Today was the last class of the Winter Quarter. Only 6 students came, probably because most people were preparing for finals. But it was a significant class because it was the last class that Kim, one of students who has been coming each week, would attend before returning to Korea. (Kim is the one who chose to come to Seattle because he likes the Seattle rock/grunge scene so much.)
[I am writing this blog a couple of weeks after the class -- I know, I've been lazy! -- and I may have forgotten some of the details from what we talked about.]
I mentioned that even though this band plays heavy/hard music, they are a Christian band, i.e. they sing a lot about their Christian faith. In fact, the "Christian Rock Scene" -- is really big in America. There are lots of bands which emphasize their Christian faith and by doing so the have big followings among (conservative) Christians; they like the lyrics and messages.
In any case, Grammatrain was a Christian band and they were very popular in the Christian Rock community around the United States, though in the mainstream music scene there were pretty much unknown.
Here's one of my favorite songs by Grammatrain: "Believe" (song with lyrics). And to see how heavy they could be: "Lonely House (live)" (video, lyrics).]
Somehow after showing the The Fray clip I asked the class if they are familiar with the show Grey's Anatomy (info), which is a popular TV drama series that is supposedly set at a hospital in Seattle (but which is actually filmed in Los Angeles).
At this point we listened to some songs that Kim, the student who is going back home, wrote and recorded during his time in Seattle. I don't have links to the songs, which is unfortunate because they were really good! He played all the instruments on the songs -- very impressive!
One of the songs Kim recorded reminded me a little of a song by the Seattle band called The Posies (info). The song it reminded me of is "Coming Right Along" (song, lyrics), which is one of my favorite songs ever, though it's quite a melancholic tune.
After listening to the songs by Kim a student chose "Still Loving You" (video, lyrics, song info) by Scorpions (info).
The student who chose this song said he did so because it reminds him of his friends back home.
As I did something on the computer in the class I made a mistake and said under my breathe to myself "Duh!". I realized I should teach my students this very useful slang term. It takes a lot of explaining to use it properly, but it's very "American". It is often used by itself to say "obviously" ("duh!"). Closely related is "no duh!" which you can say in answer to an dumb question so you are saying "obviously!" Here's a video explanation of how to use "duh".
At this point we listened to some songs that Kim, the student who is going back home, wrote and recorded during his time in Seattle. I don't have links to the songs, which is unfortunate because they were really good! He played all the instruments on the songs -- very impressive!
The student who chose this song said he did so because it reminds him of his friends back home.
As I did something on the computer in the class I made a mistake and said under my breathe to myself "Duh!". I realized I should teach my students this very useful slang term. It takes a lot of explaining to use it properly, but it's very "American". It is often used by itself to say "obviously" ("duh!"). Closely related is "no duh!" which you can say in answer to an dumb question so you are saying "obviously!" Here's a video explanation of how to use "duh".
Note, "duh" is different than when Homer Simpson says "Doh!" (video), which is more like "oops!".
The next song chosen was "Fireflies" (video, lyrics, song info) by Owl City (info). The student who chose this song listens to it when she (he? I forgot who chose it, doh!) gets lonely.
In American when a person can't fall asleep they "count sheep" in their mind until they fall asleep. I asked the students what methods people use in their countries to fall asleep.
For the next song a student from Taiwan wanted to show a Taiwanese band: Mayday (info) playing "I Love You (live)" (unfortunately I can't find the link to the video anymore, doh!). The song is about a breakup between a woman and a man. The student likes the band because the lyrics are poetic. He told us that Mayday made songs sung in the Taiwanese language appeal to young people.
We did watch a second clip by Mayday, "People" (video with lyrics).
For some reason that song reminds me of the song "Wonderwall" (video, lyrics, song info) by Oasis (info).
In American when a person can't fall asleep they "count sheep" in their mind until they fall asleep. I asked the students what methods people use in their countries to fall asleep.
We did watch a second clip by Mayday, "People" (video with lyrics).
