Dear Teacher,
Tune Into English has just returned from Amman in Jordan, where I presented If Music Be The Food Of Love, Play On…, the keynote speech at the British Council/National Orthodox School’s annual symposium. You can read about this here. Thank you to all there for the wonderful reception I received – I look forward to returning in the future.
Thank you also for the very positive feedback I received for my presentation on RAI Radio 3’s Il Cantiere last month – you can now listen to the podcast here.
This month’s first addition to the Downloadable Worksheets section of the Teachers’ Area of www.tuneintoenglish.com was inspired by this programme – Radio Ga Ga by Queen was submitted by Mena Bianco of Naples and focuses on rhyming words. This song also makes a cameo appearance in this year’s Roadshow.
March is of course when Irish people all over the world celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, on the 17th, and the second new worksheet is by London-Irish band The Pogues. Thousands Are Sailing, submitted by Carline Swettenham (Naples) deals with the difficult topic of emigration to the U.S.A.
It has been 150 years since the unification of Italy (also celebrated on 17th March), and the third new worksheet deals with unity – Laura Casolero from Grumo Nevano has submitted a comparison between three songs on the subject – Waving Flag by K’naan, Buffalo Soldier by Bob Marley & The Wailers and Uprising by Muse.
Thank you to all teachers who have submitted worksheets – I look forward to receiving your contributions in the future.
New Team Up in English, the ideal course for the Scuola Secondaria di I° Grado, published by ELI, is now available – click here for more details – you can also download the Culture page about St. Patrick’s Day at this link. I will be presenting this in Benevento on March 14th during the talk Using Music To Enhance Language Teaching – full details are here, and all are welcome!
The Tune Into English Roadshow is continuing its tour, thank you to all those who have hosted the show, and to those who have sent in comments. You can see a large selection of videos and photographs from over four years of the Roadshow on facebook (as well as my trip to Jordan) – there is a link on the home page of the Tune Into English website.
The Karaoke page of Tune Into English features over 7,300 songs. Don’t forget that you can sing along with the UK Top 10 Charts on the Speak Up site – updated weekly; there is a link on the Tune Home page too. Fans of Irish artists will find songs from U2, Sinéad O’Connor, The Boomtown Rats, The Corrs, The Dubliners, The Cranberries, Dolores O’Riordan, Damien Rice, The Pogues, Thin Lizzy, The Swell Season, Westlife, Boyzone, Ronan Keating, Bell X1, Snow Patrol, The Coronas and The Script. The Tune Into Ireland 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.
Finally, to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, Tune Into English, in collaboration with the British Community Naples’ monthly Pub Quiz, has prepared a music round. Come along at 8.30 p.m. on Wednesday 16th March, to the Birreria Belga, Via Vaccaro 30/32 (Vomero) – prizes have been sponsored by Tourism Ireland! I look forward to seeing you there.
Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig, a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Best wishes,
Fergal Kavanagh
Tune Into English
www.tuneintoenglish.com
