Dig this: I'm a teacher and I just used CoB in my first lesson!

[Hatebreeder]

My Spanish teacher likes a lot of metal, though it's mostly 80's thrash. He also likes a good amount of 80's and 90's alt. rock.

 

[muTha]

2 large 2 read

 

[The Bringer]

2 large 2 read

Then go somewhere where it is easier for you. Like the children's library.

 

[MiracleMan]

Well, I just read this, and I must say, that's a very unique way of teaching these kids in a way they would understand. As a student, I find it quite sad that no one's interested in classical literature. I actually used Iron Maiden's "Rime of The Ancient Mariner" when we were studying it, since it is considered a "ballad" of sorts.

 

[SmellyStuff]

You so should have given them the lyrics to Bed of Razors.

 

[#1draftpick]

First of all, teaching English via Children of Bodom is completely bad ass and a great idea. Second, "Black candle wax has buried me" is indeed a great line from "Everytime I Die"...and I guess it is somewhat poetic in nature.

Anyway, I felt somewhat of a need to comment on it...but I have always taken that lyric as kind of a metaphor on how the darkness and sometimes awfulness of life "buries" people, or makes them succomb to things they would rather not...but for some reason have to succomb to.

Posts like this make me smile...so keep up the good fight!

 

[Gjallarhorn]

you should use wintersun in one of your lessons. very poetic lyrics.

 

[Teacher of Deth]

Hello everyone, I'm not in the habit of posting on this board, but I just had to reply to this post...!
It's cool what you're doing, and don't let yourself get told off by the headmaster. Or wait till you've finished teacher training.... I'm a fully fledged English teacher, and I regularly quote from some of my favourite bands to make things clearer, e.g. pronunciation, which generally just gets me funny looks from a lot of the students. I teach at upper secondary level, and there are some metalheads among my students, but not many.
I am also a member of the exam board for the final school leaving exams, and for the past two years I've been slipping lyrics into the oral exams. Two years ago it was a quote from Megadeth, and last year I used some Sentenced lyrics. I haven't used Children of Bodom lyrics yet, maybe I'll find a topic that would fit nicely in next year's exams. The texts have to be approved of by a team of 'specialists' so I can't use anything too extreme or with rude words, but I always get some fun knowing that I've put lyrics from metal bands in official school leaving exams!

 

[Hatebreeder]

you should use wintersun in one of your lessons. very poetic lyrics.

Not to mention that even the way he sings it is pretty poetic.

 

[inhe]

The beginning of Beyond the sun (i'm talking about the part where he sings) is really nice actually, Jari has a great voice.

 

[deathstrike from hell]

So like, I'm student teaching to become an English teacher. Or history, which is my minor. But I'm student teaching in English.

So like, I went to school too, right? I'm quite aware that a lot of people view English, Science, Math and History as "Prison Sentence Classes". One of the goals that has been set for me is to get the class (11th grade) to read and analyze a Shakespeare play (either Merchant of Venice or Henry IV, I haven't decided yet). Of course, most kids groan and recoil and are set to be bored when they hear "analysis". What the hell does taht mean anyway, they think. Now, the letter that your supervising teacher writes at the end will make or break how good of a teaching job you can land at first. So I just took that one line from Dangerous Minds seriously "Get their attention".

I knew I had to hook them in the first 10 minutes or the entire semester woud be a wash. SO what I did was I passed out the lyrics to "Everytime I die". I asked "Waht did you just read?' People said, "A poem of course". So I run a short discussion of "What did it make you feel?" Answers were "Hopeless, sad, desperate, depressed, despondent". Good, right? They don't know it, but they've already started analyzing. So then I say "Are you sure it was a poem?" A few cautious shaking of heads. Okay says I..so then I turn up the classroom CD player and blast the song. Now of course because of Alexi Laiho's singing style, it took them a few minutes to realize it was the same words. So I played the song a second time so people could stop focusing on just the words and analyze what the music, the whole package made them feel. Answers were kinda different this time "Anger, frustration, desperation, and empowerment". That was my point on context; which leads me to think I'll probably have them do Merchant of Venice given the many different contexts taht Shylock has been portrayed under (from stupid, to vicious to complex and sad).

The point of my lesson? Analysis can be in the eye of teh beholder. One person said the song made them feel empowered because he said that bottling up your rage sucks, so being able to express it loudly and with reckless abandon made him feel good. We actually took about 20 minutes discussing the line "Black candle wax has buried me" (cause I for one have a pretty weak interpretation of it I think). But my other point is that songwriters are modern poets. SOme of them suck and some of them truly are poems. In fact, one of the first passages of Henry IV sounds somewhat similar to "Everytime I Die" as do several in Hamlet.

So now I've got the kids eating out of my hand and they'll read and analyze whatever I tell them to because they realize they can apply it to their everyday lives, which is one of the biggest questions highschoolers have "When am I ever gonna use this?" Plus, they never know what we're going to listen to or read next. Obivously I can't make every song heavy metal. So I'm also using some Cat Stevens, Peter Gabriel and hoping to culminate with Leonard Cohen's "The Future" since NO ONE can actually analyze that song. I reward the students with "heavy metal fridays". On Fridays, we listen to a new metal song and analyze it for half the class. But then it's back to other business. But I got called to the carpet by the principal. That's another story.

Anyhow, I think Children of Bodom may have just made my career.

for someone yearning to be a teacher, you have the linguistic skills of a french fry.

 

[Nectar of the Gods]

i noticed his poor grammer but, hey, c'mon when someone tells you a story in real life you dont stop them and tell them they have a speach impediment...

yes, i know, its the beauty of the internet blah blah.



but seriously,folks. whats with the "so likes"??

 

[Theres Evil In My Mind]

awesome. on the next friday, have them analyze "a gothic romance" by cradle of filth. that's a crazy ass song. they wont know what to make of the music when they hear it.

hektic man.. cradle of filth very nice.. i love dem do u lyk sodomy and lust or a bruise of the silent moon

 

[The Bringer]

Talk about a speech impediment.

 

[Nick Brookes]

Talk about a speech impediment.

Another retard from Australia come to mind.