"Le Drapeau vert" encore une fois

[luddite lady]

I've been meaning to post this for some time, but never seemed to have any...time, that is. But today, in honour of Stewart's birthday, I'll make the extra effort.
For the third year running, a group of twelve and thirteen year olds have been amused, corrupted and enlightened by the story of le drapeau vert, while the whole time being covertly taught a heaping helping of French grammar. It was a little tricky this year because I was away a lot due to my surgery. In fact, as part of my recovery, I only worked half time for the whole month of June. Nonetheless, from mid-April until the end of June my grade 7/8 French class was fully and keenly immersed in the flag's adventures. And despite all my set backs, this is the first time the class was able to finish the whole story, including an account of the final show and a description of the flag's framed resting place. (One good thing about all the time off was that I actually got around to writing the last chapter.)
Finding stuff for the kids to do with the substitute teachers (who typically can't string more than three words together in French) was very easy. On those days the class got to watch the Buenos Aires concert on the Certifiable DVD and the Elvis Costello Spectacle Police show. Or they did grammar work sheets featuring such sentences as, "Est-ce qu'il y a du ketchup sur le drapeau vert?!?" and "Sting habite en Italie." With those sorts of lesson plans, I suspect the substitute teachers figured that my time off had a lot more to do with mental health than physical health.
There were a few really funny moments in those couple of months. I'll share them with you shortly.

[luddite lady]

I try really hard to teach in an unbiased manner. But I didn't succeed too well at that during the drapeau vert unit. By the end of it, the class was a bunch of gong-loving Sting skeptics. I don't think the gong thing was my doing. Gongs are just freaking cool. When I returned to school after the class had watched the first part of Certifiable, I asked them how they liked the concert. Their first replies went something like this:
"Oh my gosh, Madame, you never told us he has a gong!"
"That thing is huge!"
"Did Stewart play a gong in Buffalo, too?"
"You mean you saw that gong? Cool!"
The Sting thing just grew over time. Thanks to that grammar question about Sting living in Italy, the class became familiar with the term "Magic Stingdom". They loved that. Then there was the great debate about how many homes Sting actually owns. By this point, I was the only one still speaking French as I counted on my fingers, "Ummm...en Italie...en Californie...New York..."
I was interrupted by one scornful girl who asked, "Honestly, even if he's a rock star, how many houses does a person need?"
Another piped in, "How many homes do Stewart and Andy have?"
I answered in a mix of French and English that left a few in the class thinking that Andy and Stewart share a single home together in California.
"Didn't Stewart and Andy get any of the money from the tour?" one of the confused ones wanted to know.

[luddite lady]

And then of course, there were the inevitable questions about what special thing we had for Sting:
"Stewart has the drapeau*, and you guys gave Andy a hat. What did you give Sting?"
Feeling brave and knowing that the recess bell was about to ring and save me, I actually ventured forth with the answer, "Beach balls that looked like giant basketballs."
"Did he like them?"
"Not particularly."
"Ah well, he has like five homes anyway. That should be enough."
Another started to ask, "Why beach balls?" just as the bell rang. Sometimes I plan my lessons to end at exactly the right moment.
When the kids found out about the ticket give away for the final show, most recognized Stewart's unprecedented generosity, but one student must have thought this was just standard rock star practice. He asked, "And where were Andy's and Sting's fans sitting? Were there a lot of them?" I guess this kid imagined the audience looked more like that of an English football game when two nearby rival teams play each other.

*I don't think the word "flag" was ever uttered in our class. Even when speaking English, the kids and I always referred to it as the drapeau. I'm pretty sure some kids think that's what Stewart, Kellie and all the rest of us really call it.

[moonstone]

Teachers like you should come as standard in all schools LL, your lessons must be such fun!

A translation please though.

What's "Est -ce qu'il y a ketchup sur le drapeau vert!?"

[policefan]

"Is there ketchup on the green flag?"

ahh, it's so nice to hear about the flag again : )

[Divemistress of the Dark]

I think I'd be more suitably multi-lingual if I'd had teachers like LL.

As it stands, though....viva la bandera verde!!

[moonstone]

[quote="policefan"]"Is there ketchup on the green flag?"[/quote]



And was there ever, at any stage, ketchup on the green flag or was this a purely hypothetical question?

[ltwoman]

And then of course, there were the inevitable questions about what special thing we had for Sting:
"Stewart has the drapeau*, and you guys gave Andy a hat. What did you give Sting?"
Feeling brave and knowing that the recess bell was about to ring and save me, I actually ventured forth with the answer, "Beach balls that looked like giant basketballs."
"Did he like them?"
"Not particularly."
"Ah well, he has like five homes anyway. That should be enough."
Another started to ask, "Why beach balls?" just as the bell rang. Sometimes I plan my lessons to end at exactly the right moment.
When the kids found out about the ticket give away for the final show, most recognized Stewart's unprecedented generosity, but one student must have thought this was just standard rock star practice. He asked, "And where were Andy's and Sting's fans sitting? Were there a lot of them?" I guess this kid imagined the audience looked more like that of an English football game when two nearby rival teams play each other.

*I don't think the word "flag" was ever uttered in our class. Even when speaking English, the kids and I always referred to it as the drapeau. I'm pretty sure some kids think that's what Stewart, Kellie and all the rest of us really call it.

"Is there ketchup on the green flag?"

And was there ever, at any stage, ketchup on the green flag or was this a purely hypothetical question?

Backstory please. 1. What's the deal with the ketchup on the green flag, because now I'm guessing there was some.
2. What was the deal with the basketball-beachball? I've seen it in the avatar. Cha? Tell, tell. and 3. Ticket giveaway? While not a newbie, I was absent the day of the lesson. Please give!

[luddite lady]

Now I know how urban legends start. Let me state categorically, there never was nor hopefully ever will be ketchup on the flag. At least, there have been no ketchup mishaps that anyone has admitted to in public. It was purely a hypothetical question to illicit a negative response in which the nasty pronoun "en" would be needed. (Don't get me going on this topic, please. You think I'm a fanatic when it comes to English grammar??? The intricacies of French grammar keep me gainfully employed and ridiculously engrossed.) Three years ago when I first wrote that particular grammar exercise, the flag was still in circulation as the tour was not yet finished. I recall telling Kellie about that question and causing quite a rise in her blood pressure as she contemplated the hypothetical horror.

As far as the CHA balls go....oops...there's the recess bell again.

Pluto will have to explain that one to you in the school yard.

[luddite lady]

I didn’t really finish my drapeau vert update last night because it was getting way too late. Here’s the last bit.
The funniest moments occurred on the last day of French class. Earlier, I had told my students a little bit about the film “Everyone Stares”. They asked if we could watch it, but I refused, explaining that I’d get in trouble for showing it because it contained a lot of swearing. However, the kids kept bugging me about it. They wanted to see the young Police and Andy’s original hat. In the end, I figured it wouldn’t hurt if I just picked a few of the inoffensive scenes to show. So, on the last day I handed out the prizes of chocolate and licorice to the team that won the Drapeau vert board game, (a very strong class this year—nobody got stuck in Cleveland) and let them eat their winnings as we started watching an extremely censored version of “Everyone Stares”.
Censorship on the fly in front of a live audience is not an easy task. But I soon realized that if I left the DVD player on the slowest speed of fast forward, we could watch a muted, speedy but fairly comprehensible version of the film. We’d get all the images with none of the swearing, and we’d be able to see almost the whole thing in the one period. The class and I thought we had come up with a clever solution. We were so smug about it that the ridiculousness of the situation was lost on us. There we were sitting in the dark eating Smarties and Twizzlers while we watched a fast motion silent movie about three peroxide blondes doing silly things all over the globe. A proud moment in the history of publicly funded education!
I tried to give explanations of what was going on, but this was pretty hard. I hadn’t seen the movie in a while, and I didn’t have the advantage of Stewart’s voice over commentaries. Every now and then, when the scene seemed safe, I’d put it on normal speed and restore the sound. I did this for a concert clip so the kids could get a taste of a Police performance from back in the day. Of course, I had to unwittingly choose the concert in which a fight breaks out in the audience. Fortunately, in the nick of time, I remembered the scene and how Sting shouts his profane displeasure. Just like a gunslinger, I drew, aimed and fired off the remote in the direction of the DVD player, plunging us back into the innocence of muted high speed. Stewart’s double time drumming on the screen matched my heartbeat right about then.
I wasn’t so lucky on a few other occasions though. Twice the class was silently and rapidly mooned courtesy of Sting and Andy. Then came the scene from the recording of Zenyatta. It started out happily enough with a long shot of Stewart’s kit all festooned with streamers and balloons. I explained to the class that this was filmed on Stewart’s birthday. As the camera began to zoom in on the drums, I suddenly remembered the infamous words written on their skins. No remote or gunslinger cool this time. Just blind desperation. In an instant, I leapt out of my chair, ran across the room and threw my arms up over the TV screen as if I was throwing myself on a live grenade to save my students. (Keep in mind that at this time I normally required a cane to take even a few steps.) I explained my seeming irrationality to the class by telling them that some very bad words were written on the drums. I had to stand there shielding the kids’ view for quite a while. Even in fast forward that shot of the drums is way too long. My class was deeply affronted on Stewart’s behalf. They assumed some ne’er-do-well had vandalized the kit, and on Stewart’s birthday yet! I didn’t bother to correct them. It was just easier that way, and I was about ready for easy.

[Maud138]

LL, when is your book coming out? I loooooove your writing. Makes me laugh a LOT. Those students of yours are really really lucky kids!

Itwoman: I know a lot of people can explain this much better than I can, but in short:

Sting refused to sing "CHA" during can't stand losing you (like he use to do in the old days). People desperately wanted to hear him sing "CHA", so they did a lot of things to encourage Sting. Pluto made some beachballs with the word CHA on them. And at one moment in Can't stand losing you, CHA-balls would fly through the air.
Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg2tweJC ... re=related after 3.15 minutes you will see the balls in the air.

About the ticket give-away: Stewart was so nice to give away (by way of a contest) some 100 tickets to his most loyal fans for the last show in MSG!!!

[ltwoman]

LL, when is your book coming out? I loooooove your writing. Makes me laugh a LOT. Those students of yours are really really lucky kids!

Itwoman: I know a lot of people can explain this much better than I can, but in short:

Sting refused to sing "CHA" during can't stand losing you (like he use to do in the old days). People desperately wanted to hear him sing "CHA", so they did a lot of things to encourage Sting. Pluto made some beachballs with the word CHA on them. And at one moment in Can't stand losing you, CHA-balls would fly through the air.
Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg2tweJC ... re=related after 3.15 minutes you will see the balls in the air.

About the ticket give-away: Stewart was so nice to give away (by way of a contest) some 100 tickets to his most loyal fans for the last show in MSG!!!

Merci, beaucoup, Maud!

[moonstone]

LL I was reading your latest update this morning whilst recovering from an asthma attack (Damn pollen!)

Hooting with laughter and trying to get air into your lungs at the same time is very difficult. I almost died laughing.

Maud is quite right. You really should write a book. Such a funny story.

[animal]

3. Ticket giveaway? While not a newbie, I was absent the day of the lesson. Please give!

ltwoman, as Maud already alluded to, take a look at these threads..

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7793&p=124603#p124603

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7846&p=125694#p125694

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7970

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8036&p=130610#p130610


LL, great job again.

[plutonic]

LL,

You are too much. I wish I was coming to Canada with Conroy....

2. What was the deal with the basketball-beachball? I've seen it in the avatar. Cha? Tell, tell. and 3

Ok,
I just went to Jeff's thing, it was great. This weekend is sort of a Police Reunion Reunion for me, so here goes:


The FLAG was a Stewart thing.
First I'm gonna say, the CHA balls were not for Sting.
They were for fun.

They were for THE POLICE.
Not Andy, Not Sting, not Stewart.
The POLICE.
(Sorry LL! I gave Sting a lot of $, I am not giving him my balls, though he so desperately needs them.)

I made a bunch of gag merch for the tour, 'cause I generally didn't like the tour Merch. The GHOST hat that I got was crap, and the T-Shirt selection, at least at first, IMHO, left much to be desired. CHA Balls were the fourth ridiculous gag gift I conceived for Tourzilla. After I went to the first show/dress rehearsal and had the opportunity to meet so many other wonderful Police fans, I was in jubilant. In a mood to party. So I started inspiring or making gag gifts.

First, some friends and I made CHA shirts for the summer 2007 shows. If Sting wasn't going to CHA, well, we were going to CHA anyway. I think CHA appealed to me because you only knew it if you listened to Regatta de Blanc, not if you had The Police's Greatest Hits. Very Police Nerd-y. A handful of us made these for ourselves.

Second: wristbands. Like I said, I was jubilant. Much like the flag, these were good for team spirit. So I made Yellow Wristbands, that looked like POLICE DO NOT CROSS signs with The word CHA! across them. I made, I think, 10,000 of these. I don't know if I have any of these left. I'm sure there are a few lurking somewhere. It was cool to see them on folks in lots of different places, a sign of Police team solidarity. Pic: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1 ... =507000360

Third: CHA balls. They were originally planned for the Halloween show at Madison Square Garden. CHA-lloween.
20078/10/31 Basketball color was chosen to make them look like Jack-O-Lanterns. They have the Ghost In The Machine LOGO on them. I made, with the help of some generous fans, 200 of these. I've got maybe three of these left, a couple of which were kicked by Andy.

Fourth, and my personal favorite: Ghost in The Machine wristbands.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1 ... =507000360

There were exactly 100 of these made. They're my favorite because if you have one of these, I either handed it to you personally, or I mailed it to your home. So, somehow, we connected. Connection really is what music, bands, and fans are all about.


Sorry for threadjack. Back to Drapeau....