My undergrads and MBAs struggle with complex prepositional phrases. Who can blame 'em. So I did a short review on prepositional phrases; and after a little research (google), I discovered some clever lessons that come out of using Suzanne Vega's song, Tom's Diner. I tested it out today on my undergrads. They'd never heard of the song, but also pointed out that they were born after the song was released in 1986. Twenty-two years later and I got a bunch of 20 year old Chinese kids humming that annoying tune as they were leaving class.
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16 years ago
2 comments:
That's so clever!! I love it. I actually learned the Spanish subjunctive by learning a Spanish copla that was once featured in one of Almodovar's films: Piensa en mi, cuando sufras. Whenever I use it I still think back to my class. It sticks. I still remember it. It's a good technique! Bravo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Is_LN4MQzU
This kinda reminds me of when my mom, an ESL teacher, played the Beatles' "When I'm 64" about 1000 times on the record player so she could write all the lyrics down (no internet back then!) and share the lyrics and song w/her class. I don't know if there was a specific reason she chose that song, but I can't not think of her class when I hear it!
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