When words fail us

The Greek protests of the last few weeks set to music. Sometimes a song can tell much more than a bookcase full of essays and articles. Music by Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name of... The song is raw and angry, a perfect description of many people's feelings over the death of 15 year old Alexis Grigoropoulos at the hands of a police officer on 6th December. His crime - bad mouthing a cop.

"Everyone out in the streets"

"Everyone out in the streets", originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Days of rage

Days of rage, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Smoking gun

Smoking gun, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Killing in the name of

Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses
Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses
Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses
Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses
Huh!

Killing in the name of!
Killing in the name of

And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
But now you do what they told ya
Well now you do what they told ya

Those who died are justified, for wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites
You justify those that died by wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites
Those who died are justified, for wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites
You justify those that died by wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites

Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn churches
Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn churches
Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn churches
Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn churches
Uggh!

Killing in the name of!
Killing in the name of

And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya, now you're under control
And now you do what they told ya, now you're under control
And now you do what they told ya, now you're under control
And now you do what they told ya, now you're under control
And now you do what they told ya, now you're under control
And now you do what they told ya, now you're under control
And now you do what they told ya, now you're under control
And now you do what they told ya!

Those who died are justified, for wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites
You justify those that died by wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites
Those who died are justified, for wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites
You justify those that died by wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites
Come on!

Yeah! Come on!

F*** you, I won't do what you tell me
F*** you, I won't do what you tell me
F*** you, I won't do what you tell me
F*** you, I won't do what you tell me
F*** you, I won't do what you tell me
F*** you, I won't do what you tell me
F*** you, I won't do what you tell me
F*** you, I won't do what you tell me
F*** you, I won't do what you tell me!
F*** you, I won't do what you tell me!
F*** you, I won't do what you tell me!
F*** you, I won't do what you tell me!
F*** you, I won't do what you tell me!
F*** you, I won't do what you tell me!
F*** you, I won't do what you tell me!
F*** you, I won't do what you tell me!
Motherf***er!
Uggh!

The battle of Thessaloniki

The battle of Thessaloniki, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

The death of a 15 year - old in central Athens during clashes with police in the Exarchia district has sparked off a series of violent protests in the Greek capital and other major cities. Thessaloniki, Patras, and Crete all witnessed violent clashes between demonstrators and riot police.

See here for the full story.

Incoming

Incoming - tear gas cannisters about to land in the university of Thessaloniki, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Tear gas cannisters about to land in the university of Thessaloniki. I can't think of many things worse than being tear gassed. Your lungs just stop drawing oxygen and for what seems like an eternity you feel that you'll never breathe again. The stinging eyes I can hack but the feeling that someone has just removed your lungs, is scary beyond belief.

"Get your dirty hands off our comrades."

"Get your dirty hands off our comrades.", originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Bruised steel

, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

"Light years into the future"

I read a recent interview in Time magazine with Brian Eno;


"Pointing to the popularity of do-it-yourself websites like YouTube and the affordability of video-editing software like Final Cut, Eno sees a parallel with the revolutionary effect the 45 r.p.m. single had on popular culture in the '60s. "It suddenly liberated music because people only had to have one good idea," he says. "And it only had to to last 2 1/2 minutes."

See here for the rest of the article.

I think it can be even simpler than that if you decide to use Window's Movie Maker (it comes with Windows XP as standard) or Photo Story 3 i.e freely available video editing tools. As a proof of concept I decided to make this video mainly using images from Flickr. What I hope to do in the near future is incorporate this technology into my lessons.

Using music in class

Last week I posted a Rage Against the Machine video, Wake Up and said that I was going to do the song as a lesson. Here is the lesson plan for post intermediate classes. For this you'll need the song along with copies of the lyrics and some information about the song and singer/group (see here).

Wake Up - Rage Against The Machine

"Come on!
Uggh!

Come on, although ya try to discredit
Ya still never read it
The needle, I'll thread it
Radically poetic
Standin' with the fury that they had in '66
And like E-Double I'm mad
Still knee-deep in the system's shit
Hoover, he was a body remover
I'll give ya a dose
But it can never come close
To the rage built up inside of me
Fist in the air, in the land of hypocrisy

Movements come and movements go
Leaders speak, movements cease
When their heads are flown
'Cause all these punks
Got bullets in their heads
Departments of police, the judges, the feds
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
You know they went after King
When he spoke out on Vietnam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot

Yeah!
Yeah, back in this...
Wit' poetry, my mind I flex
Flip like Wilson, vocals never lackin' dat finesse
Whadda I got to, whadda I got to do to wake ya up
To shake ya up, to break the structure up
'Cause blood still flows in the gutter
I'm like takin' photos
Mad boy kicks open the shutter
Set the groove
Then stick and move like I was Cassius
Rep the stutter step
Then bomb a left upon the fascists
Yea, the several federal men
Who pulled schemes on the dream
And put it to an end
Ya better beware
Of retribution with mind war
20/20 visions and murals with metaphors
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
Ya know they murdered X
And tried to blame it on Islam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot

Uggh!

What was the price on his head?
What was the price on his head!


I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard, I think I heard a shot

'He may be a real contender for this position should he
abandon his supposed obedience to white liberal doctrine
of non-violence...and embrace black nationalism'
'Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to
pinpoint potential trouble-makers... and neutralize them.
Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to
pinpoint potential trouble-makers... and neutralize them
and neutralize them, and neutralize them, and neutralize them'

Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

How long? Not long, cause what you reap is what you sow"


Lesson Plan

1 Explain to the students that they will hear a short extract from a song (20 - 30 seconds). As they listen they should think of some questions using the following question words;

What
Where
Which
When

E.g Where is the band from ?
Which album is it from ?

2 Students write down their questions. Get them to check their grammar with each other before you go around and check them.

3 If a student recognises the song and/or performer then they take over your role. All the class's questions will be directed at him or her. Otherwise you answer them.

4 Write questions on the board;

This might be a good time to deal with any vocabulary issues. Just don't get too bogged down in explaining every possible nuance.

1 Why do you think the song is called "Wake Up"?
2 What do you think the song is trying to tell us ?
3 What names (people, places) are mentioned ?

5 Hand out the lyrics and play the song.

6 Students discuss their answers in pairs and groups.

7 Elicit answers from the class, and ask them if they know any of the names/places mentioned.

8 Now tell them that for homework they have answer a longer list of questions(see below) which I've posted on their class blog (I also posted a video and the lyrics to help them). The answers can either be written in their notebooks and discussed in the next lesson or posted on the blog.


Questions 1 Why is the song called "Wake up"?
2 Who was (Martin Luther) King?
3 How did he die?
4 What was happening in Vietnam in 1966?
5 Who was (Malcolm) X?
6 How did he die?
7 Why do you think the song was used in the Matrix movie?
8 What does the last line mean?

Rage Against the Machine

Wake Up!


"Come on!
Uggh!

Come on, although ya try to discredit
Ya still never read it
The needle, I'll thread it
Radically poetic
Standin' with the fury that they had in '66
And like E-Double I'm mad
Still knee-deep in the system's shit
Hoover, he was a body remover
I'll give ya a dose
But it can never come close
To the rage built up inside of me
Fist in the air, in the land of hypocrisy

Movements come and movements go
Leaders speak, movements cease
When their heads are flown
'Cause all these punks
Got bullets in their heads
Departments of police, the judges, the feds
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
You know they went after King
When he spoke out on Vietnam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot

Yeah!
Yeah, back in this...
Wit' poetry, my mind I flex
Flip like Wilson, vocals never lackin' dat finesse
Whadda I got to, whadda I got to do to wake ya up
To shake ya up, to break the structure up
'Cause blood still flows in the gutter
I'm like takin' photos
Mad boy kicks open the shutter
Set the groove
Then stick and move like I was Cassius
Rep the stutter step
Then bomb a left upon the fascists
Yea, the several federal men
Who pulled schemes on the dream
And put it to an end
Ya better beware
Of retribution with mind war
20/20 visions and murals with metaphors
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
Ya know they murdered X
And tried to blame it on Islam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot

Uggh!
What was the price on his head?
What was the price on his head!


I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard, I think I heard a shot

'He may be a real contender for this position should he
abandon his supposed obediance to white liberal doctrine
of non-violence...and embrace black nationalism'
'Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to
pinpoint potential trouble-makers... and neutralize them.
Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to
pinpoint potential trouble-makers... and neutralize them
and neutralize them, and neutralize them, and neutralize them'

Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

How long? Not long, cause what you reap is what you sow"


I'm going to use this in my lesson next week, any ideas?