to tell them a little about Lennon; his life with the Beatles and later as an advocate for peace and understanding.
I finished my short spiel by telling them about his murder in New York and that when he was shot I was approximately the same age as they currently are now. Finally I asked if they wanted me to play it again as there were 4 or 5 minutes left in class.
I almost teared up when about 75% of the class began singing along with the song.
It was really quite beautiful; one of those 'Today I had an impact' moments.
Wink

Sometimes the rewards are astounding.

woza17 · Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 602 Location: china

Wow you got that all across, Power to you. My favourite is Everybody Hurts REM I do the gap and talk about suicide and it goes down well' it relates.
I love that song because it opposes the Nirvana stuff in the west. The suicide rate in China is quite alarming so I think it is a positive thing to teach. I love singing myself so I walk among the students belting out my voice with the song.

I also have the DVD so the kids can see all the young beautiful people singing so they think that is cool.

I follow up with with, well what do you do when you feel sad. I model the language and I get some really interesting results
A few girls said I write a diary. Then we could talk about keeping a diary
These kids are 14
I teach mainly 14 yo and even though I am 52 yo now I can still remember that age so vividly so I tread softly.

I teach in Guangdong, these kids are not stupid and very aware of sexual stuff not far away from the western teenagers. I really like these kids. I understand the classroom dymatics. I work with it.

Good on you OP

friedrich nietzsche · Joined: 29 Oct 2005 Posts: 155

It appears that you did indeed have an impact- you have my respect.

yamahuh · Joined: 23 Apr 2004 Posts: 1033 Location: Karaoke Hell

It sometimes feels like you're trying to turn back the tide with a margarine container when you're trying to get these kids to think for themselves and make an effort.
Once in a while however it all pays off.
Today I got a Christmas card from one of the quieter girls in class who had written (and spelled correctly no less!) a short message:

'Dear Chris, thank you for making English class interesting and fun, have a Merry Christmas'

Made my day.
It's been a good week!

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

an even more galling endnote to that article that i posted above, bono was one of the members of band aid, a man who, like him or not, has made debt relief for poor countries a priority in his campaign against poverty. and that waste of space article fails to even acknowledge this fact, simply choosing to criticize band aid for allegedly painting a bad image of africa. indymedia ought to be ashamed of themselves.

yamahuh · Joined: 23 Apr 2004 Posts: 1033 Location: Karaoke Hell

At least Band Aid was attempting to DO something.
But just like many other things in life when you step outside of people's comfort zones (i.e ignoring the situation) folks try to condemn you and drag you down because you're seen as getting 'too big for your boots'.
The real reason is jealousy and a myopic view of the world, they forget how much money was channeled towards African relief in the 80's due to this very song and its message.
Pathetic.