Music They Dance To - Who Reads The Lyrics ?

[Speedo1968]

I have taught my own occupation at University etc. in England and other countries as well as English Conversation here in Thailand and elsewhere.

I am in my early 70's now.

 

Recently I went to a friends sisters daughters primary school to watch a day of dancing by all students.

It is an International School, as far as I am aware there is only one parent who is European.

English Language at the school is highlighted as a 'key' subject ......

The teachers are all from Asia / Asia Pacific.

The school runs a particular form of English studies and at least two of the staff ( Philippine ) have excellent English.

 

My concern is, that the lyrics of at least one popular piece of music played for dancing to at the school has extreme language lyrics for the chorus.

The lyrics are clear to any English speaking Westerner and, without doubt would have been understood by most people who have watched American style street or similar movies.

The full lyrics are available with the song video on youtube.    The chorus repeatedly uses the words "moth..f....."

The video / song is easy to sing-a-long to and I have heard it elsewhere with children singing along to it.

 

My question is:- Should I broach the subject with the school or just forget about it ?  

I have no interest in making heads roll, just that the teachers should look first at what they are using as school materials for the study of English.

[jenny2017]

 

 Americans are using the words moth..f.....,way too often and you shouldn't have such Lyrics for students. There's so much great material available on the internet YouTube is fantastic to find the right songs. 

 

      Please Google and you'll find tons of good material, one of my favorite ones is Nothing Else Matters from Metallica, which is available in unbelievable nice versions.

 

       To be honest, plenty of these SEA teachers you're referring to might not be very efficient in English. What you call excellent English could melt down in not understanding you when using a complex text. Please try it yourself and have a conversation other than talking about the weather. 

 

    And yes, the teachers should look first at the songs they are planning to use. Songs are a great way to learn English and it gets people together, no matter what nationality, or social environment they come from 

 

   Please listen to this song;   And please listen to the ladies singing....................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Scott]

To tell or not to tell, that is the question.

 

I would suggest that you first talk to one of the Asian English teachers and find out who and how the songs were selected.  

 

In my experience, a lot of times the music is chosen by the Thai staff and they may have no idea how well it fits with any theme.   So, the first course of action is to find out how and by whom it got selected.  

 

From there it up to you to decide to whom and how much you wish to complain.   I'd tend not to make a big deal about it, but I'd make my thoughts known, especially since the students have to learn those lyrics and the lyrics to songs tend to stay firmly in the mind.  

 

As the previous poster mentioned, there are a lot of decent songs from which to chose.   To decide on the use of offensive language does not represent the cultural perimeters in which we want students to learn.

 

So, I'd say something, I am just not sure to whom.  

 

 

 

 

[Speedo1968]

9 hours ago, Scott said:

To tell or not to tell, that is the question.

 

I would suggest that you first talk to one of the Asian English teachers and find out who and how the songs were selected.  

 

In my experience, a lot of times the music is chosen by the Thai staff and they may have no idea how well it fits with any theme.   So, the first course of action is to find out how and by whom it got selected.  

 

From there it up to you to decide to whom and how much you wish to complain.   I'd tend not to make a big deal about it, but I'd make my thoughts known, especially since the students have to learn those lyrics and the lyrics to songs tend to stay firmly in the mind.  

 

As the previous poster mentioned, there are a lot of decent songs from which to chose.   To decide on the use of offensive language does not represent the cultural perimeters in which we want students to learn.

 

So, I'd say something, I am just not sure to whom.  

 

 

 

 

Thanks for your response Scott

I have used music and songs especially when teaching mature students ( i.e Uni age onwards ).

Some students have asked to have the lyrics explained.    

There are some good UK made for education series but English English is difficult for most Thais to understand.

Whatever I use I ALWAYS look at subtitles and listen to the spoken words BEFORE using in a lesson.

The difficulty now compared with just a few years ago is that hand held phones / ipads etc. are allowing anyone anywhere to listen at any time.

Yes I will have a chat with someone at the school before they close for the holidays.

[Speedo1968]

On 3/3/2018 at 10:54 PM, jenny2017 said:

 

 Americans are using the words moth..f.....,way too often and you shouldn't have such Lyrics for students. There's so much great material available on the internet YouTube is fantastic to find the right songs. 

 

      Please Google and you'll find tons of good material, one of my favorite ones is Nothing Else Matters from Metallica, which is available in unbelievable nice versions.

 

       To be honest, plenty of these SEA teachers you're referring to might not be very efficient in English. What you call excellent English could melt down in not understanding you when using a complex text. Please try it yourself and have a conversation other than talking about the weather. 

 

    And yes, the teachers should look first at the songs they are planning to use. Songs are a great way to learn English and it gets people together, no matter what nationality, or social environment they come from 

 

   Please listen to this song;   And please listen to the ladies singing....................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you jenny2017 for your response and comments.

I agree that such language is used far to widely now in both film and song.   If you think back to films like Shaft and Boyz From The Hood and similar UK / French movies such language was seldom used.

 

The music at the school concerned was selected for a "Day Of Dance', with children from each class having their own 3 minutes of fame, irrespective of their ability.    It lasted about 6 hours in total.

The music I guess was selected on its rhythm, in that it was suitable for varying ages of children - the words deemed not important but, many of the children sang along with music.    There were a few pieces of Chinese and Thai music but mainly modern 'pop / DJ mix' 

 

The song you have attached has nice lyrics but is not a dance along to song.

When I have used music for teaching mature students it has included clips from the classics, rock, blue beat, ska, jazz, African, Arab, etc. some for teaching emotions e.g. The Planet Suite and Armand Amars "Poem Of The Atoms", others purely for the lyrics.     

As a person who lived through the 1960's and 70's ( I'm from the UK ) the choice of music for both lyrics and dance was possibly more wide, with lyrics there were Bob Dylan and Tom Waits, for music to dance to there were the Beach Boys, Bee Gees, Santana etc.    If one includes music from Cuba, Puerto Rico etc. and compares the ease of rhythm in which children from such countries can dance there is a great difference in what children can dance to here in Thailand and, as such perhaps limits what is available for them to sway to.

 

I still love music but as an oldie probably just a bit more selective.

 

Sorry I digress.

The song I am concerned about is entitled "Burn It Down" by Ahzee & Faydee.   It is a DJ mix from 2015 not to be confused with the Linkin Park or other same titled songs.

Full lyrics are online.

I am due to meet with someone from the school this week.