Cultural exchange between Berbers and the Dominican Republic

Karina and I had a great experience by exchanging our cultures :D
I was in The Dominican Republic personality, I am Pedro from The Dominican Republic, I speak Spanish, my favorite food is Lavandira and I like la batchatta dancing,...loool

Karina was in Berber personality, she was Hakima from Algeria, exactly Vgayethe, she speaks Kabyle, her favorite food is couscous "Sekssou" and of course she likes kabyle dancing...:D

Exchanging our cultures is the greatest ideas that we had.
Now, let's see it!

Level 4 NYC: Performing You Are My Sunshine

Video: Level 4 NYC Performs You Are My Sunshine



Reflecting on the Performance

From Madjid (by email to Eric): "I was seeing the You Are My Sunshine video too many times and I do like it so much because simply was a great moment in a beautiful song and I saw when we were signing in the beginning some student were shy and I try to help them to be natural and feel as you are signing alone to your self."

From Eric (email response to Madjid): I think there is something great about this performance.  Every student is singing, and even the most shy students look like they are having fun.  For me, that is the greatest accomplishment of this performance.  Every student became comfortable enough to sing a song in English.  And everyone (including me) was comfortable enough to make mistakes, and smile about the mistakes.  Being comfortable to make mistakes is SO important for learning. When I see everyone reading and singing, I am filled to the top with happiness!"

Thanks to Madjid: I could not have recorded this song without your help.

And thank you to the students in Level 4, who trusted me to try another crazy experiment. 


About the Recording
Madjid recorded this video with a digital camera.  We also recorded separate audio tracks using a cell phone and laptop.  I mixed the audio tracks in Audacity, to improve the sound.  I used iMovie (Mac) to edit the video, add titles, and include my combined audio track. I don't think the video editing needed to be as complicated as this, but I wanted to practice using iMovie, and I wanted to see if I could combine Audacity and iMovie.

-Eric, NYC

Level 5 NYC: Juliet's Balcony Scene

Karina, who performed in The Christmas Truce, is an actor.  During the fall 2012 semester, she asked me to recommend a monologue (a part of a play where one character speaks alone on the stage).

My knowledge of drama and theater is limited, but I do know a little about Shakespeare.  And there is probably no more famous monologue for a woman, than the "balcony scene" from Romeo and Juliet.

Karina spent many weeks memorizing and rehearsing this scene with her acting coach.  She also handmade her own "balcony" to stand behind.

Below, you will find a video of her performance, and the text from the scene with some notes to help readers.

-Eric, NYC

Karina's Performance

JULIET (from Romeo and Juliet, Act II Scene ii, William Shakespeare)


O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?           Why are you Romeo? (Wherefore = why, 

                                                                                      art = are, thou = you)
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;                           Thy = your

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,                  Wilt = will

And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;                             ‘Tis = it is

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.                     Thou = you; thyself = yourself

What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,                    nor = not

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!


What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,                 Call’d = called

Retain that dear perfection which he owes                    Owes = possesses (Romeo would possess 
                                                                                       his perfection if he had a different name.)

Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,                      Doff = remove

And for that name which is no part of thee

Take all myself.

Level 5 NYC: The Christmas Truce Performance

In addition to their audio stories, Level 5 students also spent much of the semester planning performances.  In this post, there are links to materials for performances, some historical background, and the video and audio from this performance.  I recommend playing the audio of the students' performance, while reading along with the script.

Reader's Theater
The students chose from a list of folktales from around the world, retold by Aaron Shepard.  These folktales are formated as scripts, and are intended to be performed.  You can find all 40 of Aaron Shepard's Reader's Theater Editions here.  Many of the stories have additional videos and other content.  The stories are free to print and share, but require permission from the author to post anywhere on the Internet.  You can find more links to content at the bottom.

The Christmas Truce: Some Historical Background
Shepard's story, The Christmas Truce, dramatizes events that occurred in 1914, during World War I.

Shepard writes about the event:

The Christmas Truce of 1914 was described by Arthur Conan Doyle as “one human episode amid all the atrocities.” It is certainly one of the most remarkable incidents of World War I and perhaps of all military history. Inspiring popular songs, theater, and movies, it has endured as an almost archetypal image of peace.

Starting in some places on Christmas Eve and in others on Christmas Day, the truce covered as much as two-thirds of the British-German front, with French and Belgians involved as well. Thousands of soldiers took part. In most places it lasted at least through Boxing Day (December 26), and in some through mid-January. Perhaps most remarkably, it grew out of no single initiative but sprang up in each place spontaneously and independently.

The Performance
Karina, Madjid, Maria M, and Camila choose to perform The Christmas Truce.  They planned and rehearsed for many weeks.  They planned costumes and makeup, backgrounds, and props.  They handmade guns from cardboard, and even delivered Christmas cards to the class after their performance.  They also created a recording using music and their dramatic readings of the script (The recording was assembled and edited in Audacity).

In the story, four British soldiers write home to their families. The group decided that because the soldiers are writing letters, it would be better if they didn't speak during the performance.  Instead, they played the audio while they acted, as if we were able to listen to the soldiers' thoughts!

The Audio Recording (with slide show)
The audio recording has better quality sound, and plays with photos taken during the performance.

Text: The script for The Christmas Truce

The Performance (Video)

Additional materials:
Text: More background about The Christmas Truce story from Aaron Shepard
Video: A performance of The Christmas Truce by the Chamber Readers
Audio: A radio play of The Christmas Truce by the Lakes Area Theater

Eric, NYC