I taught my last set of students a ten minute class today. Introduced them to the concept of Spanglish and how it has made its way into a number of Bachata songs that originate from New York. A decade or so ago you would never really hear English in Bachata tunes...they all originated from the DR. But now, as Dominican-American artists mark their space in the genre, it's much more prevalent. A lot of people lament this. I agree that the music is not the same but music isn't supposed to stay the same, is it? Dominicans in NY have different issues than Dominicans in DR and their music reflects this. So while it's not the same, I think it still serves a purpose.

Anyway, enough of my personal views and back to class. I gave my students the lyrics to "Amor Eterno" with the English blanked out and told them to listen to the song carefully so they can capture the English. I played the first verse for them and as soon as it was done they asked, "there was English in that?!!?" Had to play for them a couple of times and towards the end gave them the lyrics. It was a fun class today. Still had the same butterflies I often (always) get, but I'm okay with it. I don't think I'll ever get rid of that feeling.

Finished the class and all the students kept calling us "teachers" now. "Teacher, that was good", "Teacher, I really liked that song!" "Teacher is going to Malaga". It was really cute. We went to the terrace with them afterwards and just talked to each other.

This was my absolute favorite class. The women were feisty, they were smart, and they were fun. They always said something that would make me laugh. I will definitely miss them.