You Gotta Serve Somebody (A pedagogical call to arms) by Levon Smith (based on a song by Bob Dylan) You may be an English Teacher Teaching overseas You may have got a Master’s Maybe you’ve got a Ph.D. You may have studied theory Maybe you studied methodology You may think that you’re objective Maybe you think you can “just teach” Chorus: But you’re going to have to serve somebody http://tessiesphdjournal.blogspot.com/2007/09/sociopolitics-of-english-language.html Yes, you are. You’re going to have to serve somebody. It may be the monolinguists It may be the polyglots But you’re going to have to serve somebody You may speak Korean You may speak Chinese You may be trilingual In English, German, and Japanese Your Spanish may be impeccable Your French is never snubbed But, friend, if you want to teach English Let me tell you, here’s the rub (chorus) You may be an author “Writing back” and taking’em on Maybe you’re a critical pedagogue Using words like “panopticon” You may know about the discourse of EIL Language and Culture are interrelated You may think English “Worldliness” Is overestimated (chorus) You may be a policy wonk Maybe you boned up on Ebonics Students failing, students dropping out You can see the problem’s chronic You may blame the individual Maybe you see society’s role You may accuse the liberals Maybe you blame the status quo (chorus) You may be a columnist Afraid of Balkanization Maybe you’re a media mogul With the power of communication Note source. A PHD dissertation! http://tessiesphdjournal.blogspot.com/2007/09/sociopolitics-of-english-language.html You may be an advocate For Ronald McDonalization You may own tall buildings You’re the Donald (or his agent) (chorus) Maybe you process poultry Hiring illegals again and again Maybe you’re just a good ol’ boy Trying to protect your skin You may be a patriot Maybe you’re just confused You may raise up English only Like you raise up the Red, White, and Blue In the ZPD Maybe you raise your affective filter When krashen comes to dinner You can “generate” Chomsky on demand But you “behave” like B.F. Skinner (chorus) You may be a grad student And though some of your friends may scoff You’re probably busting your butt Wondering if it’s going to pay off And you’re working part time at the carpet plant You’ve got a couple of rug rats, too You may think that politics Has nothing to do with you (chorus) You may be a legislator In Washington D.C. Thinking about the next election Thinking about your constituencies You may be a Democrat You may be a Republican U.S. ENGLISH makes a contribution So do the Freedom Forum fans (chorus)

I serve the company I work for, but only because they pay me. Nobody else.