My Corner for Education

John Ondrasik (Five for Fighting) is a great musician in my view. A few of his songs should be quite familiar to listeners in Taiwan. I admire him because he is one of those musicians who have made it to the top but still care about the world around. If you like his songs, please buy his CDs and visit his web sites to help the world.

The song "Superman" has very simple lyrics and could be of high interest to many male ESL learners because of the TV show Samllville and the new Superman movie. 


His official web site:  http://www.fiveforfighting.com/ 


His My Space blog site: http://myspace.com/fiveforfighting 


His site for charity: http://whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/ 



by Five for Fighting 

Superman (It's Not Easy) 

I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naive
I'm just out to find
The better part of me

I'm more than a bird...I'm more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside a train
It's not easy to be me

Wish that I could cry
Fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie
About a home I'll never see

It may sound absurd...but don't be naive
Even Heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed...but won't you concede
Even Heroes have the right to dream
It's not easy to be me

Up, up and away...away from me
It's all right...You can all sleep sound tonight
I'm not crazy...or anything...

I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naive
Men weren't meant to ride
With clouds between their knees

I'm only a man in a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite on this one way street
Only a man in a funny red sheet
Looking for special things inside of me
inside of me
inside me
Yeah, inside me
inside of me

I'm only a man
in a funny red sheet
I'm only a man
looking for a dream

I'm only a man
in a funny red sheet
and it's not easy, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm...

It's not easy to be me

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It's Father's Day tomorrow, the third Sunday in June. I would like to wish all Fathers a great day tomorrow. Many kids probably think their dads are like the Superman, who can do so many great things for them. One scene kept coming back to me whenever I think of my dad. I remember when we were very small, he used to wake us up at about 11 o'clock at night after he got home. He would play a magic trick and suddenly a pack of gum would appear in his hand. That memory somehow stuck in me and did not fade away. Now I know my Dad was not a Superman. In fact, he was not perfect. He was just like every other Dad around the world who just tries to earn a living to support their family.

Sadly, my father was sick with cancer when he was 49. He was paralysed and eventually passed away almost eight years later at the prime age of 57. I did not get to see him before he died, a guilt that I have to live with for the rest of my life. An old Confucius saying stated, "It's better not to travel far while your parents are alive." Unfortunately, I was not able to follow the old Confucius teaching on this one. On the eve of this special day here in Canada, I would like to wish all the Dads a happy day. Don't forget to call your Dad today to tell him you love him. Don't wait until it is too late!
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Father's Day craft idea for the elementary students:
Pom Pom Keychain:
Each student in my class made a pom pom animal keychain for their dad. An animal, made of several fuzzy pom pom balls, was glued (white glue) together with two googly eyes. The animal was then attached to the key chain with a glue gun. We also used a piece of card stock to make a box for the keychain. It looked so cute!