Despite singer Eddie Vedder being allergic to enunciation, Pearl Jam’s “Even Flow” is being used to teach children English in Ethiopia. Peace Corps member Matt Westerberg is a ninth-grade teacher in Northern Ethiopia, and he also runs the school’s English club. It’s important for the kids to know English because “it is a requirement to get into university and have career opportunities,” he told Alternative Nation. One day, Westerberg says he jokingly wrote the chorus line to “Even Flow,” from Pearl Jam’s debut album Ten, on the chalkboard, and the students laughed their way through it. But “the next day,” he wrote, “they demanded to try it again… At first, it was all just a joke, but, after awhile, the students began to really build confidence through learning the song.”
Next up for Westerberg: “We plan on using a Foo Fighters song as the next school project to practice English.” Good choice; save “Yellow Ledbetter” for 11th grade.
(Via Alternative Nation)
