Alanis Morissette Hand in my Pocket Alanis Morissette was one of the most unlikely stars of the mid-'90s. A former child actress turned dance-pop diva; Morissette later transformed herself into a confessional alternative singer/songwriter in the vein of Liz Phair and Tori Amos. However, she bolstered that formula with enough pop sensibility, slight hip-hop flourishes, and marketing savvy to become a superstar with her third album, Jagged Little Pill. Jagged Little Pill gained attention upon its release in the summer of 1995. The song soon received heavy airplay from alternative radio outlets and MTV, sending the album into the Top Ten and helping it achieve multi-platinum status. Jagged Little Pill's subsequent singles -- Hand in My Pocket, You Learn, Ironic, and All I Really Want -- kept the album in the Top Ten for an astounding 69 weeks! Alanis Morissette was nominated for six Grammys in early 1996. She won several of those awards, including Album of the Year and Song of the Year.
Using this song for teaching This song is excellent for teaching purposes for a number of reasons. It contains many very interesting adjectives, many of which will be new to your students, it is not too fast so that your students can t follow it and it s really catchy; your students will be tapping their feet away to this one! Bring an unusual object to class with you and hold it up for your students to see. Put your students into small groups and ask them to think of ten adjectives that will describe your object. Give them three or four minutes and jot their answers on the board. Explain to them why adjectives are so important in language so that you can explain how you feel and describe things far more accurately. I teach in China, where the students tend to call everything beautiful or great. Using adjectives confidently allows the speaker to really express themselves. Nouns and verbs are the drawings on the canvas; adjectives add the colour! Tell your students that you are going to play a song about a woman describing herself. Hand out the song gap-fill sheet and ask the students to listen to the song and fill in the adjectives. Play the song twice; the first time from start to finish without pausing, the second time with pauses to give the students time to write in the missing adjectives. After you go through the answers, hand each pair a bingo card. Call out random adjectives from the song. The first student to find all their adjectives is the winner and calls bingo! For homework, ask the students to match the adjectives with the meanings. This is a good adjectives class, which your students will enjoy!
Use these adjectives to fill in the missing gaps. alright brave broke chicken-shit drunk free friendly focused green grounded happy healthy high kind lost overwhelmed pretty poor restless sad sane sick short sober sorry tired underpaid wise working wrong young hopeful hard I'm but I'm I'm but I'm I'm but I'm, yeah I'm but I'm I'm but I'm I'm but I'm baby What it all comes down to Is that everything's gonna be fine, fine, fine And the other one is giving a high five I feel but I'm I'm and I'm I'm but I'm, yeah I care but I'm I'm here but I'm really gone I'm and I'm baby What it all comes down to Is that everything's gonna be quite And the other one is flicking a cigarette What it all comes down to Is that I haven't got it all figured out just yet And the other one is giving the peace sign I'm but I'm I'm but I'm I'm but I'm baby I'm but I'm laughing I'm but I'm I'm but I'm, baby And what it all boils down to Is that no one's really got it figured out just yet And the other one is playing the piano What it all comes down to my friends Is that everything's just fine, fine, fine And the other one is hailing a taxicab...
alright brave broke chicken-shit drunk free friendly focused green grounded happy healthy high kind lost overwhelmed pretty poor restless sad sane sick short sober sorry tired underpaid wise working worthless wrong young hopeful Match the adjectives with their meanings! When you have no money at all! When you feel really nice. Everything feels good. You are nice to others. People like you. When you have some money, but very little. When you are not sick, you feel great! You are not tall. You can do what you want to do. You feel nervous around other people. When you feel absolutely wonderful! You feel really low, you are not happy. You are not healthy. You feel normal; there is nothing wrong with your thinking. When you drink too much wine. You are not old. You feel strong and can face problems. You are frightened of problems. You are beautiful. You have lots of friends. You need more sleep. You are not very experienced. You are unhappy. You can think about things very clearly. You are very clever and know a lot of things. You are not right.
alright free overwhelmed sane tired wrong brave friendly healthy pretty sick underpaid young broke focused high poor short wise hopeful chicken-shit green kind restless sober working drunk grounded lost sad worry worthless alright free happy overwhelmed
sane tired wrong brave friendly healthy pretty sick underpaid green kind restless sober working drunk grounded lost sad sorry lost alright free happy overwhelmed sane tired wrong brave friendly healthy pretty sick underpaid young broke focused high poor short wise hopeful chicken-shit green kind restless
sober working drunk grounded lost sad worry wrong alright overwhelmed wrong healthy underpaid focused short chicken-shit restless drunk sad alright happy tired friendly sick broke poor hopeful kind working lost tired happy sane brave drunk chicken-shit hopeful green grounded kind focused sane wrong restless lost