Eric's Beijing Diary

I really didn't spend too much time in technology this week in Langfang, because I wanted to take time to prepare the students for the final examination. But I did take time for a little music. I taught them how to sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" backwards, a trick I learned from Heidi years ago:

Dream a but is life
Merrily, merrily, merrily
Merrily stream the down gently
Boat your row, row, row.

Of course I had to teach them how to sing it forward first. I also taught them an old Burl Ives chorus. It's a simple little thing, but they just could not get through it without laughing.

Mares eat oats,
And does eat oats,
And little lambs eat ivy.
A kid will eat ivy, too.
Wouldn't you?

Music really is a pretty good way to teach language, as long as you combine it with other things. Since this is Technical English, I have spent a considerable amount of time teaching technical vocabulary and concepts. But many of these students have trouble with technical English, because they don't have much background with English at all. So I have had to compromise, for the benefit of students, some of whom had never met a foreigner before they took this class.


Sing your way home,
At the close of the day.
Sing your way home,
Drive the shadows away.
Smile all the while,
For wherever you roam.
It will lighten your load.
It will brighten your road.
If you sing your way home.