Last week in one of my online ESL classes we read an essay together on bluegrass music. As I do with most essays, I shared some interesting photos and a fun short video before we read in order to grab the students’ attention and make them more eager to read aloud with me.

For this topic, I chose a video of Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music, performing his famous song “Uncle Pen”. While I absolutely love his music, I wasn’t sure how my students would respond. When I was growing up, many people looked down on country and bluegrass music. Since they live very far away, I expected my students to find the music very strange and likely do the same.

I was so wrong! While the video was playing, they were absolutely mesmerized. One girl even had to stand up and dance. (It is a difficult song to listen to and stay still.) After the song ends, I always give my students time to share their thoughts, opinions, and questions.

When I gave them this opportunity, every one of them absolutely loved the song. One student, a budding violinist, pondered whether he had played something similar. The young lady who was dancing had to hum part of the tune aloud and dance some more. Even the co-host had to chime in with a message in the chat box about what beautiful music it was.

We went on to read the essay, and I finished the class by asking them if they were to come visit me here in Florida, would they want to attend a bluegrass festival. The answer was a resounding yes.

These students live in Singapore and China, miles and miles away from me in Florida. I was very pleasantly surprised at how much they loved the music. And reminded once again not to make assumptions about other people. 🙂

Finally, in case you’re interested, you can check out the video we watch below: