Music is a bit of a swiss army knife. A tool for health, happiness, education, motivation... we've all read those articles. This story is a real life example of one of the "New study proves music benefits _____ ". Here we have an unintentionally brilliant use of music in education. No one was wearing lab coats. There was no fundraiser thrown for a promising yet vague thesis statement. This was an authentic. An innocent passion for music that made a true difference in the lives of those in need. So it all started when a 90's rock enthusiast named Matt Westerberg joined the Peace Corps. He hopped on an airplane, off teach 9th grade students in Northern Ethiopia how to speak english. After class one day, he jokingly wrote the chorus to Pearl Jam's 'Even Flow' on the chalkboard. He thought it would be funny if he could have the school kids try to learn it. They managed to stumble through it, laughing their way through the chorus line. It was a fun exercise, but when the day ended it was no more than an afterthought. The next morning, his class demanded more. They wanted another shot at the chorus. They were curious, passionate, and hungry for more. Over the next weeks, lyrics Eddie Vedder wrote 23 years ago became a treat for his students once the course work had been completed. Those lyrics had meaning beyond your typical grammar lesson. “At first it was all just a joke, but after awhile, the students began to really build confidence through learning the song. Kids that were shy and quiet all year were suddenly more confident speaking up in class and loved participating in the song.” - Westerberg A big fan of ’90s rock, Matt Westerberg looked to Pearl Jam for inspiration for one of his lessons. “After class one day I jokingly wrote the chorus line to Pearl Jam’s “Even Flow” on the chalkboard,” he told Alternative Nation. “I thought it would be funny to have the kids try and learn it. They laughed their way through it. The next day, they demanded to try it again. After a while we went through most of the song day by day as a motivational tool.” Once they had some classic Pearl Jam under their belt, the students were hungry for more. The uncommon genre of Grunge in Ethiopia was sparking passion and relevance to their language studies. We tried a bit of Red Hot Chili Peppers “Under the Bridge” and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman". If the students finished their assignments on time, I let them practice the lyrics together before their next class. - Westerberg He started filming a few of the students singing out their new favourite english song, and it caught the attention of the Peace Corps who knew it was too great not to share. So Matt and a few of his comrades in the Peace Corps began putting together a Pearl Jam music video with his students. The Peace Corps is using @PearlJam's "Even Flow" to teach English to Ethiopian students: http://t.co/LKrwU3uZQL pic.twitter.com/XexbGamJDJ — [...]
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