Gordon Lightfoot Forums - Lightfoot in Mexico!

Well, not really, but he was featured prominently in a talk I gave on Saturday to a group of English teachers in Mexico (I was talking about using music to combine teaching of language and culture--I know, borrrrrriiiiinnnnnnggggggg, but it's what we do in academia). I used a mix of rap, a couple of songs by Stompin' Tom Connors and some others, and finished it with CRT (the You Tube clip from, I think, the Johnny Cash show, the one that had the images in the background, was an excellent resource). The song, along with being an epic poem in 6 1/2 minutes, is a terrific instrument for ramping into other themes and materials. Oh yes, and for those who aren't at an advanced level of English, you can show them in context a huge number of adjectives to learn, and as many prepositions per words of text as I've ever seen (think about it; most prepositional phrases give a feeling of being in motion--over, across, into, beyond, etc.--just the feeling of restlessness, motion, relentless progress that the song conveys). I also used Corfid as a resource, in case anyone was interested in learning more, or practicing some English. The talk was well-received (many of the group copied my Power Point onto flash drives to use in their classes), and then I raffled off a copy of the Songbook.

Next might be Peru--I have a friend who's very well-connected in TESOL (Teaching of English as a Second or Other Language) circles in Peru who was at the talk in Mexico, and she said that it would be perfect for that, as well. So, the word of Gord continues to spread!

Best to all,
DQ