Lesson 2, Sept 2014 (Regrets)

Using one of the songs from last week to focus on one topic, in this case REGRETS.
- Pass out lyric sheet for 'Bang the Drum Slowly' (Emmylou Harris)
- Have students follow along with the lyrics while they listen to the song. (Let them sing if they want to- some do.) :)
- Check for unfamiliar words/phrases/idioms (this song is pretty simple but 'Arlington' (National Cemetery) is a good thing to cover- who can be buried there. There are some great idioms to talk about, too:

• Line that you would never cross
• With nothing but your heart up your sleeve
• Hang/hung the moon

- Have them recall what some of the themes in the song are (from first lesson)- making sure to get these three for sure (but there are others). Write them on white board.

• war
• death
• regrets

- Ask other questions- anything to get them to look at and talk about the song.

• Who is the song about?
• What do we know about this person?
• What do we know about the singer/composer (one and the same in this case)?
• What about 'Bang the drum slowly, play the pipe lowly'?
• Is the writer a person of faith? 
• Why does a daughter sing 'I meat to ask you how to fix that car'?

Go back to themes and pull out regrets.

• What are some of regrets mentioned in this song?
• What are some common regrets that people have?
• Tell me something that your parent/grandparent/neighbor/acquaintance regrets.
• Tell me something you don't regret.

- Divide class into 2 groups. Hand out index cards with questions on them. Have them discuss the questions (about 5 min, more if needed) and then prepare their answers to present to the rest of the class. Any particular question that resonates with the students is opened up to the whole class for discussion. The first group was 2nd year students; the second was 3rd years. This was easier with the 2nd years (they're a strong group); both groups simply took the questions one at a time and answered each in turn. One group talked about how the answers to the questions varied among the group members. One group of 3rd years could hardly cope with the questions.  The first class got quite philosophical about how regrets are normal and people who have no regrets are not really alive. Neither class knew what a 'quitter' was or what 'stick with it' meant.

(first card) Discussion questions (with some modifications) from here.

Discuss or debate the questions below. Remember to support your answers!

1.        Do you have any regrets? Please explain. 2.        Do you have any regrets from this year? Please explain. 3.        Do you believe in second chances? Why/why not? 4.        Do you think life gets easier or more difficult as you get older? Why? 5.        If you could erase one major regret from your mind, would you want to? Why/Why not? 6.        Do you regret your choice of study at university? If yes, could you change it? 7.        Have you ever regretted dating someone? 8.        Have you ever regretted buying/not buying something? 9.        What do you think about quitters? Why? 10.     What is something that you should have stuck with and not quit? Why? 11.     It’s never too late to be who you might have been. What does this mean? Do you agree? Why? (second card)

Discuss or debate the questions below. Remember to support your answers!

1.        What is a regret? How are the definitions of your group mates different? 2.        How important are regrets in a person’s life? Would a person be better or worse off without any regrets? 3.        If you died tomorrow, what would be your biggest regret? 4.        What is the worst decision that you have ever made? Why is it so terrible? 5.        What do you wish you had tried or done when you were younger? Why? 6.        What do you hope to do at some point in the future? Why? 7.        If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be? Why? 8.        What would you think about a person who had no regrets? Please explain. 9.        What do you think about quitters? Why? 10.     What is something that you should have stuck with and not quit? Why? 11.     Don’t cry over spilled milk. What does this mean? Please explain.

Overall the lesson was an easy one (with the first class) to keep going and went well.