Today, I had the day off of working at the school. It was some sort of teacher in-service day for the teachers to calculate students' grades or something. I have spent almost all day in bed, since I feel quite unwell when I get up. I wish I were able to spend more than two weeks here without being sick after some manner or other. I have managed to enjoy my time and my experiences here, but it would have been ever so much nicer if I didn't keep getting sick with symptoms that make me fear that I'm worse off than I really am.
I digress.
Yesterday, I worked with the 11th and 8th graders before coming home. I bought four songs on iTunes on my computer so that I could bring my laptop to class for some music for the kids to sing to. I'd talked to the students about the possibility of singing popular songs in English. I'd prepared bilingual lyrics of "Happy" by Pharrell Williams for yesterday's classes, but the 11th graders BEGGED to sing a song by One Direction, so during recess, I quickly copied down the lyrics to "Best Song Ever" and the kids made copies of it for me. First, we listened to the song, then we read through each stanza of the song before translating the first stanza. When we finished reading and discussing the first half of the song's lyrics, I played the song again up to that point. Then we worked with the second half of the lyrics, sang the rest of the song, then sang the entire song again. The kids seemed to have an enjoyable time, and the purpose of this exercise was for them to listen to and speak English.
I plan to listen to and sing songs in the rest of the classes, too, as time permits.
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