Wed 10 Dec 2008
John Quincy Adams, 200 Years of Russian-American Relations
Posted by Kevin under Regional EFL stuffNo Comments
Regional EFL stuff
Archived Posts from this Category
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Fri 7 Nov 2008
“The Bee” by Dana Yastremskaya
Posted by Kevin under One-minute Songs Regional EFL stuff Songs By StudentsNo Comments
The Bee
In your stomach
there lived a little bee.
She liked to eat some honey
and sing a song about a tree.
She dreamed of money,
but it is not free.
words and music by Dana Yastremskaya (age 10)
Minsk, Belarus
There’s a short version (0:35) and a longer version (1:10). It’s a beautiful song, so I couldn’t help adding stuff to the long version. However, the short version is all Dana. The drawing of the bee is by Dana too.
Thu 8 Mar 2007
How Long is International Woman’s Day?
Posted by Kevin under Little Stories Regional EFL stuffNo Comments
Listen for the 15 missing vocabulary items in this text. They are all short, but even so, you may need to listen several times to be able to write them all.
Yeah, (1) ________ a little story about my first International Woman’s Day or (2) ________ Day–I’m not sure which (3) ________ it is—in Russia. It was a Thursday that (4) ________ , like it was in 2007, and I (5) ________ trying to get some teachers to (6) ________ and do some work—a class or workshops—on Friday. They said, “No, we (7) ________ do that because (8) ________ a holiday on Thursday.” “Yeah,” I said, “it’s International Woman’s Day. It’s (9) ________ one day, right?” And (10) ________ said, “Yes, but Friday (11) ________ also be a holiday. And (12) ________ I said, “Okay, (13) ________ . Well, what about Wednesday?” And they said, “No, that’s the day (14) ________ International Woman’s Day. And I said… “Okay.” So, really, International Woman’s Day is in Russia (15) ________ three days long. One day is three days long.
Answers: (1) here’s, (2) Women’s, (3) one, (4) year, (5) was, (6) come, (7) can’t, (8) it’s, (9) just, (10) they, (11) will, (12) so, (13) fine, (14) before, (15) at least
Sun 3 Dec 2006
Here is a song by an American who spent four years in Russia. He was impressed by the variety of ways in which places—shops, offices, and so on—could be closed in the middle of the day. So he wrote this song. Listen and read the text. One Russian word is missing at the end of each stanza.
You go to some café
you’ve been to many times before,
but it’s mysteriously empty and dark
You see bricks and dust on the floor
and a sign on the door.
It’s clear you won’t get the meal you want
That’s …You go to a store –
you just want some кагор
But they’ve locked the door
You see the clerks inside;
they don’t even try to hide
because on the window is written
a simple note:
That says…You got to the library and find
it’s not open at this time
But if they unlocked the doors,
people would track mud across the floors.
You see, it’s keeping us out that
keeps the place clean.
That’s what you call… You go to some office
to get a document signed.
Everyone’s eating cake and drinking wine.
One thing is for sure:
you won’t get your signature
Especially when it’s…You go to a shop
Guess what? The door is locked
You can’t see anyone inside
Are they doing important repairs?
How long will they be?
No idea, so you decide to leave
Because it’s…
Activities after you’ve listened to the song:
Group Questions
Work in groups of 3 or 4. Elect a secretary. That person will record key notes for each of the nine questions below. These key notes are the main responses by various members of the group to the questions. These notes will help in summarizing the discussion to the entire class later.
Take your time with these questions. They may offer lots to talk about.
1. What is your reaction to “The Closed Song?†Do you find it more or less true, or a very foreign view? Is it funny or offensive? Describe your feelings.
2. Do you think Americans care too much about business, about “making a buck?†Why or why not?
3. Do you think shop employees should stock and take inventory during business hours or when the shop is normally closed? Why? If you owned the shop, would you be worried about losing business by closing during the day?
4. How important do you think customer loyalty is to a business? Explain why or why not.
5. Should employees be loyal to their employers? For example, if you worked in a shop and there were no customers, what would you do? Read? Sleep? Sweep? Stock? What?
Sun 26 Nov 2006
This song for young folk is sung in Russian. It was taught to me by Vika, a Moldavian I was with at a camp in Bulgaria. Vika now lives in Russia! Simple. Anyway, I’ve been singing the song ever since.
There is a karaoke version to which you can write your own English lyrics.
Tue 14 Nov 2006
This song is based on a true story. It’s probably not very funny unless you’ve been to Russia/Ukraine, etc.
If you want to do a quick language activity, listen to the “Brief -LY Clip” from the song. The singer sings seven consecutive words ending in “ly.” Play the clip from the song several times and see if students can write down all seven words.
Here are the words to the song. Teachers interested in using this in class can easily make a gap-fill listening activity. Just copy the text and paste it into a word processessing document. Then remove 15 words or so, and play the audio for the class.”
***
I met an American in Yakutsk
In Russian she didn’t know much anything.
But apparently she thought she heard a word
Because she asked, “Kevin, What’s does pektopah mean?”What does pektopah mean?
What does pektopah mean?
I said, “I’ve got no idea. Maybe it’s slang.
But it sounds about as Russian as the word orangatan,
I really don’t know what pektopah means.â€She said, “I saw it bunch of times yesterday.
On signs when I was walking around.â€
“Well then,†I said, “one thing we can say:
Pektopahs must be popular in this town.â€What does pektopah mean?
What does pektopah mean?
I had to admit that I’d never seen
A word like that on any sign on any street.
I really don’t know what pektopah means.Then she nearly jumped out of her feet
’cause wee saw a pektopah sign on the street
It became clear what was going on
Her pektopah was just a реÑторан.Now we know what pektopah means
We know what pektopah means
It’s easy to laugh but what travel often brings
is a brand new meaning to the the things you think you’ve already seenAnd that’s precisely, indubitably, unquestionably, undeniably, incontrovertibly, incontestably, indisputably… what pektopah means
Here are 4 young Yakutsk ETs who I really liked. Epilologue: none of them ever wrote me.
Tue 14 Nov 2006
The Slavic Influence on American Music
Posted by Kevin under Podcast Articles Regional EFL stuffNo Comments
[Listen or download the audio below]
There are American songs that nearly everyone in Russia (and in countries of the former USSR) seems to know, songs like “Summertime,†and “Puttin’ on the Ritz.†But the composers of these very American-sounding songs had Russian or Ukrainian roots.
Some were born in Russia, and some in New York to immigrant parents. Most were Jews. One thing is certain: 20th-century American music would be a mere shadow of itself—and somehow less American—without the contributions of these Eastern Europeans.
First, take Irving Berlin. He was born Israel Baline, probably in Tyumen, Siberia. Berlin had more than 200 hits on the Top 40 charts. He even wrote “God Bless America,†which, though not the official national anthem, is just as popular—or more so.
In fact, on September 11, 2001, after the terrorist attacks, it was this song that members of congress began singing on the steps of the US Capital.
Jerome Kern, another American songwriter, said of Berlin: “He is American music.†Some praise for a man born in Siberia!
George and Ira Gershwin were born in New York to parents who had immigrated from the east: whether from Russia, Ukraine, or Lithuania isn’t absolutely clear. George Gershwin wrote music usually, and Ira lyrics. They teamed up with Dubose Heywood for “Summertime,†one of the most frequently recorded songs of all time. The music, written by George, may even have been inspired by the Ukrainian folk lullaby “Oy Khodyt Son†which Gerswhin heard at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1929.
One of the most famous American musical plays is Fiddler on the Roof, based on the stories of Shalom Aleichem, who lived and wrote in Ukraine.
Lyricist Yip Harburg was born to Russian immigrant parents. He would later write the words to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow†from the film “The Wizard of Oz.
Vernon Duke, born Vladimir Dukelsky (on a moving train near Penza!) wrote jazz songs later sung by Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, like “April in Paris†and “Autumn in New York.â€
These are some of the names, but they are not all the names. The influence of these Eastern European composers on American music has been enormous.
Photos from Library of Congress www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.htm
Mon 30 Oct 2006
Here is a Little Story written and recorded by Albina Krasnova of Samara, Russia.
Before engaging students in the listening task below, you might want to involve them in some pair discussions on the subject of pizza.
1. Do you like pizza? When was the last time you had a pizza?
2. What kinds of fish do you like?
3. What kind of fish or seafood is good on pizza?
4. Have you ever been surprised by an ingredient that appeared on your pizza? Describe.
4. Take a moment to think of your ideal pizza. What ingredients would it have?
Twelve words have been blanked out in the text below. Listen and write them.
Albina’s Anchovy Adventure
The word anchovy (Ð°Ð½Ñ‡Ð¾ÑƒÑ in Russian) has always (1) __________ magic to my ear but I never had a chance to (2) __________ them. I would associate the word with something really special that no (2) __________ people could have access to. It (4) __________ be something (5) __________ by people belonging to (6) __________ society or the Tsar’s family in Russia, but not people like me. It (7) __________ until I tried my first (and last!) anchovy pizza (8) __________ my first days in America that I realized it was (9) __________ more than килька – a (10) __________that normal Russian families would (11) __________ for their cats! All the (13) __________ was gone!
(1) sounded, (2) taste, (3) ordinary, (4) would, (5) consumed, (6) royal, (7) wasn’t, (8) first, (9) nothing, (10) fish, (11) buy, (12) magic
Sun 15 Oct 2006
If you live in a country where everyone knows the word remont, start off with these questions for pairs or small groups.
1. What are your associations with the word remont? Is it positive, neutral, or negative?
2. Think of your daily route from home to school or work. What places along the way are undergoing remont? Explain to your partner wear and what.
3. What kind of remont would you like to do, or have done at your home, in the stairwell in front of your home, in your apartment building or in your yard/courtyard?
4. Can you think of a time when some remont cause you a problem or frustrated you? Explain.
5. Has there been a time when you benefited somehow from a remont? Explain.
That’s Remont!
(Audio 4:52)
The word remont is found in Russian, Polish, and several other languages. And it’s found often. There is no word like it in English.
Usually remont is rendered in English as repairs or remodeling. But remont is a big idea, a blanket term used for everything from fixing a shoe to remodeling a football stadium. So here are some English words that can convey remont-like meanings.
You can REPAIR things like shoes, kitchen pipes, cars, and eyeglasses — things that are broken or not functioning. You repair in order to get physical things working again.
You REMODEL, not so much to get things working, but to make things look different, nicer or newer. Thus you usually remodel an office, a house, an apartment, a restaurant.
You can FIX the same things you repair – your car, your coat, your computer. But fix is a bit broader and more conversational than repair. You can also fix your hair, your make-up, or a leaky roof. You can even fix your cat – meaning have it neutered or spayed. Ouch.
REFURBISH means to make bright, clean, or fresh again, which is kind of what you do when you remodel and renovate. Nowadays the word is used often for computers with an added new component.
You RESTORE an old painting or a historic building, the goal being to bring it back to its pristine form at the time that it was built. People also try to restore ruined or polluted land to its natural state.
When you RENOVATE, you give something new vigor, you make it new again.
This is usually for buildings (yes, similar to remodeling). Renovate often collocates with the word home.
All this is not to suggest that English is richer than Russian. Russian has specialized words for repairs and fixes too. On the contrary, English does not have any word approaching the complexity of remont. Remont goes beyond the physical aspects of repair. I t is a state. It is a one-word philosophy. It is the admission that many of life’s questions must be left unanswered. It is infinite. An example. Recently, in my hometown of California, a sign appeared on the local Starbuck’s coffee shop:
We be closed at 7:00 p.m.
March 13-14
for remodeling
March 13-14
for remodeling
With this remodeling, we know the shop will be open in the daytime, as usual, but will close a little earlier in the evening. We also know when the shop will re-open. “Remont,†however, is often untroubled by time. The remont sign can hang on a door for years, and to ask too many questions about it is an exercise in futility. As Olivia Ward has written, remont is “an explanation in itself, unyielding and unchangeable.â€
Because of remont’s extra meaning, English speakers who live in the former USSR quickly incorporate the word into their own English. They say, “We can’t go to that cafe; they’ve got remont.†Or “They’re remonting the stairs, so be careful.â€
Perhaps, like the Russian words dacha, czar, and glasnost, for which there are no satisfactory equivalents, remont will make its way into the world English lexicon.
Hey, why not? Words are like people: they seem driven to cross borders. And, again like people, they cross even when forbidden or discouraged. We may as well welcome wayfarers of both kinds.
Fix-it Words: Vocabulary Exercise
Choose from the following “Fix-it†words and decide which go in the blanks.
 You may need to change the form of the words. All the sentences are authentic, having been excerpted from Internet discussion groups. Sometimes two words may work. Discuss the different possibilities and their nuances.
fix, remodel, repair, renovate, restore
1. The roofer came yesterday and ________________ the roof, I think. I’ll tell you when we have the next rainstorm!!
2. It makes no sense at all to close the whole resort just to _______________ the restaurant.
3. In the past, surgeons ________________broken bones by grafting human or animal bones under extreme high temperature.
4. I received her antique treasure chest … but I noticed right away that… the top was warped and discolored. …. I have to do something to _______________ its original beauty!
5. Egypt announced plans on Sunday [Nov. 26, 2000] to _________________ one of the world’s oldest Christian monasteries.
Answers
1. fixed Repaired is just as good. Clearly, with the mention of rain, we are interested in repair rather than making new or better looking (remodeling, renovation, restoration).
2. remodel. Renovate works fine too. Repair and fix are possible, but they usually refer to something broken. Is the whole restaurant broken?
3. repaired. Sound strange? But repair is used for broken things. Fix works too, but it is less formal, and this is clearly not a conversational sentence.
4. restore. Restore is best. It’s the idea of bringing back the beauty. Why can’t you renovate? You can renovate/restore the chest, but you can’t renovate or renew its original beauty.
5. renovate. Restore works just as well here.
