Señor Wooly’s Blog

Two months ago, I set out to make two new music videos, one for Guapo, and one for a brand new sequel song, La Confesión de Víctor. They seemed like fairly easy shoots.

But then it rained and rained and rained. And it got cold. And actors got sick. And scripts had to be rewritten.

To put it simply, these ones were painful.

Well, they’re finally done. And, despite all of the problems, I think (hope) they turned out pretty well. I particularly enjoy La Confesión de Víctor.

The first, Guapo, is about a man named Víctor who is extremely good-looking (and not much else). It’s a simple song that’s great for teaching physical traits like hair and eye color, and also for using ser and estar. Ideal for Spanish 1.

In the second, La Confesión de Víctor, he reveals a dark secret about himself that has the potential to shatter his world. This song continues the review of physical traits, but adds imperfect vs present tense. Ideal for Spanish 2. Since this is an unpublished song, you need full-site access in order to view the whole video.

Other links:

• Guapo Main Lyrics Page
• Guapo Karaoke Video
• La Confesión de Víctor Main Lyrics Page
• La Confesión de Víctor Karaoke Video

Let me know what you think about these songs/videos. Leave comments below. And, of course, if you like them, please share them.

New Song: No Lo Tengo

I just finished a new song called No Lo Tengo. It’s a very simple song designed to teach the following:

• Direct Object Pronouns
• Vocabuary: School subjects
• Vocabulary: Materials for class

The song is designed as a Spanish 1 song. However, Spanish 2 classes might find it to be a good, quick review of direct object pronouns. Furthermore, by using the karaoke video, you can easily have students write and sing their own lyrics. It couldn’t be easier to write lyrics to this song.

Please note: Since this is an unpublished song, it is only available to subscribers of SenorWooly.

Other news

Although I think No Lo Tengo is a cute, useful little song, the song that I’m really excited about is the sequel to Guapo, La Confesión de Víctor. I haven’t released the song yet, but look for it in about a month. I think it’s as good, if not better than the original song. I am also working on music videos for both Guapo and La Confesión. They should be released around the same time.

Cloze activities

For subscribers, I am in the process of adding cloze activities to all of the lyrics downloads. When you download the lyrics, you will receive a document that contains the following:

• Lyrics in Spanish only
• Lyrics in Spanish with English translation
• Lyrics in Spanish with an easy cloze activity
• Lyrics in Spanish with a more difficult cloze activity

That’s all for now. I hope you enjoy the new song, and keep watching for the new Guapo song. I think you’re really going to like it.

hen I first started teaching, I understood that music could be a highly effective way to teach language, but I couldn’t figure out how to introduce it in a way that wouldn’t repel the students. Sure, there were a few classes that enjoyed singing, but most were annoyed by it.

I still remember my first year of teaching when I tried to get 8th graders to sing one of Barbara MacArthur’s Taco songs. I passed out the lyrics, popped on the music and yelled, “Clase, ¡Canten!”

One problem — They had never heard the song before.

They didn’t know the melody, words or rhythm. Of course, some students attempted to appease me by moving their lips, and others looked desperately at their paper, hoping to avoid eye contact with me, but most would just look at their peers and laugh.

Seeing this lack of interest, I changed tactics. Thinking that the missing ingredient was a good role model, I ratcheted up my own enthusiasm, singing extra loud and getting in students’ faces, attempting to intimidate them into a fun learning experience. This basically solidified their view of me as a complete and total loony. When my enthusiasm failed to ignite the class, I resorted to threats. I said, “Ok, class, I better hear everyone sing this song with energy, or else we’re going to have to sing it five more times!! And remember, have fun with it!”

Well, you can imagine how it went from there. I never got that class to learn the song. In fact, that class lost interest in music for the rest of the year.

So, how do you expose students to music without letting them make a communal decision that it’s stupid, embarrassing and a waste of time?

In this article, I’ll give you a few tips, tricks, and activities that often work for me.

DISCLAIMER: There is no magic remedy. A small minority of classes will always be negative towards music. However, I find that these techniques are great for putting the swing classes into the right frame of mind.

As you read this article, I encourage you to leave your own comments. Do you have a trick that works for you? To comment, you must be logged in.

• Page 1 - Introduction
• Page 2 - Lyrics Sheet
• Page 3 - The Performance
• Page 4 - Concrete Instructions
• Page 5 - TPRS
• Page 6 - Verbally Fill in the Blanks (and a game)
• Page 7 - Karaoke Videos
• Page 8 - Closing

Too much clicking? Combine everything onto one page

I just finished my new song, ¡PAN! The song is about a group of friends who go to a restaurant for one thing and one thing only: BREAD!

Listen to ¡PAN!

Often, I know exactly where a song is going before I ever put pen to paper. For example, from the beginning I knew that Guapo would be about a good-looking guy who has absolutely no idea how shallow and boring he actually is.

When I wrote ¡PAN!, however, all I knew was that I wanted to teach how to order in a restaurant. I get frustrated when I meet someone who took Spanish for 4 years, only to tell me that they don’t even feel comfortable ordering in Spanish at a Mexican restaurant. But they sure can conjugate el imperfecto del subjuntivo! But I digress…

The song started as a nice, polite exchange between customer and waitress. However, as is often the case with my juvenile mind, it devolved into ignorant customers who demand their bread at the expense of civility.

Despite the complete ridiculousness of the song, I think it will prove to be excellent for teaching the following:

• The verb pedir
• The expression ¿Me trae…?
• Tener expressions: Tener hambre and Tener ganas de

NOTE: Unless you are a subscriber of SenorWooly.com, you will not be able to hear the entire song. Learn more about how to gain full-site access to SenorWooly.com

¡PAN! Links:

• ¡PAN! Lyrics Page
• ¡PAN! Karaoke Video

I finished creating a music video for my song, ¿Puedo ir al baño?. The song is about a boy who desperately needs to go to the bathroom, but can’t because of the short passing period. He asks his teacher for permission — through song, of course.

Watch the video, ¿Puedo ir al baño?

Ever since writing the song two years ago, I wanted to make a music video for it. However, I knew that finding the right person to play the student would be very difficult. I was a couple months too old to pull it off myself, and finding a student who could convincingly perform both the acting and lip-syncing would be challenging. Fortunately, Justin exceeded my expectations. I think you’ll agree that he puts in an excellent performance.

I hope you enjoy this video. This video is also the first completely new content to go on my brand new website: www.SeñorWooly.com

Puedo Ir al Baño Links:

• ¿Puedo ir al baño? Lyrics Page
• ¿Puedo ir al baño? Music Video
• ¿Puedo ir al baño? Karaoke Video