A. Song: "Singer of the Sacred Heart"
by Connie Kaldor

Connie Kaldor is a performer whose writing spans many styles and who has found a home in the international folk music scene. With seven albums to her credit, Connie has toured around the world from Beijing to Boston and throughout Europe, as well as extensively in the USA and Canada. Her live show is legendary, with a mix of humour and emotionally gripping music.

1. Warm-up

* Some questions to consider:

• Who has seen street performers?
• Where did you see them?
• What were they doing?
• Were they young or old?
• Are they different from panhandlers or beggars?
• Do we have beggars in Canada?
• How do the homeless in your community live?
• Do old people who are homeless have problems that are different from young people who are homeless?
• Who are the homeless?
• Are there more homeless in the cities? Why?

2. Understanding the song

Reading 169

* Ask learners to follow the words (page 169) while listening to the song.
* Look at the verse:

Did her mamma say it wasn't right
for a girl to play accordion day and night
But there were things that her mamma didn't know
How times can change, how a life can go.

• Why do you think her mamma might have said it wasn't right "for a girl to play accordion day and night"?
• Have times changed for women?

* Look at the lines "In the middle of the rush and haste / There's no room for the old and the sad of face."

Handout 170

• Give examples of older people who are rich and powerful. Talk or write about their lives.
• Give examples of older people who are poor. Talk or write about their lives.

* The song says, "That old accordion is like her heart/ Squeezed together and pulled apart." How is her heart like an accordion? What has squeezed it and pulled it apart?
* Give learners the question sheet (page 170).

This is an opportunity to teach or review similes. Ask the learners for other examples; you might start a class list of similes that you can add to as you come across them in your reading.

3. Word study

Handout 171

* Give learners the cloze exercise (pages 171). Ask them to listen to the song again and fill in the blanks. Play the song as often as necessary.

* Ask the learners to find the contractions in the song and write out the two complete words for each contraction.

4. Guided discussion

* Some questions to consider:

• Have you seen many women performing on the street or in the subway?
• If your answer is yes, talk about where you saw them and what they were doing.
• If your answer is no, what do you think are the reasons for this?