Teaching Thai students the song'Rare 'ould Times',I need some help.

Thairish

Hi,I'm a volunteer teacher in Thailand and I use Irish songs as a means to teach English.My students have already learned to sing 'Molly Malone' and 'The Town I Loved So Well' amongst others.
This term I'm teaching 'Dublin in The Rare 'ould times'.
I'd like to know something about the 'Met' ballroom to tell my students.Also something about 'The Royal'.I think I know about the 'Pillar',but please fill me in.
Our song will be ready in a month or so.Please feel free to take a look at our video of 'The town I Loved so Well by Thai school children'.I hope you enjoy it.Thanks in advance for any info you can give me to make teaching The Dublin song more interesting.
Thailand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYAwzglOpmU

Gavin "shels"

The Royal I'm guessing is in reference to the Royal Canal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Canal and the Pillar I'm guessing is in reference to Nelson's Pillar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelsons_Pillar. Not sure on The Met.

EDIT: the 'Met' was the Metropole Ballroom and 'The Royal' was the Royal Arms Hotel.

copacetic

the metropole hotel which used to be beside the GPO was destroyed in the easter rising, it's ballroom was a famous meeting place.

http://digital.nli.ie/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/glassplates&CISOPTR=7692&CISOBOX=1&REC=1

http://irelandposters.com/irish_movies/

You can see nelsons pillar in these pictures too, it survived the rising but was partially blown up in 1966 by a group of ex IRA men. It had to be brought down totally a few days later. There is a wikipedia page for it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson's_Pillar


Not sure on the history of the royal hotel. The above is off the top of my head, hopefully someone can come along with more definitive info...


Keep up the good work, the video is pretty impressive, if a little surreal!!

uprising

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_in_the_Rare_Old_Times

Sorry not much help, I look forward to hearing it, that video warmed my heart, fair play to you giving your time and talent to those kids.
Keep up the good work, what part of thailand are you in?
Beautiful country, very friendly people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYAwzglOpmU

Rigor Mortis

the royal is a reference to the theatre and not the canal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_Royal,_Dublin

Also worth noting that the composer of the tune also wrote the fields of Athenry

enjoy the song

Thairish

Thanks for the help.We are in Chanthaburi Province,near The Cambodian border.
I'll be teaching this great song in a weeks time.I'll put all your comments up for the students to read.They'll feel the people of Dublin have helped us[which you have] and will help me with my students motivation to learn.

They'll ask questions like 'Why did Peggy go off with a black man'?

DennisSabre

I always thought that the "Royal" referred to the Theatre Royal:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_Royal,_Dublin#The_fourth_Theatre_Royal

but this suggests otherwise:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_in_the_Rare_Old_Times

You could contact Pete St John and ask him:

http://www.petestjohn.com/

copacetic

I'd personally think the wikipedia page is wrong, the theatre royal seems to fit better, popular theatre and cinema venue which was pulled down. Similar timeframe as Nelsons Pillar. Have sent an email off to Pete, you never know!

uprising

sa-wat dee to all the thairish kids, and also khorb koon for the beautiful song.:), oh and also you the teacher:o

Looking forward to the next one, take care.

Thairish

Khob Khun Krab Uprising,we're happy you liked it.I've had a new idea yesterday,to teach the children to sing one song from every County in Ireland.It'll take a few years.At the moment we are learning 'Cliffs of Dooneen',but I'm not sure where it is.I always thought Clare,but now I'm thinking they're in Kerry?Chug dee Krab [good luck in Thai]

Thairish

I've emailed Pete St. John,I'll tell you what he says the 'Royal' refers to.

uprising

http://www.dooneen.com/The%20Cliffs%20of%20Dooneen.htm

I think it refer's to Dooneen, Co Clare,
theres also
Dooneen, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh,
Dooneen, Co Kerry(inland about 15 miles from coast),
Dooneen, Co Galway(1 mile from coast),
Dooneen, Co Cork (half mile from coast),
Dooneen, Co Waterford (5-6 mile from coast).

So maybe that one song will save you a few others;).Chug dee Krab

EDIT:Sorry I'm confused, it seems to be North Kerry, near Doon.
Here to confuse you more
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055183746

EDIT:While Ballybunion is a well known sea side resort, the rest of the coast is written off in most guide books, like the rest of North Kerry as having a mediocre landscape.
This section of coast has inspired the song The Cliffs of Dooneen, it has fantastic views, varied wildlife and even boasts a volcano (well not perhaps a volcano in the scientific context)

Dooneen is a headland that is situated mid way along this section of coast.

Doon is taken to mean fort and the een at the end denotes little- and strangely enough a little promontory fort sits on the head land.

Thairish

That's great news,5 Counties sorted.Will we have to sing 'streets of Dooneen' with them not being on the coast?

uprising

Yea it's confusing alright, it's on the stretch of coast north of Doon, thats where there are cliffs. So it appears the cliffs of Dooneen are nowhere near Dooneen, try explaining that after you explain why "Peggy went off with a blackman".

Sundew

"The Cliffs of Doneen" was never a Clare song however a fun song from County Clare for the children might be a song called " Are you right there Michael are ya right".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Are_Ye_Right_There_Michael
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w7eH6JuL50&feature=related


It's about a man's journey on (the writer of the song Percy French) on the West Clare Railway. It mentions all the little towns in County Clare that the train goes through and all the funny things that go wrong leading the train to be late!

The West Clare Railway closed in 1961 but a small section is open to tourists with plans to extend the track once again.You can see it in action here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rZdQf6uIdE&feature=related

The videos of the children singing are great and look forward to seeing more:)

Thairish

Thanks for that,I'll consider it.[which means it's up to the wife]She's on the other guitar in the video.

Thanks for the great arieal photos Uprising.I'll show them to my students.
The rare old times is a great song and I've got the guitar chords off by heart now.Looking forward to teaching it next week.I've no Dublin accent though.Only the whine of the British midlands.:mad:

Thairish

A Dublin song from Thailand's classrooms.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mg3Wr0hovQ

It was a great song to teach the kids.

Spear

Thairish wrote: »

A Dublin song from Thailand's classrooms.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mg3Wr0hovQ

It was a great song to teach the kids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mg3Wr0hovQ

The ? signifies a query string, with v the variable, with the bit at the end of the = being the video ID. Just put the video ID between tags

Thairish

Thank you Spear.