"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