Billy Joel wrote the song Souvenir for his Streetlife Serenade album. Listen to the song by clicking Billy Joel at the bottom of blog.

A picture postcard

a folded stub

a program from a play

file away a photograph from your holiday.

And your mementos will turn to dust

but that's the price you pay

for every year's a souvenir

that slowly fades away.

Every year's a souvenir

that slowly fades away.

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What do you think Billy Joel means by "every year's a souvenir, that slowly fades away."?

What year is your favorite souvenir, and why?

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Above are some photographs from my vacations.

What details can you tell me about the picture?

Write a story based upon the four pictures above. Highlight all descriptive words in blue.

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SERENADE: (noun) a complimentary performance of instruments or vocals, especially an outside performance.

POSTCARD: (noun) a small commercially printed card, generally used to send by mail.

STUB: (noun) the returned portion of a ticket

PROGRAM: (noun) a listing of performers or pieces in a performance.

PHOTOGRAPH: (noun) a picture usually produced by a camera.

MEMENTOS: (noun) item or items usually kept to remind someone of a particular event or person.

SOUVENIR :(noun) generally a small inexpensive item purchased to remember a certain place.

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Fill in the blanks with the above words:

I am travelling in a beautiful city. I was walking around the center of town and was ______________ by the musicians as they sang for their lunch money. I find a cafe and can finally sit to write out my _____________ to my family and friends. I can't wait to tell them about the play I saw last night. I reached into my pocket to get my ticket ____________. I want to spell the actors name correctly. The _______ didn't help me, but wait I have the ______________for the performance. All the information I need! I have to remember to pick up _____________ for my friends, maybe I 'll find a snow globe, or magnets. I can't believe that my camera broke, I wanted to have _______________ of this trip. Maybe I'll buy a camera. That could be my _______________of this wonderful vacation!

Holiday

I was skiing with my family over the weekend. As I was riding on the lift, a song from my teen years was blasting over the loud speakers. A very popular musician named Madonna was singing an early number called "Holiday".

The song goes something like this: (to listen and watch,take a look at Madonna's video at the bottom of my blog)

Holiday Celebrate
Holiday Celebrate

If we took a holiday
Took some time to celebrate
Just one day out of life
It would be, it would be so nice

Everybody spread the word
We're gonna have a celebration
All across the world
In every nation
It's time for the good times
Forget about the bad times, oh yeah
One day to come together
To release the pressure
We need a holiday


You can turn this world around
And bring back all of those happy days
Put your troubles down
It's time to celebrate
Let love shine
And we will find
A way to come together
And make things better
We need a holiday.


I started to think about the words in a very different way than I did as a teenager. It was a dancing song back in the day.
I was now thinking about how nice it was to take a break from every day routines, and be with my family. It was a quiet celebration for us as we simply were able to enjoy each other's company. Everyone really does needs a holiday, even if it is just for one day.
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SKIING/ (noun) the act or sport of gliding on skis.

LIFT/ (noun) a conveyance that carries skiers up the side of a slope, consisting typically of a series of chairs suspended from an endless cable driven by motors.

BLASTING/ (noun)a loud, sudden sound or noise.

LOUD SPEAKERS/ (noun) any of various devices, usually electronic, by which speech, music, etc., can be intensified and made audible throughout a room, hall, or the like.

NUMBER/ (noun) a tune or arrangement for singing or dancing.

HOLIDAY/ (noun) a period of cessation from work or one of recreation; vacation.
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Fill in the blanks:

Have you been watching the Olympics on T.V. this week? The men's down hill _________ event was so exciting! I was wondering if the athletes rode the ______________ together, or did they all get their own chair? What a great _____________ this must be for the proud families! I know that most of the athletes have their Ipods programmed with their favorite ____________. I am sure that some of the music is __________ as much as _________ __________!
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Which of the above words have another meaning? What are those meanings?
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Grammar Point:

What would be your dream vacation? What was your best or worst holiday (day off with your family)? Tell me about them in essay form. Highlight all the nouns in blue. Highlight all the verbs in yellow.
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STEVIE WONDER & PAUL MCCARTNEY - EBONY & IVORY LYRICS

This song was written by Paul McCartney and performed by both he and Stevie Wonder.


"Ebony And Ivory live together in perfect harmony
Side by side on my piano keyboard oh lord why don't we?

We all know that people are the same where ever you go
there is good and bad in everyone
we learn to live we learn to give each other what we need to survive together alive

Ebony and Ivory live together in perfect harmony
side by side on my piano keyboard oh lord why don't we?

Ebony,Ivory living in perfect harmony
Ebony,Ivory oh..

We all know that people are the same where ever you go
there is good and bad in everyone
we learn to live when we learn to give each other what we need to survive
together alive.

Ebony and Ivory live together in perfect harmony
side by side on my piano keyboard oh lord why don't we?
side by side on my piano keyboard oh lord why don't we?"

When this song came out it was very popular. I think mostly because of the artists that were involved.

The words that I want you to think about are:

ARTISTS
EBONY
IVORY
KEYBOARD
HARMONY
SURVIVE

Also who is Paul McCartney, and did he ever work with any other musicians?

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Artist: (noun) painter, sculptor, writer , who uses their talent and imagination to create works of fine art
Ebony: (noun) the color black
Ivory: (noun) a grayish yellow color; piano keys
Keyboard: (noun) a set of keys as on a computer, or piano
Harmony: (noun) agreement in feeling or opinion, or a musical combination of notes in a chord
Survive:(verb) to remain alive
Paul McCartney: musician who wrote most of the songs for The Beatles
www.thebeatles.com
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Fill in the blanks:

My _______________________ became dirty when my chocolate milk was knocked over. The
piano keys turned different colors. The ___________________ keys turned black, and
the ________________ keys became darker. I wonder if the famous _________________
____________________ ever had this problem. Well, hopefully the piano will still
play in __________________, if not I'll ___________________.

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Grammar Point.

Now it is your turn......
Tell me if this song has more than one meaning, and what they are.

Find a song (that you like) about people or things that are in harmony. List 5 nouns from your song.

Thinking....

I have been thinking, and thinking about this blogging assignment. I want to do something that I will actually use in the future with an ESL class, and I want to enjoy the process. My assumption is, if I enjoy it, my students will too. I came upon the idea of using music somehow. I feel that music is a universal element that all cultures have. The music may not come from an Ipod, but may simply be a voice, and hand clapping.

I live with a teenager, and am acutely aware that the music I listened to back in the day greatly varies from today's top hits. I am going to base this blog for the middle school experience. I will now have to rummage in my mind for the music that I listened to in sixth through eighth grade.
I do recall that the songs had a storyline...not merely screaming, or trash talk.

My plan is to write out the lyrics, and highlight phrases, or words that my students may be unfamiliar with. Their assignment would be to choose a song and try to express the gist of the tune in English, and if the student was a bit more proficient transcribe the song from their home language into English.

Now to think of some songs.....