American Cultural Reference: Weird Al, "White and Nerdy"

Two things happened to me today: I was given the broad assignment of explaining American Cultural Background, and I saw Weird Al's latest hit, "White and Nerdy". Now I think I'll ponder the implausible: using Weird Al to explain American Culture to advanced ESL students. Here's the video:





Now, here are the lyrics (they make a lot more sense when watching the video). Now, can you define "nerdy" and explain every example of nerdiness in the song? Don't forget to denote areas of humor as well...

They see me mowin' my front lawn
I know they're all thinkin' I'm so
White and nerdy

Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Can't you see I'm white and nerdy
Look at me I'm white and nerdy

I wanna roll with the gangstas
But so far they all think I'm too
White and nerdy

Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
I'm just too white and nerdy
Really, really white and nerdy

First in my class here at MIT
Got skills, I'm a champion at D&D
M.C. Escher, that's my favorite M.C.
Keep you're 40, I'll just have an Earl Grey tea
My rims never spin, to the contrary
You'll find that they're quite stationary
All of my action figures are cherry
Stephen Hawking's in my library

My MySpace page is all totally pimped out
Got people beggin' for my top eight spaces
Yo, I know pi to a thousand places
Ain't got no grills but I still wear braces
I order all of my sandwiches with mayonnaise
I'm a wiz at Minesweeper, I could play for days
Once you've see my sweet moves, you're gonna stay amazed
My fingers movin' so fast I'll set the place ablaze

There's no killer app I haven't run (run)
At Pascal, well I'm number one (one)
Do vector calculus just for fun
I ain't got a gat, but I got a soldering gun (what?)
Happy Days is my favorite theme song
I could sure kick your butt in a game of ping pong
I'll ace any trivia quiz you bring on
I'm fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon

Here's the part I sing on...

You see me roll on my Segway
I know in my heart they think I'm
White and nerdy

Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Can't you see I'm white and nerdy
Look at me I'm white and nerdy

I'd like to roll with the gangstas
Although it's apparent I'm too
White and nerdy

Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
I'm just too white and nerdy
How'd I get so white and nerdy

I been browsin', inspectin' X-Men comics
You know I collect 'em
The pens in my pocket, I must protect them
My ergonomic keyboard never leaves me bored
Shoppin' online for deals on some writable media
I edit Wikipedia
I memorized Holy Grail really well
I can recite it right now and have you R-O-T-F-L-O-L

I got a business doing websites (websites)
When my friends need some code, who do they call?
I do HTML for 'em all
Even made a homepage for my dog, yo
I got myself a fanny pack
They were havin' a sale down at The Gap
Spend my nights with a roll of bubble wrap
Pop, pop - hope no one sees me gettin' freaky

I'm nerdy in the extreme
Whiter than sour cream
I was in AV club and glee club
And even the chess team
Only question I ever thought was hard
Was "Do I like Kirk or do I like Picard?"
Spend every weekend at the Renaissance Faire
Got my name on my underwear

They see me strollin', they're laughin'
And rollin' their eyes cause I'm so
White and nerdy

Just because I'm white and nerdy
Just because I'm white and nerdy
All because I'm white and nerdy
Holy cow, I'm white and nerdy

I wanna bowl with the gangstas
But oh well, it's obvious I'm
White and nerdy

Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
I'm just too white and nerdy
Look at me I'm white and nerdy

Using Lyrics as ESL Curriculum

"tblitz32" asks:

this seems like a great idea, but how do you use this in class. how do you implement them for the students to benefit from them?


Good question! Thanks for asking, I should've mentioned this...

First of all, I'm a big proponent of song/lyrics/poem memorization for all students, at every level, as it helps build fluency. I've tried posting a few here for beginning/mid/advanced students.

"Tom's Diner" is a great lesson in prepositions: delete all the prepositions and have students guess which preposition is supposed to go where.

You can also have students write additional verses using "Tom's Diner" as a model template.

You can also erase key words, have students listen to the song and write in the missing word.

Those are just off the top of my head. Any other questions/ideas?

Thanks!

Chris

Decipher this Poem!

I saw this poem on the bus, and I thought it'd be a fun lesson for ESL students.  What do you think the last three lines say? Are you sure?


N Vwls

Ths pm hs n vwls
t dsn't rhym
nd t dsn't mk sns
Th strng thng s tht y cn ndrstnd t
Vn thgh ts mst mprnt lttrs r bsnt

Whn y rd t
smthng s mssng
jst lk whn y lv lf
th mst mprnt thngs
r smtms mssng

Max Buhman, 11th Grade

American Culture, Part 1

I found a DVD this week that I'm going to show to all my students. If you're not one of my students, you should watch any of the collected clips linked below.

"School House Rock" was an extensive series of educational cartoons from the 19702. Every American over the age of 20 grew up with them, and they taught us weird things about grammar to how the government works, weird things that perplexes ESL students now.





(Search Google or Youtube for others, I can't quite find them here...)

American Culture, Part 2

Now that you know "School House Rock", this parody of it explains mid-term elections. From The Daily Show (an essential for current events and political developments)

Easy Lyrics: Tom's Diner

This song is a great lesson in English prepositions (at, on, in, for, etc).
There are two videos for your reference: first, a solo a capella performance; the second is an video of the fancy-schmancy electronica remix. Enjoy, Good Luck, and Happy Memorization!



I am sitting
In the morning
At the diner
On the corner

I am waiting
At the counter
For the man
To pour the coffee

And he fills it
Only halfway
And before
I even argue

He is looking
Out the window
At somebody
Coming in

" It is always
Nice to see you"
Says the man
Behind the counter

To the woman
Who has come in
She is shaking
Her umbrella

And I look
The other way
As they are kissing
Their hellos

I'm pretending
Not to see them
Instead
I pour the milk

I open
Up the paper
There's a story
Of an actor

Who had died
While he was drinking
It was no one
I had heard of

And I'm turning
To the horoscope
And looking
For the funnies

When I'm feeling
Someone watching me
And so
I raise my head

There's a woman
On the outside
Looking inside
Does she see me?

No she does not
Really see me
Cause she sees
Her own reflection

And I'm trying
Not to notice
That she's hitching
Up her skirt

And while she's
Straightening her stockings
Her hair
Is getting wet

Oh, this rain
It will continue
Through the morning
As I'm listening

To the bells
Of the cathedral
I am thinking
Of your voice...

And of the midnight picnic
Once upon a time
Before the rain began...

I finish up my coffee
It's time to catch the train

Super-Advanced Poem for you to memorize

I found this poem, and after reading through it thoroughly, and realized it's definitely an older, more proper English tone and vocabulary. Not only that, there are alot of erros


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!!

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!