DEATH. In Musical Youtube form.
Teaching February 2nd. 2010, 7:36pmTeachers were all dreading the “Song and Music” day on the schedule for the entire children’s camp. I wasn’t looking forward to it, partially because I’ve had a voice that sounds like the undead for the past few weeks since I started working early in the morning in cold classrooms all winter. Also, my students in this particular class are, at best, mildly enthusiastic about anything I do. One student was actually so lazy she didn’t even bother to throw some dice to participate in a game. Couldn’t even be bothered to shake her wrist. She said it was too much work. Goddamn teenagers. Who needs ‘em? Anyway, the rest of the normal students in the class aren’t going to burst out in song. This is English Camp, this isn’t Glee.
The school management hadn’t told me that they had sent the students home with a song to practice. They wanted to sing a “mini song”. Whatever the hell THAT is. I just had to FIND a song the students would want to sing for two hours. I failed. Hard.
The students complained about any song that I picked. It’s too hard to sing “Hey Jude” with lyrics? Oh wait, no it isn’t here is a two year old KOREAN BABY singing the song. I played through a bunch of Youtube videos I know students loved to fill the first hour. The students still love The Muppets. The Ode to Joy sung by Beaker was their favorite video. It was ALSO too difficult to sing. The only song where some students participated was “Hello, Goodbye” by The Beatles.
Eventually the long slog of videos came to an end, and even I was happy to see it finished. We played a game to finish up the class based on the videos we watched, and they might as well have been asleep for the previous hour and a half for all they had retained. I do not enjoy singing class. It is not my forte.
2 Responses to “DEATH. In Musical Youtube form.”
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February 3rd, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Singing class would have me running away. At my high school, the kids always want to sing. And, unlike your students, “hey jude” is one of their favorites. As are, “Let it Be,” “Hello Goodbye,” and “Bridge over Troubled Water.”
I had my kids reading Coraline this winter camp.
February 10th, 2010 at 12:46 am
I find this song (“Just One Person”) to be very easy and probably the most inspirational and emotional one I’ve ever come across: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwPQyxz5Rfw&feature=related
Here is another great one (“It’s Not Easy Being Green”) from Jim Henson’s memorial that resonates a lot with those kids (and myself) who are slightly different and just trying to find our place in the world: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrZyMptC2eQ&feature=related
I just wish I could find subtitles for The Muppet Movie in Korean. I should have posted this earlier, but I got a bit sidetracked with all the drama that’s been going on at my hagwon over the last few weeks.