Friday, September 27 - AM Advanced

Our class has been talking a lot about death recently. In our book, we read about the Black Death, the bubonic plague that decimated the population of Europe in the 14th century. Our opening conversation picked up on this theme: Are you afraid to die? Explain. Most of us admitted that we are afraid of dying, some because of the effect that it would have on our loved ones, others because we have not yet accomplished our goals. I thought we had a productive, healthy conversation. Many people don’t like this subject, but I think it is important to address. As a Roman Stoic might say, if you never think about death, you will never be prepared for death when it comes your way.

We then finished analyzing the lyrics to “I Will Follow You into the Dark,” by Death Cab for Cutie. With its references to nuns and hymnals, we learned some religious words. We also had a conversation about religious attitudes toward death. 

We then continued reading chapter five of our text. We saw once again today how, if English were a dog, it would be a mutt: English is an amalgamation of Old English, Middle English, French, Saxon/German, Latin, and Nordic, among other languages. Our book also introduced students to Chaucer and his Canterbury Tales. As a listening and comprehension exercise, I summarized for the class the Miller’s Tale, a raunchy, funny, and wild story from the poem.

Our song today was “What It’s Really LIke,” by Everlast. We spent a lot of time analyzing the lyrics. The song introduced the students to some slang as well.