Sing Sang Sung

December 4, 2010

Adult English class has been interesting this week. After one of my classes a few of the students stayed behind just to chat. Amidst the conversation some of the students informed me that they wanted to learn some songs in English. I told them they could choose which ones they wanted to learn. Among the suggested bands were Simple Plan and Justin Bieber.

This week one of the guys came back with a copy of the lyrics to Simple Plan’s “Perfect.” I’d heard of the band but not the song. I told them that I would teach them how to pronounce the words, but I couldn’t teach them how to sing it.

I don’t know if you have heard this song, but it is pretty dramatic. I feel like I can’t fully “appreciate” this song without sitting in a dark room, having not showered for days, with a hoody and cuts on my wrist. Ok, maybe the cuts on my wrist are a little much, but seriously, it’s ridiculous. Feel free to go listen to the song or look up the lyrics. But I’m warning you; you may be depressed for days.

Anyway, I spent a couple days teaching the students this song. We spent the first day going over how to pronounce the words. The next class period I translated the song for them and then we practiced it with the music that one of my students had on his phone. One guy was really into it; I could tell he had listened to it quite a bit. He even had the nasally tone down. I found it entertaining.

Since it was Christmas time I thought I’d teach them “Jingle Bells” to get into the spirit. In return they taught it to me in Spanish:

Navidad, navidad,
Blanca navidad,
Es un dia de alegria y felicidad, hey (x2)

Apparently, there are variations of this song. Cause I heard it in Pucallpa the other day and it wasn’t quite the same. Either that, or they taught me the wrong song. Anyway, we had some good times.