I Have a Dream

Tuesday, March 24. This afternoon in English Corner for Senior 1s, we finally finish The Sound of Music! It took a little more than 3 weeks. I ask the kids whether they think it's a true story, and then show some photos on powerpoint - The Sound of Music: Fact v. Fiction. I think they were surprised to find out they were a real family.

After that, we start Famous American Speeches. First up is MLK's "I have a dream." I open with a brief history of slavery and civil rights movement in the U.S., including 1963 March on Washington where MLK speech was given. Happily, I was able to download a video of the speech from the internet onto my computer, so I show a couple of minutes of the beginning (with great crowd shots) and about 7 minutes of the end (it's a long speech - 17 minutes in total - and much of it is not easy to understand). Then we talk a little more about MLK, Nobel Prize, assassination, riots, establishment of MLK Day, and finally why it is so meaningful that Obama was elected President. At the end, I taught them "We Shall Overcome." They'll be ready for the next protest!

Tonight, I decide I'm not happy with my lesson plan for this week (on Studying Abroad, England, London etc). So far, I feel like I'm just doing PR for the summer camp program, but there's no focus to it. I'm having a hard time coming up with something so spend a lot of time this evening poking around on the internet, looking for some ideas. Finally, I remember the William Wordsworth poem "Composed on Westminster Bridge" which is about the beauty of London in the early morning. Ok, so maybe that will work - but it will definitely be too hard for my lower-ability classes so I also include "I wandered lonely as a cloud." But of course, I have to finish the powerpoint and word document before class tomorrow (in fact, i have to finish early so I can print out the word document and have copies made before class). I'm feeling a little anxious about getting it all done in time.