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Imparare l’inglese gratis con la musica (giorno 2)

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Good morning, and welcome to Day 2 of “Imparare l’inglese gratis con la musica”.

Today I’m writing in English.

Why?

Because I haven’t yet drunk enough coffee to write in Italian, and because I thought you might enjoy it, for a change.

Today’s song is No.3 in Rolling Stone’s list of the best 500.

It’s rather a cliché, having been used in almost every English course in the last 40 years.

Can you guess?

Yes, of course. It’s John Lennon’s “Imagine”.

Click here to read about this famous song in the original article in Rolling Stone.

You’ll find the lyrics and a video on this page.

Homework

“Imagine” contains some powerful criticisms of the way our world is, and how it could be without borders, wars, religion, and so on.

But, it is rather “hippy”, isn’t it? Rather ’60s….

So, your homework today is write a new verse of the song with your own ideas about how the modern world could be better.

Start with the original words, like this:

Imagine there’s no XXX
It XXX XXX XXX XXX
Nothing to XXX XXX XXX XXX
XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
Imagine all the people XXX XXX XXX XXX

Prize!

For the first time in this or any course, I’m offering a prize for the best homework.

I’ll be choosing the winner myself from the comments received between now and Saturday, so you have lots of time to think about it and write your new verse.

How will I choose the winner? Simple, I’ll pick the one I like best.

Don’t worry about the grammar or spelling. But the winner has to sound like the original song, and include powerful ideas.

Details of the prize:

  • 1 x 30-minute English conversation lesson via Skype
  • with me, or a colleague, at a day/time you choose
  • mp3 recording of the lesson sent to you by email
  • corrections of your pronunciation and grammar mistakes sent to you by e-mail

The winner, and the winning verse for Imagine, will be announced in the next lesson.

Have a great day!

Comments

  1. Hi Daniel, this is my “supermodest” version of Imagine… if you can correct me … thank’s and sleep tight ;))

    IMAGINE

    Imagine there’s no present
    Imagine there’s no past
    No bad things behind you
    The future coming fast
    Imagine that your whishes are becoming true

    Imagine there’s no illness
    It is hard to believe
    Nothing to fight or die for
    All happy at new year’s eve
    Imagine all the people living whitout fear

    You, you may think
    It’s a lyric, I can write all what I want
    but sometimes the music
    give you hope even if you don’t….

    Imagine only a language
    understandable for all
    No misunderstanding
    nor quarrels or fight at all
    Imagine all the people sharing only love

    You, you may say
    It’s a lyric, with a present and a past
    But if you hard believe in it
    you can change your future very fast

  3. Hi Daniel, I´ve just seen my e-mail and the new activity. Could you check and correct any mistake.
    Thanks.

    Imagine there’s no difference
    It is worth to think
    Nothing to have a lot of things
    Or living like a king
    Imagine all the people happy all the time

    • Hello Orlando,

      Good effort! Thanks for contributing, and welcome to imparareinglese.com.

      “worth to think” doesn’t sound right to me.

      What about “worth a thought” (noun) or “worth thinking about” (gerund)?

      Have a good weekend.

      Daniel

  4. Good afternoon.
    Since I’m vegan, I have wanted to rewrite this song in vegan style. Do not take me too seriously 😀
    As usual, Daniel please correct every mistake (but not my being vegan :D)

    Imagine there’s no sausages
    It’s easy if you try
    No blood below us
    Around us only joy
    Imagine all the people eating only greens

    Imagine there’s no slaughterhouse
    It isn’t hard to do
    Nothing cows to kill or milk
    And no chicken too
    Imagine all the people eating no animals

    You, you may say
    I’m a carnivore, but I’m not the only one
    I hope some day you’ll join us
    And the world will be vegan

    Imagine no eggs and bacon
    I wonder if you can
    No need of milk and cheese
    A life of love for nature
    Imagine all the people repairing all the world

    You, you may say
    I’m a carnivore, but I’m not the only one
    I hope some day you’ll join us
    And the world will lbe vegan.

    • That’s really excellent, Daniela! Although I personally enjoy a sausage, I think you’ve done a great job of getting your message across!

      Let’s see if anyone else can do better….

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