Let me take a moment to write I sentence I never imagined writing: Thank God for Shakira.  While I’m at it, thank God for Britney Spears.

In my English classes, my students and I sometimes struggle for common ground.  I know that sometimes they’re laughing at my abysmal ignorance, or the dumb-ass questions the Company inserts into every lesson plan and requires me to ask (“are we all the same?  Or are we different?”  “Do you like games?”).  And while I’ve spent enough time in Mexico to recognize certain national pop-culture references (one student and I manage to work Paquita La Del Barrio into at least one activity per week), many of my young, hip students have a whole other set of youth-culture references that are beyond me. 

But we can always fall back on Shakira, et al. 

It’s a moment I’ve already learned to expect: after they’ve learned body parts, and then how to form negative sentences with “don’t”, inevitably some bright, usually female, student will look up with that spark in her eye that says, I’ve made a connection!  And then, delighted, she’ll announce, “Hips don’t lie!”  We laugh.  We share a joke.  We have a moment.   

And poor Britney.  When they study “can” for ability, and “A pilot can fly a plane,” “A mechanic can fix cars” become too boring, introducing Britney Spears into the equation always livens them up: in most classes, at least one student will assert that she CAN sing, and debate and laughter ensue. 

Okay, so it’s incredibly superficial common ground.  And I’m not saying it’s our only common ground.  In fact (shoot, I was going to be light, for once, and here I go…), now that I think about it, I wonder if that superficial common ground gets in the way of our seeking firmer common ground.  But, what the hell, a shared laugh is something.

And besides, “Hips Don’t Lie” is a darn good song.   

So, gracias, ladies.