1. This song has a ton of new awesome words and phrases (words even I had to look up before class).
2. It's about a paradise land full of free food and napping.
3. This song, first recorded in the 1920's by Harry McClintock, is said to come from one man's account of hobo traveling of the US in the late 1800's or early 1900's. In class my co-teacher could note on some US history that varies from today's pop-culture. "Railway bulls," for example, were those who policed trains to kick off ticketless riders into the Great Depression.
4. The song is a break from recognizable English song choices that students often know, such as hits from Bob Marley and the Beatles (which are fun choices, but they are not from the US, and as part of my role this year to share US-specific culture with the students I'd like to share US artists and songs when possible).
Some vocab we had a laugh with: crystal fountains rubber teeth soft-boiled lake of stew cigarette trees cops with wooden legs (for which my co-teacher impersonated a limping policeman, tic-tocking his legs between chairs) | Vocab we had trouble translating: handouts = donations of money brakemen = the workers who help repair the trains short-handled shovels = little shovels birds and the bees = just some birds and some bees! hung the jerk - violent words have to be translated too. streams of alcohol = "streams of coca-cola" (Because after hearing alcohol, some kids went "ewww!" Wow, good kids! So, we agreed upon on a more age-apropriate translation. Same went for lakes of whiskey). |