6 November 2012 (Tuesday)

6 students today.

The first song we listened to was "Nyan Cat" (video), a popular children's video in Japan. The student who chose this song said it makes him smile and he never gets tired of it. Apparently there are competitions of who can listen to this song the longest. There's a 10-hour video of it on Facebook. More than 2 minutes would make me go postal.

That "cat" song made me think of the "Meow Mix" tv commercials for cat food in the 1980's.

The Meow Mix song inspired a student to request the dogs singing Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.

At this point I asked the class if they tend to listen to music on their iPods on random play or if they chose which songs they want to listen to.  Most listen on random/shuffle, but I was surprised at how many students chose the songs they want to listen to.

The next song chosen was "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" (video with lyrics, song info) by Tony Orlando & Dawn (info).  The student who chose it said he likes the story, how the guy returns to see not just one yellow ribbon, but many.

The next song was "It Will Rain" (video, lyrics, song info) by Bruno Mars (info).  The student who chose this song originally heard the song sung in an audition for The Voice (info) by Brian Keith (his version of the song).

The next song was "Good Time" (video, lyrics, song info) by Owl City (info) with Carly Rae Jepsen (info), which the student likes it because it is very catchy -- it sticks in the ear -- and likes to listen to it to relax, before going back to studying. I pointed out that there are a lot of good typical American phrases in the lyrics to this song to learn.

The next song chose was "Eye Of The Tiger" (video, lyrics, song info) by Survivor (info).  The student who chose it has been listening to it for years, since the first time he came to the US and his host father showed him the song.

Next was "We Are Never Getting Back Together Again" (video with lyrics, song info) by Taylor Swift (info).  The student who chose the song like the melody and sympathizes with the *man's* point of view in the lyrics(!).

The next song chosen was "Summer" (video) which is a Japanese song which is popular in China. 

That song inspired the next choice: "Relaxing Piano" (video). The student who picked this song like the movie it comes from.
 
 
With that our time for this week was over.