Wrong song for the wrong group of people.

Salam,

I want to share what happened in my conversation class yesterday. This January session, I'm teaching Level 100 students (the lowest level) in ELS. The students basically have a very basic knowledge in English with a very limited vocabulary. So, teaching conversation to them is always a challenge as I have to use a lot of sign language, pictures and easy examples and explanation.

As the day before, I gave them the mid term test, yesterday I wanted them to relax. So, I decided to use a song to teach the pronunciation and also the listening skill. I chose "Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Hailey and the Comets. The song is a fast song but I had to use the song since it was the most convenient song for me. I could use the lyrics and the cassette that I've had used for teaching Grammar. Plus, I didn't want to use other songs like R&B or Pop song because they might think it's boring.

The class contains Arabs, Iranians and Yemenis and all of them is male students. When I played the song, they smiled but they were quite lost with the lyrics and they found it very difficult to sing along. I had to explain some words in the lyrics and I ended up singing along the song all by myself. huhu. (macam syok sendiri je) Even  after I asked them to stand up and move around the class, they still didn't show any enthusiasm what-so-ever. After few attempts, I got so fed-up. So, I just stopped the activity just about 5 minutes before the class was supposed to end. During the last 5 minutes, I just asked them their favorite songs. Their answers didn't really surprise me because they said "We love Muhammad Abduh or Amr Diab teacher!".

Here is a video of the song "Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Hailey and the Comets. Hope you can enjoy yourselves *wink*wink*