My classes went much better today than yesterday. I had enough time to rewrite my lesson (the one that was the same level as the one I botched yesterday), and, for the most part, that class ended up going very well. The song I chose for class did not work as well as I had hoped. I used one of my favorite songs, Here Come the Martian Martians by Jonathan Richman. Grammar-wise, it tied in with our last lesson (nationalities), so when we did our review, I added in: A person from Russia is Russian; a person from Mars is Martian. The students got it, and laughed. Also, we were able to discuss the lyrics, and I think they understood them, although the lyrics are so weird in English that it is hard to tell if they could be translated very well. The main problem came when we tried to sing. I had never thought about how incredibly FAST the tempo of that song really is, and my poor low-level students were simply not able to keep up. Things to keep in mind for next time, I guess. In my other two classes today I used Walking After Midnight by Patsy Cline, and it worked fabulously. The song is slow enough for the students to listen to, understand, and sing along with, and they lyrics were very easy to explain. AND the grammar topic of the day was that nasty phrase "used to." But I got to explain the story behind "I go walking after midnight, out in the moonlight, just like we USED TO do" (which is really depressing, actually), and it made a great introduction to the topic. I also used some of my photos from home (I used to have blonde hair. A used to have a beard. M used to be single. I used to live in Florida.), which the students seem to enjoy looking at. I have to admit that I got choked up, not once, but in both classes, in the middle of the damn Patsy Cline song. I am turning into such a sap in my old age!
In the Patsy Cline classes, we are watching Forrest Gump. The plan is to watch approximately five minutes of the movie every class. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I hate Forrest Gump. The first time I saw the movie, I thought it was neat how they managed to edit together real historical footage with the image of Tom Hanks, but that was all I really liked about it. In high school, I had some friends who loved this movie, and who insisted that we watch it at nearly every sleepover. I grew to detest that film, and I still do. Plus, I really do not enjoy sad, sappy movies. I may get all teary eyed at Patsy Cline, but I haven't yet degenerated to the point where I enjoy sobbing my way through tear-jerker films. Especially when it's a film I have already been tricked into sobbing my way through more than once. Life can be sad enough. Why should I choose to inflict extra sadness upon myself? Give me a comedy, or an action flick with a happy ending any day. Or Team America, which has both. But back to Forrest Gump. The reason why Forrest Gump is shown to the lower levels is because of the fact that Tom Hanks's character speaks so damn slowly, making it easy for others to understand. I was not looking forward to watching Forrest Gump; however, now that we are watching it, I have decided that it will be a very educational movie. After all, we are the American Home, and we are supposed to be teaching our students about American language and culture. The movie focuses on many of the important events of American cultural and political history. Today in my classes we talked about the Civil War, slavery and the Ku Klux Klan (in case you are wondering, Forrest Gump was named after Nathan Bedford Forrest). It was not a very in depth discussion (they are at a low level, after all), but they knew about the Civil War, and agreed that slavery was bad, and that you should not name your children after jackasses who found racist organizations. I also got to explain the phrase "His back is as crooked as a politician," which was simply an amusing thing to explain in and of itself.
In the Patsy Cline classes, we are watching Forrest Gump. The plan is to watch approximately five minutes of the movie every class. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I hate Forrest Gump. The first time I saw the movie, I thought it was neat how they managed to edit together real historical footage with the image of Tom Hanks, but that was all I really liked about it. In high school, I had some friends who loved this movie, and who insisted that we watch it at nearly every sleepover. I grew to detest that film, and I still do. Plus, I really do not enjoy sad, sappy movies. I may get all teary eyed at Patsy Cline, but I haven't yet degenerated to the point where I enjoy sobbing my way through tear-jerker films. Especially when it's a film I have already been tricked into sobbing my way through more than once. Life can be sad enough. Why should I choose to inflict extra sadness upon myself? Give me a comedy, or an action flick with a happy ending any day. Or Team America, which has both. But back to Forrest Gump. The reason why Forrest Gump is shown to the lower levels is because of the fact that Tom Hanks's character speaks so damn slowly, making it easy for others to understand. I was not looking forward to watching Forrest Gump; however, now that we are watching it, I have decided that it will be a very educational movie. After all, we are the American Home, and we are supposed to be teaching our students about American language and culture. The movie focuses on many of the important events of American cultural and political history. Today in my classes we talked about the Civil War, slavery and the Ku Klux Klan (in case you are wondering, Forrest Gump was named after Nathan Bedford Forrest). It was not a very in depth discussion (they are at a low level, after all), but they knew about the Civil War, and agreed that slavery was bad, and that you should not name your children after jackasses who found racist organizations. I also got to explain the phrase "His back is as crooked as a politician," which was simply an amusing thing to explain in and of itself.
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