"Walking the Dog"

In class, we heard Hans Theessink performing his virtuoso version of the song, starting at about 1 minute, 10 seconds:



This classic was originally written and recorded by Rufus Thomas. In this great video from 1988, we see him performing with legendary musicians Steve Cropper (guitar), Matt "Guitar" Murphy, and Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass guitar):



Many other great musicians have recorded this song, including the Rolling Stones:

The Rolling Stones — Walking The Dog на Яндекс.Музыке

Here's how the original audience heard Rufus sing it in 1963:

Rufus Thomas — Walking The Dog на Яндекс.Музыке

Here are the words to that original song:

Mary Mack dressed in black
Silver buttons all down her back
Hello tipsy toes
She broke the needle and she can't sew

Walking the dog
Just a walking the dog
If you don't know how to do it
I'll show you how to walk the dog
Come on now, come on, come on

I asked her mama for fifteen cents
To see the elephant jump over the fence
He jumped so high, he touched the sky
Never got back till the fourth of July

Walking the dog
Just a walking the dog
If you don't know how to do it
I'll show you how to walk the dog
Come on now, come on, come on

Mary, Mary, quite contrary
Tell me, how does your garden grow?
You got silver bells and you got cockleshells
Pretty maids all in a row

Walking the dog
Just a walking the dog
If you don't know how to do it
Show you how to walk the dog
Come on now, come on, come on
Oh oh, just a just just a walking
just a just a just a walking
just a just a just a walking
oh, yeah, if you don't know how to do it
I'll show you how to walk the dog ... oh ...

Newspapers: Платье, которое проехало больше стран, чем вы

Газета

  (link to full article online)

Discussion:

1. Summarize the theme and contents of this article in one or two sentences.
2. Describe how this article is organized or structured.
3. What is the voice and register of this article?
4. What will you remember about (or from) this article in a week? A year?
5. What additional information or context should the writer have provided?
6. What changes does Prof. Rivoli hope to see in garment manufacture and trade?

Germany and Turkey exchange criticisms

Газета 401, 401В, 501В

(Link to full article.)

1. Please summarize this article in one or two sentences.
2. What do you know or believe about the countries involved in this situation that you did not know or believe before you read the article?
3. What additional information should the writer have included?
4. What audience does the writer have in mind?
5. Is the article objective? Is there any apparent bias or favoritism on the part of the reporter or the publisher (BBC News)?
6. How do the photos, captions, and subtitles (in the online version of the article) contribute to the effectiveness of the article?

Useful words and phrases:

taunt
no ifs, ands, or buts (and variations)
to woo
to reserve the right
to break a taboo
war of words
meddling in [another country's] internal affairs
acrimonious
to cross a line
to back
crackdown
to seek asylum

The U.S. Civil War and its lingering effects

Here's the presentation we made today as background for discussing the effects of the Civil War on American English and the ways we teach it.



In 1864, Abraham Lincoln was re-elected president. On March 4, 1865, at the swearing-in ceremony marking the start of his second term as president, he gave the speech popularly known as the Second Inaugural Address, which included these famous lines:

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it--all sought to avert it.... Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.

... Both [sides] read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered--that of neither has been answered fully.

The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope--fervently do we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.

(Full text.)

Obituary: James Cotton, Blues Harmonica Legend, Dies at 81

Газета 401

(Link to full story on newspaper's Web site.)

In preparation for our class discussion, consider these questions:

• What are the traditional elements of a newspaper obituary? Are those elements all included in this particular article?
• What will you remember from this article?
• What parts of the article were the most informative or interesting for you? What were the least interesting?
• Were there any aspects of the story that you feel were insufficiently covered? What questions might you have for the reporter?

Useful words and phrases:

an integral part
tenure
call and response
curiously, curiously enough
to embark on/upon
bills, billing, sharing bills
act (noun)
raucous
stint
under his/her/their own name
sharecropper
to take up
small change
in the employ of
to span, spanning
prowess
harp
common parlance
label
accolades
to induct, to be inducted
survived by
array
luminary

Here is James Cotton playing with the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards a few years ago, during a rehearsal for a benefit concert for fellow blues musician Hubert Sumlin:



... And finally, a photo I took of Hubert Sumlin and James Cotton about ten years ago:

Our visitor this week: Shawn McConaughey

Shawn McConaughey during his last visit to our Institute.

We are happy to welcome our friend and colleague Shawn McConaughey (head of the Teaching Abroad program among other things) to our Institute this week. Most of our students will have a chance to talk with him in our Wednesday classes, and all students are invited to meet him on Friday at our (rescheduled) tea after the fourth pair.

Shawn first visited our Institute in the year 2000. He and his wife Katrina both have experience in international education and work with refugees.

"The Convoluted Profits of Academic Publishing": Words and metaphors

(presentation for class with our English language instructors)

The presentation is based on this article by Laura McKenna. A PDF version with highlighted words and phrases and useful links is available here. The links are also listed below:

www.academia.edu
Directory of Open Access Journals
Glossa: a journal of general linguistics
CORE, the open-access repository for the humanities
The Problem of Predatory Journals: Fake Academia Joins Fake News
Wikipedia: Predatory open access publishing
Wikipedia: Predatory conferences

Angry men gain influence and angry women lose influence

Газета 401

Scene from Twelve Angry Men. Source.  

A new study from Arizona State University focused on jury deliberation behaviors demonstrates a distinct gender bias when it comes to expressing anger and influencing people. The study found that men use anger to influence others, but women actually lose influence when they allow anger into an argument.

Here's a link to the full text of the article.

• Who wrote this article, and who published it?
• What event or occasion prompted this article?
• In brief, what does the author want to tell you?
• What case or argument does the author make? Is it the author's own viewpoint, or is the author telling you about someone else's viewpoint?
• What new information or insight will you remember from this article?
• What additional information or analysis do you wish the article had included?
• What audience does the author have in mind? How do you know?
• If you had been the editor of the article, what changes would you have made?

Useful words and phrases:

representative of ...
to exert influence
in a word
jury deliberation
out of the equation
to be tried for
opening statement, closing statement
testimony
to purport to, purportedly
to allege, alleged
to script, to be scripted
to hold out; holdout (noun)
to convict, to be convicted (note the atypical usage in this article)
gender gap
governing body

Ebook sales continue to fall

Газета 501В

Source.  

The full article is here.

Useful words and phrases:

shift
driven, to drive
jump (noun)
a year that saw
body
general trade
collectively
explosion
high profile, high-profile
break, respite
to favor
multifunctional
dedicated
to overtake
to plateau
barring
to surge; surge (noun)
industry confidence

And now, a book review of "Лавр" in English

Газета 401

Follow this link for the full text of the New Yorker review.

This review, "Holy Foolery," considers the English translation of the book whose Russian-language review we will consider tomorrow.

"Holy Foolery" is not an easy essay to read, even for native English speakers, and we don't expect you to master it overnight. For our first discussion, please take your paper copies and mark the words and phrases that are interesting or difficult. Here are some basic question we want to apply to both the Russian and English reviews of the novel over our next two or three classes:

1. What are the special characteristics of a book review?
2. Based on these reviews, what is the theme or plot of this novel? How is it organized?
3. What are three unusual features of this novel?
4. What important questions of life might be touched on by this novel?
5. (If you have not already read it) ... Are you interested in reading this novel? Why or why not?

More space news: Илон Маск анонсировал полет двух туристов к Луне

Газета 401В

(Link to full article.)

Please be ready to discuss this article in English. Among the questions we might consider:

• Briefly, what is the "news" in this news story?
• What is the most memorable aspect or detail of this story?
• What aspect of the story would you like to know in more detail?
• Can you detect any enthusiasm or skepticism on the part of the writer?
• Do you have any interest in becoming a space tourist?
• What is the voice and register of this article?

Book review: Лавр, Евгений Водолазкин

Газета

(Link to the full text of the review.) Be ready to summarize and evaluate this review in English. (Group 401 will discuss this text next Tuesday, but evening classes have a bit longer to think about the assignment.)

As you read this review, see if you can find phrases and terms that belong particularly to this genre of writing. How would you render them in English? If you're not sure, bring them to class and we'll discuss them.

"When a Man Loves a Woman"

Remastered and remixed version:


Original recording:


Purchase link.

When a man loves a woman
Can't keep his mind on nothing else
He'll trade the world
For the good thing he's found
If she's bad he can't see it
She can do no wrong
Turn his back on his best friend
If he put her down

When a man loves a woman
Spend his very last dime
Trying to hold on to what he needs
He'd give up all his comfort
Sleep out in the rain
If she said that's the way it ought to be

Well, this man loves a woman
I gave you everything I had
Trying to hold on to your precious love
Baby, please don't treat me bad

When a man loves a woman
Down deep in his soul
She can bring him such misery
If she plays him for a fool
He's the last one to know
Loving eyes can't ever see

When a man loves a woman
He can do no wrong
He can never own some other girl
Yes when a man loves a woman
I know exactly how he feels
'Cause baby, baby, baby, you're my world

When a man loves a woman ...

Songwriters
ANDREW JAMES WRIGHT, CALVIN HOUSTON LEWIS

"Emerging Adults" -- phrases and metaphors

Here is the presentation we made to the workshop this past Monday:



The text of the original article is here. The highlighted version we distributed in the workshop can be downloaded here (PDF file).

Girls' Life and Boys Life--a fair comparison?

Газета

You can read the full story (with link to the Facebook post that started the debate) here. You can download our classroom version here (PDF format).

Snopes.com is an online service which many people use to check whether an urban legend, scandalous news story, or viral e-mail campaign is true, partly true, or false. You can read more about their philosophy and methods on their glossary and frequently asked questions pages. Group 401 will digest this article on March 7, and 401V and 501 at a later date.

Useful words and phrases in the article:

more to the story
to feature
disparity, disparate
to treat
side by side
to go viral
purported, to purport to
to convey
misleading
sample size
tween
at the expense of
tacit, tacitly
body acceptance
to be tucked (plus preposition)
to dig deeper
to unearth
nosy
fraught
to boost
general interest (adj.)
trade magazine
to further
newsstand
despite appearances
to navigate
to shame
wheelhouse
gender binary