Look what these Americans (clip below) have done in the Golden Age of our culture. I watched it again with the sound way up, my heart filled with love for those people who uplifted so many, much of it in time of war and darkness.
I made a connection and it isn’t too “California”: The same spirit we see in this dance clip is the same American spirit that some of us see potentially or already in action in our CI classes, in our stories, in our FUN! What else is there in life but to uplift others? Our students are beat down. Let’s help them feel better about life! Some of us who ourselves feel beat down right now at this tough time of the year might not see the connection with the dance clip, but I see it. When we rock a story, we are doing what we Americans do best in life – TURN IT UP, LET OUR FREAK FLAGS FLY, GET OUT THERE! Or we could teach relative pronouns to the few.
The dancers didn’t just end up dancing like that. They worked to get to that gravity defying status. And we have to work to learn to be able to bring lift-off to a story, because many of us here don’t see teaching a language as just a job, but much more than that. We want to become CI plane pilots and get our classes up in the air. There must be twenty posts here over the years comparing CI instruction to flying.
What is work about? Helping others through sacrifice! We are doing that! Kids want to be in our classes! Look at the Latin teachers, as just one example, in our group, who have shifted the amount of kids in their Latin classes to far outnumber the students in Spanish in their buildings. That was done by James Hosler and David Maust and John Piazza and John Bracey and Bob Patrick and others doing work. Lance does both the Latin and the Marching Artistry piece and I see a connection there!
We may not be the best dancers in the world. I’m certainly not. But we try! Our effort, and not the results, count.
I apologize for the mini rant. When I first saw the dance clip I wasn’t aware of the obvious connection. So now I challenge everyone in our group to get up tomorrow and embrace the American spirit of joy and happiness that we see in those dancers and to bring it into our classrooms. THAT is what my own personal efforts have been with TPRS all along – to get to that level of happiness, to bring teaching a language up to the level of dance. We can do it! We can do it if we really try! We can get it if we work as work was meant to be – full of JOY.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/uptown-funk-golden-age-of-hollywood-mashup_564b947fe4b045bf3df17c08?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063§ion=india&adsSiteOverride=in
Related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18EAqHx2lMk