The highlight of St. Hugh’s so far came today…
…teaching a class on interpreting Shakespeare, using Romeo and Juliet 2.2 (the balcony scene).
With some guidance on the metaphors they worked it out and then I played the first two verses from the Dire Straits song of the same name:
A loves-truck Romeo sings the streets a serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Finds a street light steps out of the shade
Says something like you and me babe how about it?
Juliet says hey it’s Romeo, you nearly gimme me a heart attack
He’s underneath the window she’s singing hey la my boyfriend’s back
You shouldn’t come around here singing up at people like that
Anyway what you gonna do about it?
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So then – I love this – one of them says “That’s the scene in a nutshell”
I get a tingle down the spine and think, COOL! I taught that idiom on Monday!
I love this job!
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And what’s really cool is when the students not only understand idioms but start using them in their own conversation. They’ll start to add them little by little and you’ll be tickled pink.