Southern Trees - The end of the study

18.11.2009 …

By English Prof

Today we first warmed up about topical issues / burning issues and in particular the news about the 13-year-old child:

Yesterday, a 13-year-old child took the gun of his father in order to kill his teachers and his classmates. Luckily, the police arrested him before the shooting spree / killing spree.

Then, we continued working on the text and correcting your homework. Here is what we said about Billy Holiday's story and feelings:

Southern trees (B. Holiday's feelings) : she calls the woman a "bitch", because she's furious. This "bitch" doesn't understand the meaning of her song. She calls it "a sexy song", but for B. Holiday, it's not sexy at all. It's appalling and depicts the situation in the South. As for the "naked bodies", they refer to dead people.
Each time she sang that song, she used to go to the bathroom, because she was sick. She remembered / recalled the lynching parties and her father's death.
At the end, she's enthused because she could sing in the South. She could flail the audience with her lyrics and rhythm : she inverted the roles. It was the first protest song to defend the black community.

We finished by translating some expressions and sentences:

In US : "I need to go to the bathroom", and in UK : "I need to go to the loo".
A committed song : une chanson engagée.
put / get across : faire passer un message / faire comprendre.
You could still hear a pin drop out there : on pouvait entendre une épingle tomber = c'était le silence le plus complet.

HW: remember that you will have a vocabulary test next Wednesday about the toolbox p. 53 and about the lesson.

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Martin

11/23/2009 19:10

OK ! Thank you for answering so fast :) See you Martin

English Prof

11/23/2009 22:20

No problem !

11/23/2009 18:46

Hi ! I hope you'll see my comment before tomorrow. I have a question : Do you do strike tomorrow ? Martin

11/23/2009 18:53

Hey Martin, I did see your comment before tomorrow and I can tell you that I will be at Champlain tomorrow and that you will have class. I'm not going on strike. Take care, M. Hattais.

Benjamin Marty

11/22/2009 14:49

Warm Up : A topical/burning issue/problem : yesterday, a 13-years-old child took the gun of his father in order to kill his teachers and his classmates. Luckily, the police arrested him before the shooting/killing spree. About the text :Southern trees (B. Holiday's feelings) : she calls a woman a "bitch", beacause she's furious. Tis bitch didn't understand the meaning of the song. She calls it "a sexy song", but for B. Holiday, it's not sey at all. It's appalling and depicts the situation in the south. As for the "nakel bodies", they refer to dead people. Each time she sang that song, sh used to go to the bathroom, because she was sick. She remembered/recalled the lynching parties and her father's death. At the end, she's enthused because she could sing in the South. She could flail the audience with her lyrics and rythm : she inverted the roles. It was the first protest song to defend the black community. The translations : in US : "I need to go to the bathroom", adn in UK : "I need to go to the loo". A committed song : une chanson engagée. get across : faire passer un message/faire comprendre. You can still hear a pin drop out there : on pouvait entendre une épingle tomber.

11/22/2009 20:52

Thanks Benjamin for the update! It'll be posted in only a few moments on the blog. Take care, M. Hattais.