My students are obsessed with this film and it's copious amounts of lyrically pleasing songs. Okay, I may have them on repeat myself, but let's not use this blog as a means of pointing out my childlike qualities :)
I decided to take what my students were already focused on as a way to reach the objectives at our feet.
On the first day of this "Let it Go" lesson, the girls (2) sang the song for me, quite excitedly. They struggled on nearly every word and failed to keep pace with the quickly passing notes. However, once they reached the chorus, they belted out every word with proud smiles on their faces. It was after this performance, I knew I needed to explicitly teach this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0MK7qz13bU (the link just in case you haven't heard the song)
I printed out the lyrics (on a Monday) to "Let it Go" and we began dissecting the words, "isolation, conceal, swirling, fractals ect." as well as examining the theme and inferring the feelings of the characters based on what was being told through the lyrics. We talked about poetry and how lyrics are just poems put to music. We read the lyrics over and over again practicing the pronunciation of all of the tricky words, such as, "bothered" (that one was a doozie). I gave the girls their own copies of the lyrics with my terrible hand-drawn pictures next to certain words to remind the girls what the words meant. For example, a spiral drawn next to the word spiraling.
After the lyrics had been dissected, we moved on with other pieces of instruction. It wasn't until that Friday that the real story began. The girls skipped through my door with bright smiles on their faces. They said together, "Ms. Lett, we're been practicing and we want to sing the song for you." To be honest, based on the practicing I heard them do in class, I wasn't sure how this solo performance was going to go. I turned on the song and listened intently to two girls, going against all odds, singing a song about "the fears that once controlled them, not getting to them anymore". There were still words they stumbled over, but they were able to sing so many more words than they were able to on Monday. They got to the "Let it Go" chorus and this teacher's heart swelled so big as her eyes welled and spilled over with tears. The girls finished their song and I couldn't take my eyes off of them. They looked at me and asked, "Ms. Lett, are you crying?" (they should know by now that yes, I'm always crying---and it's all because of their beautiful hearts). I looked them in the eyes and asked them why they think I would be crying. One of the girls answered, "I know you're crying because you are proud of us." Yes! Exactly! I tried choking out the words to elaborate on why I was so proud of them. Where would I even begin? These girls, and all of the kids I work with for that matter, are overcoming their own battles every day. Can you imagine, and perhaps you can, being dropped within a school, a country, a neighborhood not knowing the language and being expected to adapt in a snap? Being expected to take standardized tests in English? Not being able to express your fears and your joys? These dear children that I have been blessed with are not only learning academics, but the language in which they are being taught.
I cannot imagine what it will be like to have my own children someday. I truly feel everyday that my heart might explode with love for these precious children of God. I have always wanted to be a missionary and I can honestly say that I believe I am. I couldn't be more humbly blessed.
These kids are teaching me more than I could EVER imagine teaching them.
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