Schoolhouse Rocks!

» CBJ - I love it!

Thanks for the great memories! I loved Schoolhouse Rock as a kid and still love it as an adult. I think one of my favorites is the pronoun song, though I love them all.

These songs really did become a part of Generation X, and they pop up where you least expect them. Even my Japanese wife knows "I'm just a bill, sitting here on Capitol Hill."

I did a double-take some years back when I first heard Arrested Development's song "U." Right in the middle, they break into a familiar beat and sing, "I can get my thing in action... VERB! That's what's happenin'!" The whole thing only lasts two measures, but it's very effective.

I frequently use mnemonics in language learning. For example, "He shows the papers to his secretary" reminds me of the Japanese word for 'secretary': 'hisho.' And if I need to remember envelope, I can also keep in mind that you can put the tofu in the futo ('futo' = 'envelope').

Thanks for a great article!

-- posted by CBJ