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Monday, February 8, 1999

INTRODUCTION

Meeting someone special

Sometimes journalists are lucky because they get to meet famous people that ordinary people have no chance of meeting. Even journalists have difficulty meeting VERY famous people, however, and sometimes they have to settle for a large group interview. That was the case with Bangkok Post writer, Wipawee Otaganonta, who was present for a recent group interview with one of the world's most famous singers, Celine Dion.

This week, I'll let you read most of this interview as it appeared last week in the Bangkok Post. You will notice very quickly that is it spoken English, very lively, and not so tightly organised as the writing you normally see in the newspaper. Since this is a fun subject, I am going to try to make it as easy as possible for you to understand.

Facts for fans

Let's start with some facts about Celine Dion which accompanied the story. Do you find any of them surprising?

Born the youngest of 14 children in a musical family (her parents are both musicians), Celine Dion gave her first public performance of traditional French-Canadian songs at the age of five.
A demo tape she recorded at the age of 12 reached Quebec music entrepreneur Rene Angelil, who later mortgaged his house to finance the recording of her debut album. She married him in December 1994.
Among her best-known works are: Beauty and the Beast, When I Fall in Love (duet with Clive Griffin), The Power of Love, Because You Love Me, and My Heart Will Go On.
In 1996, the French government awarded Celine Dion its prestigious Medal of Arts in recognition of her status as the best-selling French-language artist in history.
During the 30 months since April 1996, she has sold more than 60 million albums world-wide.

Reading the interview

Many of you probably already know quite a bit about Celine Dion, but I'm sure you will learn something new from the interview. Below is a list of statements based on the interview. Some of them are true, others are not. Before you read the interview, go through the list and decide which ones you expect are true. Then check to see if you are right.

From the interview, it is clear that Celine and her husband Rene enjoy being together since they often joke about each other.
According to Celine, the biggest factor in becoming a successful singer is talent. Luck is much less important.
When Celine is on tour, she often doesn't talk on her days off in order to protect her voice.
Celine's next big project is a duet with Elton John.
Celine and Rene say they would like to have children, but with her career being so busy, it is impossible at this time.
Celine became a singer against the wishes of her parents who wanted her to become a teacher.
Celine sang her hit song My Heart Will Go On before she had seen the movie.
Celine said that to get into the proper mood for the song, she thought of her love for her husband.
Few people realise it, but Celine speaks Mandarin Chinese fluently - something which really impressed her audience in Hong Kong.
Both Celine and her husband are firm that they will not allow their children to become entertainers.
Celine enjoys entertaining audiences, but right now she is looking forward to taking a long break.
It may seem strange, but Celine says she still does not know her husband as well as she would like to.
One of the big changes in her life recently was getting a new manager to replace her husband Rene who has decided to retire.
Celine has recently taken up the sport of golf.
Rene is clearly proud of his wife although he refuses to admit it publicly.

OUR STORY FROM THE BANGKOK POST

Celine Dion: Up close and personal

Wipawee Otaganonta

Last week, Celine Dion took to the chilly tarmac at Hong Kong's old Kai Tak airport and gave a two-hour concert before a 20,000-strong audience. The audience -- which included many of Hong Kong's rich and famous -- loved it as the French-Canadian diva gave a sparkling 18-song show ending with Titanic's My Heart Will Go On. At 15 minutes past midnight, Celine Dion took to her seat in The Peninsula's Salisbury Room, looking great despite walking off stage just two hours earlier. With her manager-husband Rene Angelil at her side, the French-Canadian songstress was witty and charming as she was deluged by questions from a roomful of reporters.

Celine Dion: "Believe me, talent is not enough. A lot of kids have a dream they want to become singers but it's not that simple. It's not that easy. I was very lucky. I found the right people, I found Rene. Fortunately we both have the same dream and Rene always made sure I was surrounded by the right people.

Q: How do you feel about being so popular here in Asia?
CD: It's so far from where I live. You don't really know exactly how far music can travel. And when you come and have this, it's such a reward, it's amazing. Music is an incredible language. I'm very fortunate my music can travel.

Q: You said last week you want a baby.
CD: Well, we'd love to have babies, and, ahh, we're working on it. It went very well! Rene: She's absolutely right!"

Q: Because you guys have such good chemistry, we hear before a concert you use a knocking code to communicate. One means yes, two means no, three means 'Je t'aime, Rene.' True?
Rene: That's pretty accurate! When Celine is touring, on the days off, she doesn't use her voice to protect the vocal cords, and we do have some codes like that on the telephone
CD: He loves those days off. Days when I don't talk ... They're his favourite days.

Q: You have collaborated with a lot of other artists such as Barbara Streisand and the Bee Gees. Who's next? And after your break, will you return to your musical career
CD: They're a lot of people I'd love to sing with. I love duets. I've been fortunate enough to sing with a lot of my favourite people, but I haven't thought about any other duets because we're looking forward to stopping. We've been doing this for 18 years, constantly travelling and recording in French and English, and touring. It's a lot of work, I just need to be with the people I love very much. Rene, who's still older than me.
Rene: It doesn't show much.
CD: I want to make sure I get to know him -- Rene the husband and hopefully the father -- as well as Rene the manager. He's a great manager. But as husband, father, I'd love to know him better. And spending some time with my parents, my family. And having children of our own and cooking. Just have a normal life! Having time to go picnic and play golf. I love golf, my new passion. And we're gonna take a long break just to refuel, do something else, and we'll come back. I don't know when. But maybe when I come back, I'd love to do some acting. And for sure, I'll come back with music because it's in me. I love music. And I'd love to learn some languages, maybe three or four different languages.

Q: Would you be interested in learning Mandarin and Cantonese?
CD: That'd be great! I'd love to learn every language in the world.

Q: What were you picturing in your mind when you sang My Heart Will Go On tonight.
CD: Every time I sing that song, I don't think of anything else other than what I've seen in the movie. And I know people want to hear that song so I'm very pleased. And every time it is like the first time I sing it. It's like the first time all the times.
When I got ready to record it in the studio, James Horner, who wrote the song, explained the movie to me. And I got in the mood, I hadn't seen the movie at that point, but he talked to us about the movie and Rene and I were very moved by the story. And he said 'Okay, I think you're ready to go sing' and I said 'Okay, I'll go try'. I started to sing and I was very emotional, just thinking about the story he had told us.

Q: With all the fame and adulation, how do you stay so unspoilt.
Rene: Maybe I can answer that! She has a fantastic voice, we all know, but to me her biggest quality is the person she is. And I think the type of person she is shows in the way she sings.
CD: Thank you!
Rene: I'm very proud of my wife as a person.

Q: If this baby you're planning inherits your talents, would Rene surround the kid with the right people throughout his life?
CD: Could you imagine doing it all over again?
Rene: Definitely, our biggest dream is to be fortunate enough to have a child, that would be a great reward and great dream. After that, whatever the child wants to do, we'd be sure to support. When Celine was younger, she was supported by her parents. Usually when you're 10, 11, 12, you tell your parents you want to sing, and they say 'no, not right now'. In her case, her mother wrote her a song. And they supported her. And I'd try to support my children too, in whatever they want to do. So if we've fortunate enough to have a child, we'll both be very supportive of whatever they want to do.
Rene: If they want to be in show business, great.
CD: If they want to be a golfer, great.

FOLLOW-UP

Vocabulary building

You probably noticed that the interview was quite a bit easier than many of the readings we have done this term. One of the main reason was that spoken English tends to be easier than written English -- especially in the vocabulary.

In this case, I felt it was unnecessary to explain any vocabulary before you read the story. But there were still a few words you might not have known or you might not be able to use. Here are a few explanations to help you.

tarmac This is the black material used for surfacing roads or, in this case, the hard surface at an airport.

witty If you are witty, you are clever and funny at the same time.

deluged The word "deluge" means a very heavy rain, To be "deluged", therefore, normally means to be flooded. But you can also be deluged with other things, like homework or questions, as was the case with Celine Dion.

good chemistry Obviously, this doesn't refer to the science of chemistry here. People who have "good chemistry" have a very good relationship - they like each other and are comfortable in each other's company

passion This normally refers to a very powerful feeling or emotion. And if you "have a passion for" something, it means you like or enjoy it very much.

adulation This means very high praise or, in the case of a famous person, we might even call it "hero worship".

unspoilt This obviously comes from the word "spoil" which means to become bad or unusable -- like a piece of fruit which is left out in the sun too long. You can also "spoil" a person by treating them too well or praising them too often. If someone continues to be a nice person despite such treatment, we say they are "unspoilt".

TEACHER'S NOTE

Some of the more popular and effective teaching for reading, involve pre-reading exercises designed to generate student interest in the reading material and to create a set of expectations to assist comprehension. This week, I have designed a lesson to illustrate one such technique - an introductory true-false exercise.

The advantage of true-false exercises is that they be done once prior to the reading based on student expectations and then completed again as the students read the story.

When you look at my true-false list, you will notice that I have tried to make all of them sound as plausible (believable) as possible. This makes the exercise a lot more fun for the students since it adds an element of mystery to the activity.

In introducing this week's lesson, you can do a similar activity of your own based on the "Facts for Fans" section. Before the students look at this section, try making some true/false statements like the ones I wrote and let your students react to them. Instead of simply responding "true" or "false", however, they could say things like: "Yeah, that's possible"; "I believe that"; "Impossible"! "That can't be true", etc.

•This lesson was prepared by Acharn Terry Fredrickson, BA Stanford, MA (TESL) University of Minnesota, Manager of the Educational Services Department at the Bangkok Post and general editor of this programme.

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