Our own Steven Ordiano in Fresno, CA has composed the first Invisibles song: Tu Le Sais. It is so French – it has that sound. We might hear this playing in a pub in France.
Students who hear songs about invisible characters that they invented are more likely to want to listen to them than songs from some canned curriculum.
Not all teachers sing and play the guitar, but for those teachers who do, this is quite a first step and Steven is to be commended for his idea and I thank him for the smile it brought to my face when I heard about Benjamin the Turtle.
I post this with gratitude for who Steven is, his work, what he is doing for language instruction and for his students:
Hi Ben,
After about 13 versions my song is complete. I based it around a hook I had while playing guitar one Sunday morning and a character my 4th period class created. It’s a pyromanic turtle who flys named Benjamain de la Rosa. Anyway here are the lyrics below. I hope to make some more based off of the end of the year stories that students are creating.
Il y avait
il y avait
une énorme
tortue pyromane
qui volait
elle s’appellait Benjamin
et j’ai dit:
Chorus
Sans toi je ne vole pas
tu le sais, tu le sais
Verse 2
et un jour, et un jour
il y a eu
une bataille de rap
Benjamin a gagné
mais j’ai perdu
Soudain, j’ai crié
Chorus
Bridge:
Il est arrivé
et il a dit:
tu es mon meilleure ami
J’ai répondu: “Ah bon?”
et il a dit: “Oui pour toujours,
pour toujours”