This week at the university, the lessons had a theme: dream houses. We covered house vocabulary and the second conditional verb tense (i.e. If I were you...). (Not a lesson went by without someone breaking out in Beyonce's "If I Were A Boy.") Then we moved into, "If I could build my dream house it would have..."
And of course we couldn't discuss dream houses without showing an episode of MTV Cribs, a TV show that tours celebrity estates. Unfortunately, the only high quality clip I could find with a celebrity that the Spanish would recognize was the following video with the enlightened musical artist, Akon.
Strip poles in his bedroom. Mirrors in his shower. Gas pumps in his driveway. Helicopters in his backyard. What a fine representation of American culture he is.
But don't worry. Before each viewing, I made sure to emphasize that this is not the standard American home and that even Americans think it's a bit extravagant.
Most Spanish reactions were either expressions of amazement like, "¡Qué guay!" and "¡Muy chulo!" or expletives like, "¡Qué cabrón!" or "¡Hijo de puta!" Either way, they were overall interested, and the vocab came pouring out when I asked them to list what they saw in the show.
Though I appreciated the student engagement and discussion at the end of the clip, I despised the video by the eleventh class. Now such eloquent lyrics like "I see you winding and grinding up on that pole" and "Watch me smack that" are playing in my sleep. Thank you, Akon.
And of course we couldn't discuss dream houses without showing an episode of MTV Cribs, a TV show that tours celebrity estates. Unfortunately, the only high quality clip I could find with a celebrity that the Spanish would recognize was the following video with the enlightened musical artist, Akon.
Strip poles in his bedroom. Mirrors in his shower. Gas pumps in his driveway. Helicopters in his backyard. What a fine representation of American culture he is.
But don't worry. Before each viewing, I made sure to emphasize that this is not the standard American home and that even Americans think it's a bit extravagant.
Most Spanish reactions were either expressions of amazement like, "¡Qué guay!" and "¡Muy chulo!" or expletives like, "¡Qué cabrón!" or "¡Hijo de puta!" Either way, they were overall interested, and the vocab came pouring out when I asked them to list what they saw in the show.
Though I appreciated the student engagement and discussion at the end of the clip, I despised the video by the eleventh class. Now such eloquent lyrics like "I see you winding and grinding up on that pole" and "Watch me smack that" are playing in my sleep. Thank you, Akon.
2 comments:
Live'n La Loca Vida (or how ever that goes) SH
Haha, that is hilarious! I love your creativity- brilliant :) It seems like your exercise helped your students more than when we watched 90210 in Spanish during 8th grade, ha. Also, I didn't realize Akon was THAT popular/wealthy to afford such a luxurious life?
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