Dear Teacher,
The 17th March is Ireland’s national holiday, and I would like to wish you all a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day. This month’s newsletter is dedicated to Ireland.
The three new song activities on the Downloadable Worksheets page of www.tuneintoenglish.com are all from Irish artists – the first is by Ireland’s premier folk singer Christy Moore. Submitted by Mena Bianco from Giugliano, The City of Chicago deals with emigration during the Great Famine.
Auxiliadora Pérez Vides of Huelva, Spain, submitted the second worksheet, Only When I Sleep by The Corrs.
The 21st March is International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and Mena Bianco has written a great worksheet celebrating this, using U2’s Pride (In The Name Of Love) and MLK.
You may be interested in Tune Into Ireland, a 90 minute presentation of the country’s history, customs, language and lifestyle through its music. You can read about this, as well as comments on the show, by following the link on the home page of the site.
You can also download the article Ireland: A Culture Reflected in its Music, written by Fergal Kavanagh, with a comprehensive worksheet by Auxiliadora Pérez Vides of the University of Huelva, Spain.
There is also a downloadable poster, published in this month’s issue of Speak Up.
The page also contains a link to Irish Karaoke, featuring a selection of songs in Gaeilge, for those of you interested in practicing the official language of the Emerald Isle.
The main Karaoke page contains over 1,500 songs, including all the current chart hits, as well as songs from Irish artists such as U2 (including their new single!), Sinéad O’Connor, The Corrs, The Dubliners, The Cranberries, Dolores O’Riordan, Damien Rice, The Pogues, Glen Hansard, Westlife, Boyzone, Ronan Keating, Bell X1, Snow Patrol, The Coronas and The Script.
To wrap up, I would like to remind you of two further dates for your diary – it is Mother’s Day in Ireland (and Britain) on the 22nd March, and there is a wonderful video called The Mom Song by Anita Renfroe on the Karaoke page – it is worth taking 5 minutes to check this out.
Finally, on the 1st April Italy meets Ireland at Stadio
San Nicola, Bari, for the World Cup Qualifiers – forgive
me if I conclude by saying Come On Ireland!!!!
Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig, a Very Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all – for those of you in Naples on the 17th, I will be DJing at Perditempo, Via San Pietro a Maiella 8, playing (mostly!) Irish music. Maybe see you there!
Best wishes,
Fergal Kavanagh
Tune Into English
www.tuneintoenglish.com