Il Ragazzo della Via Gluck

This is a mythical piece of Italian song history. So much to work with, so many memories and so much meaning... I know this song speaks to every Italian, no matter their age. I was born and raised in a city and when this song came out I was not even born, and still, going to the community it was one of the first we would learn to play on guitar.

Old and young alike know the song and what it means to us as a generation. Much of the theme that the song relates to, city life and country life, progress and tradition, rich and poor, money and values, speaks so much to the current situation of Italians all over the country.

For the little ones this song can be an easy channel to gain vocabulary knowledge on basic vocabulary and communicative functions. For older students, besides being an easy tune to sing to and play on a guitar (and even clap hands around a bonfire) the topic relates to so many discussions that can open the door for debates, research and cultural conversations. Hope you will like the ideas I propose.

The You Tube Video

This is one of the many versions you can easily find on You Tube - I liked it because it has the lyrics right on the page.



A few interesting pieces of information you can find on this song is the address of the title where the singer lived and the 8 years it refers to, which are supposedly the years it took the singer to break into success in the Italian horizon (see wikipedia information).

The Lyrics

Il ragazzo della via Gluck - Adriano Celentano

(coro) là dove c'era l'erba ora c'e una città.
Questa e' la storia
di uno di noi
anche lui nato per caso in via Gluck
in una casa fuori città
gente tranquilla che lavorava.
Là dove c'era l'erba ora c'e
una città
e quella casa in mezzo al verde ormai
dove sarà
questo ragazzo della via Gluck
si divertiva a giocare con me
ma un giorno disse: "vado in città"
e lo diceva mentre piangeva
io gli domando: "amico non sei contento?
vai finalmente a stare in città
là troverai le cose che non hai avuto qui.
Potrai lavarti in casa senza andar
giù nel cortile".
"Mio caro amico" disse "qui sono nato
e in questa strada ora lascio il mio cuore
ma come fai a non capire
che e' una fortuna per voi che restate
a piedi nudi a giocare nei prati
mentre là in centro io respiro il cemento
ma verrà un giorno che ritornerò
ancora qui
e sentirò l'amico treno che
fischia così.... ua ua".
passano gli anni ma otto son lunghi
però quel ragazzo ne ha fatta di strada
ma non si scorda la sua prima casa
ora coi soldi lui può comperarla
torna e non trova gli amici che aveva
solo case su case catrame e cemento
là dove c'era l'erba ora c'e
una città
e quella casa in mezzo al verde ormai
dove sarà
non so no so perché continuano
a costruire le case
e non lasciano l'erba, non lasciano l'erba
non lasciano l'erba
e non se andiamo avanti così
chissà come si farà
chissà chissà come si farà.

Worlde-based Activities

Using word clouds is really a neat idea to begin conversations around the vocabulary of any text, may they be lyrics of a song or words on a page. I created one below.

 I would suggest a few ideas with the wordle to actually better appreciate the song.

• Ask students to look at the wordle. You probably want to quickly go over the key three levels of words (the three biggest levels in which words are written in the cloud) and ensure students figure out what they mean. 
• I would find the melodic version of the song (or the song as a background) and play that while students search for words in their dictionaries. It will begin to set the mood for discovering the meaning of the words.
• Then, using a wiki page or a blog or, a word document, ask students in pair to take charge of at least 10-12 words each and make a list of the nouns, adjective and verbs of the song, and try to match their meaning with images. The old You Tube video shows a version of a black and white city background (from RAI TRE) - but your students can work with colour images. I add below a few samples of what I found.

Erba    - L'erba verde e bella...   

Città - La Città grande e grigia ...

Cemento - Il cemento dei palazzi e delle strade...

Cuore - Ho lasciato il mio cuore nella campagna...

• Once your students built an image-based dictionary for the song, invite them to share their work (on or offline) and go around finishing the sentences that other have begun writing...or adding more descriptions of words (in Italian) about the song. Give your students a few minutes to circulate. You will see how the beginning words of the song will grow into a wealth of vocabulary you can use later on to work with other activities.
• You can also duplicate the words from the word cloud and distribute them to your students, sitting in a circle. Ask students to show the words they have and come up with sentences that use those words. Students can say each sentence out loud, pointing at the words they have used and they see others hold. This can also be done with words spread over a larger table. As students use the words they use in their sentences, they get to keep them like in a point system

Listening activities

One of the beauty of this song is its catchy tune and rythm. I challenge anyone who hears it not to move or clap your hands. It is almost impossible I can guarantee it!

Here some ideas while students listen:

• I would propose to everyone to just listen - the song is absolutely a beautiful tale of a boy who moves from the countryside to the city and comes back to find everything changed. Enjoy the tune for what it is - especially if you have done some of the Worlde activities in pre-listening mode.
• Connecting to the worlde, a second round of listening activity could be for students to have a copy of wordles (different versions of them that you can make and print off) with at least 8 or nine missing words. Take the words off the clouds and ask students to write them in as they listen to them.
• Alternatively, ask students to highlight the words they hear on a copy of a wordle, as they hear them being mentioned through the song. Students can do this activity in pairs as well.
• Divide your group into two. One group takes care of expressions and words and images they hear from the song that describe or talk about the countryside - one of the city. As the song plays, ask students to listen to the key words and write them down. Then, in group, ask students to use those words to create their own interpretation of the city or the countryside as they heard it and felt it from the song.
• A similar but more individual type of activity is to ask students to think of either the city or the countryside. Ask students to think of images they have of either place in their mind. Ask them to think how they would feel about those images and those experiences. Then play the song, and ask students to close their eyes and focus on the words that call upon those images as the song plays. Ask students to remember one or two of those words. When the song ends, ask students to share their emotions. If their vocabulary is limited, they can share the emotions in English and you can provide a list built together in Italian on the board.

Post-listening 

This song gives you the topic for so many discussions and debates that are relevant to today's world. The idea and tension of progress versus the idea of tradition and values is embedded in the lyrics and the tone of the melody. Truly inspirational. Here a few ideas.

• There are a lot of images that are written through the song, not only in the words used, but also in the instruments and rhythm. Ask students to draw some of those images as they feel them from listening to the song (this could be a nice interpretive type of work done as homework). Students bring their drawings back to school and you can engage them in a circle presentation and sharing.
• The slogan against something - ask students to select one or two sentences from the song that can inspire them to be the slogan or catchy phrase for a campaign against something....Students could use words to go against the growth of smog and pollution! Or they could think about the injustice of not having or finding work in the countryside! or agains the injustice of cement cutting the green and not letting things grow any more.... Students take the slogan and elaborate on it with their own words to explain it. They could even created a slogan poster for a campaign. Students share their ideas and work in class and give each other feedback.
• The drama piece - this song is a story after all. Invite students to create a dramatization of the story and play it as the story is sung (of course students can sing the story as they tell it and role play it)

Hope you like the ideas so far!

The podcast of this blog entry can be found here.