Advanced Lyrics: Paul Simon, "Call Me Al"

These lyrics are more advanced, but I think they're fun, especially when you watch the video:

 

Paul Simon, "Call Me Al"

 

A man walks down the street
He says why am I soft in the middle now
Why am I soft in the middle
The rest of my life is so hard
I need a photo-opportunity
I want a shot at redemption
Dont want to end up a cartoon
In a cartoon graveyard
Bonedigger bonedigger
Dogs in the moonlight
Far away my well-lit door
Mr. beerbelly beerbelly
Get these mutts away from me
You know I dont find this stuff amusing anymore
If youll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you betty
And betty when you call me
You can call me al

A man walks down the street
He says why am I short of attention
Got a short little span of attention
And wo my nights are so long
Wheres my wife and family
What if I die here
Wholl be my role-model
Now that my role-model is
Gone gone
He ducked back down the alley
With some roly-poly little bat-faced girl
All along along
There were incidents and accidents
There were hints and allegations

If youll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you betty
And betty when you call me
You can call me al
Call me al

A man walks down the street
Its a street in a strange world
Maybe its the third world
Maybe its his first time around
He doesnt speak the language
He holds no currency
He is a foreign man
He is surrounded by the sound
The sound
Cattle in the marketplace
Scatterlings and orphanages
He looks around, around
He sees angels in the architecture
Spinning in infinity
He says amen! and hallelujah!

If youll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you betty
And betty when you call me
You can call me al
Call me al

 

 

 

Paul Simon, "Graceland"

 

The mississippi delta was shining
Like a national guitar
I am following the river
Down the highway
Through the cradle of the civil war
Im going to graceland
Graceland
In memphis tennessee
Im going to graceland
Poorboys and pilgrims with families
And we are going to graceland
My traveling companion is nine years old
He is the child of my first marriage
But Ive reason to believe
We both will be received
In graceland

She comes back to tell me shes gone
As if I didnt know that
As if I didnt know my own bed
As if Id never noticed
The way she brushed her hair from her forehead
And she said losing love
Is like a window in your heart
Everybody sees youre blown apart
Everybody sees the wind blow

Im going to graceland
Memphis tennessee
Im going to graceland
Poorboys and pilgrims with families
And we are going to graceland

And my traveling companions
Are ghosts and empty sockets
Im looking at ghosts and empties
But Ive reason to believe
We all will be received
In graceland

There is a girl in new york city
Who calls herself the human trampoline
And sometimes when Im falling, flying
Or tumbling in turmoil I say
Oh, so this is what she means
She means were bouncing into graceland
And I see losing love
Is like a window in your heart
Everybody sees youre blown apart
Everybody sees the wind blow

In graceland, in graceland
Im going to graceland
For reasons I cannot explain
Theres some part of me wants to see
Graceland
And I may be obliged to defend
Every love, every ending
Or maybe theres no obligations now
Maybe Ive a reason to believe
We all will be received
In graceland

Song lyrics for the mid-level ESL student: This Must Be the Place

I'm on a quest for sweet, cute song lyrics, as most of the lyrics I know are dark, ominous, weird, confusing, or in a different language.  Then I remembered my favorite Talking Heads song, "This must be the Place (Naive Melody)"!

Talking Heads, This Must be the Place (Naive Melody)

 Home is where I want to be
 Pick me up and turn me round
 I feel numb - burn with a weak heart
 (So I) guess I must be having fun
 The less we say about it the better
 Make it up as we go along
 Feet on the ground
 Head in the sky
 It's ok I know nothing's wrong . . nothing
 
 Hi yo I got plenty of time
 Hi yo you got light in your eyes
 And you're standing here beside me
 I love the passing of time
 Never for money
 Always for love
 Cover up + say goodnight . . . say goodnight
 
 Home - is where I want to be
 But I guess I'm already there
 I come home - -she lifted up her wings
 Guess that this must be the place
 I can't tell one from another
 Did I find you, or you find me?
 There was a time Before we were born
 If someone asks, this where I'll be . . . where I'll be
 
 Hi yo We drift in and out
 Hi yo sing into my mouth
 Out of all tose kinds of people
 You got a face with a view
 I'm just an animal looking for a home
 Share the same space for a minute or two
 And you love me till my heart stops
 Love me till I'm dead
 Eyes that light up, eyes look through you
 Cover up the blank spots
 Hit me on the head Ah ooh

Mid-level lyrics: "Little Trip to Heaven"

I'm currently at the library, and the computer doesn't have speakers so I can't actually here this version of Tom Wait's "Little Trip to Heaven", but I'll bet that he's got a nicer, softer voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfRZn1zSBCs

Tom Waits, Little Tip to Heaven (on the Wings of your Love)

Lazy trip to heaven on the wings of your love
Banana moon is shining in the sky,
Feel like I'm in heaven when you're with me
Know that I'm in heaven when you smile,
Though we're stuck here on the ground,
I got something that I've found
And it's you.

And I don't have to take no trip to outer space
All I have to do is look at your face,
And before I know it, I'm in orbit around you
Thanking my lucky stars that I've found you,
When I see your constellation,
honey, you're my inspiration,
and it's you.

You're my north star when I'm lost and feeling blue,
The sun is breaking through the clouds
don't you, don't you know it's true?
Honey, all the other stars seem dim around you
Thanking my lucky stars that I've found you,
When I see your smiling face, honey,
I know nothing ever going to take your place,
and it's you.

And it's you, and it's you,
and it's you, and it's you, and it's you
And it's you, and it's you, shoo-be-doo, ba-da-da.

 

Vocab Expansion Website

Improve and Expand your vocabulary NOW with the new, neat-o website, The Free Dictionary.  This site is so COOL!  It puts dictionary.com to shame.  Not only is it a dictionary, but it has all sorts of vocab expanding activities, word games and more.  I'm telling all my students to add it to their favorites!

English Phonemic rules for plural /-s/

Dear Dave's ESLCafe,

I had an interesting tangent with my student last night. He's an advanced student from Russia. We got to English plurals/3rd person present verb agreement.
He wanted to know what the exact rule was for [-s], [-z] and [-ez].
I told him that I wrote this out ten years ago in a Morpho-phonology class in college, but couldn't remember all the details.
He asked if all Americans learned this rule in high school, and I chuckled, "of course not". He was surprised, cause all Russians learn all their complex morpho-phonological rules by 6th grade.

Anyone have a simple write-out of that plural/verb [-s] rule?

Thanks

Chris
ChrisESL.blogspot.com

1) If the final sound of the original word is alveolar (s, z, sh, zh (as in leisure, ch or j (as in John) the pronunciation is [iz]:
e.g. watches, bosses, galoshes, glasses

2) If the final sound is voiceless, other than the sounds above, the pronunciation is [s]:
e.g. cats, books

3) If the final sound is voiced (including all vowels), the pronunciation is [z]:
e.g. dogs, birds, bees

Works for third person -s on verbs too.

Students need to be reminded to look at the sound and not the letter in case they think capes is pronounced "cap-es".

Pronounciation/Accent Reduction Lessons

Thanks to the great Okanagans for assembling this collection of lessons:

The New Okanagan College Language Lab

Also, The University of Iowa has this site with very detailed explanations of American phonetics.

More to come soon...

English Irregularities, Part 1

A student of mine keeps asking me: "Why is ____ pronounced like ____ when it's written like _____?"

The answer? To keep ESL teachers employed, of course!

Below is an excellent example of some of the irregularities of English. If you're not a native speaker, you might want to watch the video as a guide.


I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble but not you
On hiccough, thorough, slough and through.
Well done! And now you wish perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?

Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead, it's said like bed, not bead-
for goodness' sake don't call it 'deed'!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(they rhyme with suite and straight and debt).

A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth, or brother,
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there's doze and rose and lose-
Just look them up- and goose and choose,
And cork and work and card and ward
And font and front and word and sword,
And do and go and thwart and cart-
Come, I've hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive!
I'd learned to speak it when I was five!
And yet to write it, the more I sigh,
I'll not learn how 'til the day I die.

Wait! There's more! A simple search came up with this poem as well! (though no online recital for your reference):

FOLLOW-UP: I read through this poem thoroughly, and realized it's definitely an older, more proper English tone and vocabulary.


English is Tough Stuff

Dearest creature in creation
Study English pronunciation
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye you dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words and plaque and argue.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should or would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
and then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem very little,
we say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific, Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Does not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation � think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won't it make you loose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wright,
Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough �
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!

Song Lyrics: Nothing But Flowers

Again, I think my preferences in music are overriding my curriculum designing skills, but there's some good in this song, especially the "if/when" phrases.

Here we stand
Like an Adam and an Eve
Waterfalls
The Garden of Eden
Two fools in love
So beautiful and strong
The birds in the trees
Are smiling upon them
From the age of the dinosaurs
Cars have run on gasoline
Where, where have they gone?
Now, it's nothing but flowers

There was a factory
Now there are mountains and rivers
(you got it, you got it)

We caught a rattlesnake
Now we got something for dinner
(we got it, we got it)

There was a shopping mall
Now it's all covered with flowers
(you've got it, you've got it)

If this is paradise
I wish I had a lawnmower
(you've got it, you've got it)

Years ago
I was an angry young man
I'd pretend
That I was a billboard
Standing tall
By the side of the road
I fell in love
With a beautiful highway
This used to be real estate
Now it's only fields and trees
Where, where is the town
Now, it's nothing but flowers
The highways and cars
Were sacrificed for agriculture
I thought that we'd start over
But I guess I was wrong

Once there were parking lots
Now it's a peaceful oasis
(you got it, you got it)

This was a Pizza Hut
Now it's all covered with daisies
(you got it, you got it)

I miss the honky tonks,
Dairy Queens, and 7-Elevens
(you got it, you got it)

And as things fell apart
Nobody paid much attention
(you got it, you got it)

I dream of cherry pies,
Candy bars, and chocolate chip cookies
(you got it, you got it)

We used to microwave
Now we just eat nuts and berries
(you got it, you got it)

This was a discount store,
Now it's turned into a cornfield
(you got it, you got it)

Don't leave me stranded here
I can't get used to this lifestyle

Word Game: Hu's on First

A variation of the classic skit. Think of it as introduction to English synnonyms spiced by international relations:

Hu's on First
By James Sherman
(We take you now to the Oval Office.)
George: Condi! Nice to see you. What's happening?
Condi: Sir, I have the report here about the new leader of China.
George: Great. Lay it on me.
Condi: Hu is the new leader of China.
George: That's what I want to know.
Condi: That's what I'm telling you.
George: That's what I'm asking you. Who is the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes.
George: I mean the fellow's name.
Condi: Hu.
George: The guy in China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The new leader of China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The Chinaman!
Condi: Hu is leading China.
George: Now whaddya' asking me for?
Condi: I'm telling you Hu is leading China.
George: Well, I'm asking you. Who is leading China?
Condi: That's the man's name.
George: That's who's name?
Condi: Yes.
George: Will you or will you not tell me the name of the new leader of
China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir? Yassir Arafat is in China? I thought he was in the
Middle East.
Condi: That's correct.
George: Then who is in China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir is in China?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Then who is?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Look, Condi. I need to know the name of the new leader of China. Get me the Secretary General of the U.N. on the phone.
Condi: Kofi?
George: No, thanks.
Condi: You want Kofi?
George: No.
Condi: You don't want Kofi.
George: No. But now that you mention it, I could use a glass of milk. And then get me the U.N.
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Not Yassir! The guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi?
George: Milk! Will you please make the call?
Condi: And call who?
George: Who is the guy at the U.N?
Condi: Hu is the guy in China.
George: Will you stay out of China?!
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: And stay out of the Middle East! Just get me the guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi.
George: All right! With cream and two sugars. Now get on the phone.
(Condi picks up the phone.)
Condi: Rice, here.
George: Rice? Good idea. And a couple of egg rolls, too. Maybe we
should send some to the guy in China. And the Middle East. Can you
get Chinese food in the Middle East?

Content Based Ideas: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is coming quickly, and all new students -new to the country within the last month- are wondering about this curious American holiday.  What's the best video to show to teach this holiday?  PEANUTS, of course!  Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving Special. Now, where can I find it online?

 

Sigh....

Content Based Ideas: Welcome to Washington!

One of my students gave me some good inspiration: he's new to town/state/country.  He's from a place that's void of wilderness, so to speak: he's never gone on a hike, never seen animals in the wild, never even seen a waterfall over a few feet.  He's been to only a handful of other cities (half a handful, actually).  He got a brochure on Washington Tourism, and it made me think: how can I incorporate traveling around the state into an ESL lesson?

 

Answer: get a DVD of Washington Tourism and watch it together!  Discuss new vocabulary, trip planning, and "tourist English".

 

Now where can I get that DVD?

Songwriters and songs to use

"Tom's Diner" was a success, now what else can I use?

 

The parameters:

-Well-written lyrics by popular musicians

-Nothing overly suggestive, profain, or confusing (Sorry, Tom Waits)

-Nothing with too much music getting in the way

-Not too much whining and screaming so lyrics are intelligible

-Ideally, something tech-minded folks would enjoy 

 

Some brainstorming off the top of a few heads came up with these:

 

Willie Nelson

Paul Simon (Graceland)

David Byrne (Nothing but Flowers)

Bob Dylan

 

Suggestions?

 

ps- Send links to the lyrics please!

 

 

Can you make an ESL curriculum from "The Simpsons"?

I'm looking for videos to use for advanced conversation ESL, clips that contain regular spoken English, slang, colloquialisms, etc etc.

So far, I've used The Daily Show (audience noise makes it difficult to follow, plus too political); South Park (the World of Warcraft is barely passible). Then I thought maybe the Simpsons. Youtube clips of the Simpons.

Here's google video

And metacafe.com

ANy other suggestions? Please comment below...

: Tom's Diner Prepositions, a Catchy Tune, Easy Imagery

This is a great ESL lesson onto itself: Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner".

The lyrics are here.

First, watch the video of her acapella performance.

(I say that cause I can't find the catchy remix version by DNA online. Can you?)

Then, memorize the lyrics, noting especially the use of prepositions (in, at, on, during, etc)

Other activities with the song:
-Madlib the prepositions/fill in the blanks
-Change and add to the lines
-Or just create your own verses

Oops! These Tongue Twisters are Way Too Advanced!

What can I say? I have a weakness for Dr. Seuss.
Fox in Socks

Just wait until I get to "Circus McGurkis" and "If I ran the zoo..."

American Slang and Colloquialisms, with dragons

Please, never tell my boss that I used South Park as part of an ESL curriculum. But, a student wants to better understand spoken American English, colloquial speech, idiomatic expressions, and general fast-talk. He's also a young guy who works for Microsoft. At a loss for resources, I looked up a funny episode of South Park vs World of Warcraft. It's not overly offensive, disgusting, or repulsive, and is funny to techies and anyone who's obsessively playeda videogame.

Examples of Speaking Clearly and "Gravitas"

OK, this is kinda advanced: not only is it a live TV show with lots of distracting background laughter, but it's comedy, good old American humor a la "The Colbert Report" (granted, not the best source for ESL material).

Despite all that, I liked the point of this: Americans speaking clearly and slowly, though sillily: Stephen Colbert and Stone Philips video here.

The last entries on their contest are actually used by news folks as vocal warmups. They're also complicated and advanced tongue-twisters, and to think I used them for my second ESL lesson! Oh well....

"Amidsts the mist and fiercest frosts"

and

"Oh what a to-do to die today..."

The vide

Look! An ESL Blog!

I'm starting this blog to share, chronicle and log my ESL ideas, questions, problems, lessons, etc etc.