Incorporating Music and Cultural Exchange In the Classroom

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love music. I listen to it all the time and will happily recommend songs and bands I like to anyone who is interested. I'm always looking for interesting ways to incorporate music into my lessons and broaden the musical horizons of my students.

The past couple weeks, I have been giving my middle school students verbal exams. This is a good way to test their listening and speaking skills while also making it more difficult to cheat! I prepared questions and conversation started adequate for each grade level (though discrepancies within classes were more difficult to manage). Some of my 5th graders know more English than some of my 8th graders. I asked questions with increasing difficulty and allowed for basic answers versus more embellished ones. Overall, both I and my students were pretty happy with the process. I tried to make the testing atmosphere as relaxed and conversation-like as possible, since I know how frightening and frustrating speaking tests can be.

I first considered conducting the tests outside the door of the classroom to prevent students from overhearing the questions, but that would have been asking for chaos to reign within the classroom. Then I considered having students leave the classroom after they had completed the test, but again, that did not give me adequate supervision. Finally, I decided on playing some music for the rest of the class while having the individual tests at the front of the room.

I gave the entire class a small-group activity to due for the period and called students up one by one. Some were extremely nervous and would answer my first question, "How old are you?" with "Fine." I would patiently repeat the question, making sure to articulate the words very clearly and slowly, until (hopefully) they understood. After the first question, most students seemed much more comfortable.

Besides testing their listening and speaking abilities, I also wanted to share some music that I enjoy. Most of my students have very different music tastes than I do. I'm glad they enjoy pop and rock and metal. I also want to take some time to expose them to types of music they may otherwise never be exposed to. During my 8th grade classes, I played the new album from the band fun., called Some Nights. I thought the music might have elements that are similar to things they already enjoy but also have elements and sounds they have never heard before. And I was successful!

At the end of class, when students usually come up to the teacher's desk to pester me about their grade, my student, Beni, brought me a USB drive and asked if I could put the album on it for him. Just one student, but it really made my day.

I have a little over three months left here in Romania, and I'm going to try to have as many of these little moments as I can.

Women's Day and the Power of the Internet

Today is International Women's Day. We don't celebrate it in the US. I compared it to Mother's Day for those of my colleagues that asked today. Women are presented with flowers, candies, or small gifts given to show appreciation. Out teacher's lounge smelled like a greenhouse and looked a lot like one too.

We had a nice luncheon at the high school to celebrate and I got to have a half-Romanian, half-English conversation with the six-year-old granddaughter of my friend, the librarian. (I teach my classes in the library, so we have become friends.)

The flowers and celebratory feelings were a wonderful reminder that spring is right around the corner even though there is still snow on the ground.

Also today, I had a few conversations about the power of the internet in light of the recent social media fervor surrounding Invisible Children's Stop Kony campaign. Mostly we are looking at the issue as a potential teaching topic by relating the video depicting the atrocities Kony and his army are waging in Sub-Saharan Africa with issues also relevant in Romania, like child sex-trafficking.

I am, as of yet, unconvinced of the effectiveness viral campaigns will have on political outcomes. Unlike many other Americans, I have been aware of Kony and the Invisible Children since 2006 when some of the former child-soldiers came and spoke at my college. There are so many things going on in the world that we, as Americans, don't ever consider in our day-to-day lives.

I hope that an internet awareness campaign of this magnitude can put pressure on politicians to pursue certain policies, but I am skeptical of how long public pressure will last. The internet today allows us answers automatically and as a result, our attention spans have decreased dramatically. Unfortunately, I am afraid that once most people post a message on Twitter or a link on Facebook, they will feel that have done their part. I hope to be proven wrong over the next few weeks, and their is widespread public pressure for the US and other governments to continue to pursue Kony.

Another concern I have with this type of viral campaign is that when we paint one man as "the bad guy," which Kony most certainly is, most people tend to forget to look out for other potential negatives coming in to fill the gaps. Kony is not the only problem and not the only issue that deserves to get so much attention. No matter what Rihanna has to tweet about the topic.

I sincerely hope that this first venture into organized social media campaigning for political outcomes results in a model that can be molded to bring awareness, action, and accountability to governments and the public alike.