5 February 2014 (Wednesday)

Only a few students showed up today... maybe it's mid-terms time? Nonetheless, we had a fun conversation.

I had not assigned a theme for the day so it was an open forum. The first song chosen was actually sent by text by a student who was not in class to one of the students in class. It was "When My Boy Walks Down The Street" (video, lyrics, song info) by Magnetic Fields (info). Since the student who chose this song was not in class I don't have an explanation for why he chose it.

The next song was "Light Of The Morning" (video, lyrics, song info) by Band Of Skulls (info). I didn't make notes for why she chose this song -- sorry!

As we were going to watch the next video a commercial came on YouTube that has an interesting story. The commercial is for Duracell batteries and tells the story of Derrick Colman, a Seattle Seahawks football player who is deaf. It's a very inspirational video!

Now we continued on to the next song: "7" (video, lyrics, song info) by Sunny Day Real Estate (info), a band from Seattle.

Speaking of the Superbowl, one of the students mentioned that Bob Dylan (info) was in a commercial during the Superbowl. I didn't remember seeing that commercial and was surprised that Dylan would "sell out" like that, but it's true, he was in this commercial.

I mentioned that I can't stand Bob Dylan's singing voice. One student had never heard him before so we played "Blowin' In The Wind" (video, lyrics, song info), one of his most popular songs, as an example of him singing.

Still on the subject of the Superbowl I asked the class if they would allow me to play my favorite Red Hot Chili Peppers (info) video, "Give It Away" (video, lyrics, song info). I like how crazy and out-of-control they are in this video.

Ok, to be fair I should post a link to Bruno Mars's Superbowl halftime performance.

The next song chosen was "Love Somebody" (video, lyrics, song info) by Maroon 5 (info). The student who chose it had heard it a lot when she first arrived in Seattle. She also likes the video where the singer is waiting to have a real, tangible girlfriend. 

This led us to a long discussion about what women expect from men and what men expect from women in relationships in the students' home countries. 

The last video we watched was also a video from the Superbowl: the new U2 (info) song "Invisible" (video, song info).

With that time ran out for the day.

For next class, since Valentine's Day is Friday (Feb 14) this coming week the theme for next class is love songs. Think of your favorite love songs or a song you will play for your boyfriend/girlfriend this Friday.