Nina Simone

This week, I want to make an article about Nina Simone. I introduced one of her songs in my classes and discovered that she was unknown to my students. It was therefore necessary for me to present her life and work as the legendary artists she was. 

- The "difficult" words are underlined, and you are free to find their meanings in your dictionary (www.wordreference.org) 

- Listen to the podcast here:

- Read the text

- Listen and read at the same time for your brain to develop and improve your listening skills.

Enjoy!

***

Nina Simone was one of the most extraordinary artists of the 20th century and an icon of American music. She used her talent to create a sense of liberation, empowerment, passion and love through wonderful songs. She was nicknamed "High Priestess of Soul" because she could cast a spell on people, and they would lose track of time and space as they became absorbed in the moment. 

Nina Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon. She was born in North Carolina on February 21st, 1933. She started playing the piano by ear at the age of 3. She was raised in a strictly religious family and she played the piano in her mother's church. When she was 12, she made a concert in the local church. Her parents, who were sitting in the front row, were forced to move to the back to leave their seats to white people. She refused to play until her parents moved back to the front. 

After graduating from high school, she wanted to go to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, the school rejected her because of her race. Eunice moved to New York City and studied at the Julliard School of Music.

To survive, she began teaching music to local students. One day, in 1954, she started to sing at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey. She transformed popular tunes unto a synthesis of jazz, blues and classical music, and people started talking about her. Her rich, deep velvet voice combined with her wonderful keyboard skills soon attracted an audience. Eunice didn't want her mother to know she was singing in bars, she became "Nina Simone", after the actress Simone Signoret.

When she was 24, Nina Simone came to the attention of the record industry and signed a contract with Bethlehem Records, and her interpretation of "I Loves you Porgy" was a big success in 1958. Nina Simone recorded more than 40 albums between 1958 and 1974. Her musical style is a mixture between gospel and pop songs, with a bit of classical music and jazz singing. 

In the early 1960s, she became involved in the civil rights movement and that gave a new direction to her life. Her music had a big influence on the fight for equal rights in the United States. Nina Simone always included songs about her African-American origins, but it was the first time she openly sang about the racial inequalities in the United States with "Mississippi Goddam". From then on, there was always a civil rights message in her songs. The most powerful performance, to me, is her interpretation of "Strange Fruit", a song originally by Billie Holiday.

Her last album, A Single Woman, was recorded in 1993. She had suffered from breast cancer for several years when she died in her sleep on April 21st, 2003. Elton John sent flowers with the message "You were the greatest and I love you." Simone's ashes were scattered in several African countries. She leaves a daughter, Lisa Celeste Stroud, actress and singer with the stage name Simone.

Source: the Official Home of Nina Simone and Wikipedia

Here is a documentary about the great Nina Simone; called: Nina Simone, The Legend.

Abercrombie & Fitch CEO's ugly quest for attractive "cool kids"

Hi everyone. This week, I suggest you an adapted news article about the infamous Abercrombie & Fitch brand. Follow the instructions and enjoy!

1) Listen to the podcast   - DON'T READ

2) Listen again and take notes of what you understand.

3) Read the text and look for the underlined words in a dictionary

4) Read again and listen to the podcast at the same time.

5) Answer the questions at the end of this note, as well as the opinion questions. You can comment the article with your answers.

This week, a mother from Washington DC took her three daugthers’ Abercrombie & Fitch clothes and returned them to the firm’s chief executive, Mike Jeffries, with a note explaining that she wouldn’t let her kids shop at his stores anymore.

Why was she so angry?

Last week, Business Insider reported that Abercrombie refuses to make large-sized clothing, because Jeffries wants «thin and beautiful» people shopping in his store. «He doesn’t want his customers to see people who aren’t as hot as them wearing his clothes». «As far as Jeffries is concerned, America’s unattractive, overweight or otherwise undesirable teens can shop elsewhere.»

Jeffries is quoted as saying « In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-America kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong in our clothes, and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody either.»

However, nowadays, fast fashion retailers such as H&M and Forever 21 do a pretty good job of exciting fashion customers of all ages and sizes. And - no big surprise - they have been stealing market share from Abercrombie & Fitch.

From a fashion point of view, Abercrombie is a lame label. Although it sounds vaguely English, Abercrombie is a reinvented hunting and fishing creator based in Ohio. It is not what you can call a design house. It is just a retailer of relatively boring overpriced clothes tarted up for teens.

The company always seems to be in the middle of some scandal or controversy: Its catalog photos are too suggestive, it’s selling thong underwear to pre-teens, and they are in court for forcing less attractive and minority employees to work behind the scenes rather than on the floor.

So, while there is nothing particularly original going on style-wise at Abercrombie, there is a certain genius for developing the anxiety of youngsters who want to be considered cool by their peers.

Supposedly, it’s an anxiety that CEO Jeffries, now in his late 60’s, never outgrew. «Jeffries wants desperately to look like his target customers, and in that pursuit he has aggressively transformed hismelf from a classically handsome man into a cartoonish physical specimen: dyed hair, perfectly white teeth, golden tan, building biceps, wrinkle-free face, and big Angelina Jolie lips.»

Still trying to be one of the cool kids, I guess.

Adapted from L.A. Now, article by Robin Abcarian, May 11th, 2013

Questions:

1) Why was the mother so angry?

2) Why does Abercrombie exclude non-attractive people?

3) Why does the journalist think that Abercrombie is a lame label?

4) What kind of controversy or scandal is the company in the middle of?

5) What does Jeffries look like?

Opinion questions:

1) Did you know Abercrombie & Fitch? Have you ever been to one of their shops?

2) Is this company the reflection of today's world?

Adele - Running in the deep

For my first article in the "music" section, I couldn't not start with Adele!

1) Read the lyrics and see where the gaps are

2) Listen to the music

3) Listen again and try to fill the gaps

4) Listen again to check

5) Check your answers here.

6) Check the meaning of key phrases here.

6) Listen one last time and sing along with the lyrics.

FAQ

Do I have to sing? 

Yes, it's an absolute obligation

How will you know, you can't see me.

Oh, but I can...

Why?

Now, that's the interesting part. Not only is it fun, but it's actually important for your pronunciation and rhythm. It doesn't matter if you have a nice singing voice or the voice of an old and terrible witch. What matters is that as you sing, your pronounce words the way you believe they are pronounced and at the same time, you hear them the way they should be pronounced. So that's a perfect way for your brain to pick up any pronunciation mistake you make, on your own, without me telling you. Isn't that amazing? 

I don't like Adele

I don't believe you. But if it's true then just wait for my next musical article. If you think I have horrible musical tastes, you can suggest songs to me via my contact form :)

Lyrics

There's a fire starting in my heart,
Reaching a fever pitch and it's __________ me out the dark.
Finally, I can see you  __________ clear,
Go ahead and sell me out and I'll lay your ship bare,

See how I'll leave with __________piece of you,
Don't underestimate the __________ that I will do.

There's a fire starting in my heart,
Reaching a fever pitch and it's bring me out the dark.

The scars of your love __________me of us,
They keep me thinking that we __________ had it all.

The scars of your love, they __________ me breathless,
I can't help feeling,

We could have had it all,
Rolling in the deep,
You had my heart __________ your hand,
And you played it to the beat.

Baby, I have no __________ to be told,
But I've heard one on you and I'm gonna __________ your head burn,
Think of me in the depths of your despair,
Making a home down there as mine sure won't be shared?

The scars of your love __________me of us,
They keep me thinking that we __________ had it all.
The scars of your love, they __________ me breathless,
I can't help feeling,

We could have had it all,
Rolling in the deep.
You had my heart __________ your hand,
And you played it to the beat.

Throw your soul through __________ open door,
Count your blessings to __________ what you look for.
Turn my sorrow into treasured gold,
You'll pay me back in kind and reap just what you've sown.

We could have had it all,
We could have had it all.
It all, it all, it all.

We could have had it all,
Rolling in the deep.
You had my heart __________ of your hand,
And you played it to the beat.

Back to school

September is back and so is school. I don't know about you, but I've always been inspired by September. Autumn is coming, which is one of my favourite seasons ever with its beautiful red-orange leaves falling and the last rays of sunlight shining through them. 

Also, there is something about summer that rhymes with being lazy. I don't know about other teachers, but summer always equates with "I have no energy" for me; which of course bothers me because there are always a million things I would love to do. So, September is always welcome as it gives me that "kick in the pants" that I need at some point. And the result is this blog having a brand new design! Tadaam. I don't know about you guys, but I love it.

So, for those of you who have followed the hesitating debuts of this blog this summer, worry no more, for I will publish one article a week on various subjects according to my inspiration: that is my "september resolution", it's a promise! And to the others, welcome welcome! 

If, like me and the students I am going to meet next week, you are "going back to school", here are a couple of tips to help you manage efficiently and peacefully.

1) Set realistic goals: it's important to have ambition and to know where you want to be next year, but it has to be realistic. Sometimes, I see students who start a level 3 with me and feel discouraged when they learn there are 12 levels in the school system. You don't need to do 12 levels to be able to speak English. I would say that most people speak acceptable English around level 5, which you can reach at your own pace. So, the first thing would be to know what you want and to see in how long that goal is achievable.

2) Make an appointment with yourself to study: If you go to a school, if you come to my classes or if you just follow this blog, it doesn't matter: you need to study. Of course, most of you have a job and lives full of important things and it is sometimes difficult to find the time to do homework. Going to school, to classes or following a blog, is already a good start. Unfortunately, if there is no background work, your new knowledge is not going to last. Pick a day, any day, where you can spend 60 minutes revising what you have learned that week, to make all your efforts worth it.

3) Sleep: yes, sleep. Apprenticeship needs sleep. It is during your sleep that your brain registers what has happened during the day. If you lack sleep, you won't remember as much.

That's it for now! I'm off to work on your next subject, which promises to be... musical! 

Stay tuned!

When the weekending has to stop: crosswords

Here are the answers to the latest article questions as well as the long awaited related crosswords : when the weekending has to stop. The downloadable and printable version of the crossword is available here.

1) Answers

1. Because the last time they left their teenagers at home, it was a disaster and they had to pay an expensive plumber to fix the house.
2. They broke the heated towel rail and tried to repair with Polyfilla.
3. All the teenagers will know that the house is free and they will come and have a party
4. Because she discovered that her sons spent a day sitting on the roof of their house. She thought they were doing dangerous things when they were left alone and needed adult supervision.
5. The boomerang generation is the generation of young people who leave their parents to go live their lives, but then come back after a separation or a divorce or because they don’t find a job after university. Since this is becoming more and more frequent, Michelle thinks she needs to trust them if they are going to stay at her house forever.
6. They were watching TV.
7. Because the tap handle was broken. It means they couldn’t be trusted with the house.

2) Crossword

Across

5. the covering that forms the top of a building

6. to have an argument over something that is not important

11. unwise, stupid or not showing good judgment

12. life at home taking care of your house or family
14. a container for boiling water
15. a strong wish, difficult or impossible to control
16. bad luck
17. a level of building
20. something that makes you feel better or more energetic
22. wauter faucet
24. to make the same journey regularly between work and home
26. to see or become conscious of something or someone
27. a part of an object designed for holding, moving or carrying the object easily
29. having everything ordered and arranged in the right place

Down

1. take hold of something or someone suddenly and roughly

2. to begin a discussion of something difficult

3. to pull and twist something or violently away from a fixed position

4. a party or a meeting
7. recently
8. for a reason that is not clear
9. to fill something in untidy or badly organized way
10. the front part of your leg, between your knee and your foot
12. give all of something, especially your time, effort or love
13. one or more reasons for believing that something is or is not true
17. to laugh at someone or something in a silly and often unkind way
18. to make a sudden, short high sound
19. a complaining noise or phrase
21. to repair
23. shaped into a point
25. to show or experience great surprise or admiration
28. the fact that something is not available or that there is not enough of it
30. silly or stupid