- elt tweet eurovision
Last night was Eurovision again. Was fun tweeting last year and fun last night too. This is an edited transcript of the tweets just before and during the voting to give you a flavour of what a few ELT tweeters were getting up to last night. Good to see people in a non ELT environment tweeting about non-ELT things. Hope I’ve managed to capture some of the flavour of it in my eurovision roving role…….Greetings from a rainy Budapest!
so who’s gonna do the transcript then? #eltchat #eurovision
LOL RT @marekandrews: so who’s gonna do the transcript then? #eltchat #eurovision
RT @marekandrews: so who’s gonna do the transcript then? #eltchat #eurovision Ha Ha! 🙂
@marekandrews I assumed you were the roving reporter so you’d do it 🙂 #Eurovision #eltchat
RT @esolcourses: @bcnpaul1 @Marisa_C for the next hour, my tweets will be devoted to #eurovisionchat 🙂 let’s be very rude!
@annabooklover Bless you Anna,you’ve made my evening with your tweets : ))))))
RT @RenataWilmot: Love the dress, love the boots, love the attitude! #eurovision great voice no song though
@bcnpaul1 or what can #eurovision do for ELT ? #eltchat
RT @suzelibrarian: They should have captured Bin Laden and made him watch this instead. #Eurovision te he he he he
long black boots, black gloves and a blank song..nice purple nebula #eurovision
i can, i will, i know eurovision for beginners #eurovision
@SimonGreenall Lol I saw your Lena tweet and can only second it. Nobody in Germany likes Lena any more. Wish I could watch TV with U guys!
@theteacherjames who you rooting for? hear Belgium entry just funny !
I like Iceland. Buy one get one free. #jokefortheBritish #ELTeurovision #eurovision
RT @Mazi: Spain please sing in Spanish and not English #eurovision Super !
Spanish! #eurovision
@thornburyscott Well spotted 🙂
Son won’t let me watch #eurovision, but I’m enjoying following PLN tweets. You guys are hilarious! 🙂 So who are the favourites so far?
TEFLPet Am deeply ashamed that they made Lena compete a second time. She has no talent, just good looks
Serbia. now this is my kind of music. 70s #eurovison
so this is my tip, uplifting, celebratory, hairspray inspired or not who cares?#eurovision
Oo hang moldova maybe your vote isn’t secure, this Serbian number is quite boppy #Eurovision
What’s that Serbia? I expect Balkan countries to have a touch of ethnicity in their music. This is not Serbia! #eurovision
@vickyloras Don’t fret about Greece 😉 We all know that the rest of the Greek population can sing.
Full marks to Serbia #eurovision
RT @fionamau: RT @SimonGreenall: Serbia. now this is my kind of music. 70s. Not too bad ] yep. Agree
Since when has English been all triphthongs? #eurovision
RT @josepicardo: Gosh watching the serbian entry is making sicker than a prezi #eurovision Now THAT’s an elt comment! 😀
Serbia's Prezi
Went to Tblisi once. As I remember it was just like this. #eurovison
Georgia, like Limp Bizkit, with the accent on the limp. #ELTeurovision #eurovision
I’m voting for moldova, the cones edge the 60s #Eurovision
@SimonGreenall #eurovision what do u expect wiv this ELT crowd? We all have very bad taste 😀
@TheEngTeacher @bcnpaul1 @Marisa_C this year’s #eurovision chat poll is now open… who would you like to vote for? 😉
I ain’t voting for anyone #eurovision; I refuse about 10 hours ago via TweetDeck
Well, if it’s about looks, then it’s Sweden closely followed by Greece #eurovision
On the other hand, if it’s about modal verbs then it’s UK #eurovision
@Shaunwilden Respect to you and your fine taste in music / comedy. #Eurovision #ELTeurovision
“@bethcagnol: #eurovision” Don’t agonise, vote Moldova and catch up later. trust me.
So I missed #eurovision; that’s 2 or whatever hours of my life I had that you lot will never get back! (Mind you, eurovision vs ironing…)
“@ericbaber: So I missed #eurovision ironing. Lucky! I just kind of feel grubby.
RT @Shaunwilden: @ericbaber 2 hours with a bottle wine, cheesy music and loads of PLN pals def beat the ironing 🙂 #Eurovision
1 Serbia 2 Moldova 3 Italy…….not that that will be the result though. #eurovision
Slovenia still has my vote. #eurovision. Iceland was like watching the British version of “The Office” sing musical theater.
Don’t want bang on about it but only France, Spain and Serbia sang in their own language #eurovision
@thornburyscott So did Ireland and UK 😉 #eurovision
Yes, and Ireland too I guess. #eurovision
@thornburyscott:but only France, Spain and Serbia sang in their own language #eurovisionso, 3 course book markets left. Excellent.
@SimonGreenall Hungarian sang in both Hungarian and English
Moldovia gets my vote, definitely!! Like the Pogues with a bit extra on top from what I can tell from clips #eurovision
@SimonGreenall You gave GOT to be kidding me. Moldova?? Really?? #eurovision
@bethcagnol On c’mon they got cones on their – cones, who wouldn’t vote for cones #Eurovision
The now famous Moldovan cones
@Shaunwilden Well, you have a point. Cones made Madonna famous. #eurovision
to make her hair do that? I want one for my #IATEFL conference talks! #Eurovision
“@ericbaber: @SimonGreenall Have a good wash and I’ll pop round with the iron 🙂 really? Thanks!
‘twould appear my PLN agrees that Moldovia is the way to go. Wonder what that says about Moldovia, me, or my PLN… #eurovision
@fionamau oops! Yes, and Ireland too I guess. #eurovision
“@bethcagnol: Where did the girl from Georgia get the fan to make her hair do that? I want one for my #IATEFL talks! #Eurovision” Noted.
@ericbaber Moldova is the only choice, it’s clear to everyone I think 😉 #eurovision
#eurovision will we be political this evening then
I can’t even be bothered to find out who won #eurovision
Lots of boring strategic voting now #eurovision
No way Cyprus gave Greece 12 points, well that’s a surprise #Eurovision
Cannot believe Greece is in the lead #eurovision
Our interpretation of Greece leading: they are voting us out of mercy…#eurovision
@ozsolmaz Definitely!I meant whyyyy are they actually giving us points,it was a terrible song : ))))
I think they should use First Past The Post for #Eurovision, right?
So pleased Graham is giving us his views on presenters’ hairstyles. That means a lot coming from him. #eurovision
@Shaunwilden Greek people are praying too Shaun! #eurovision
#eurovision is she a bridesmaid
Hm…Kate Middleton’s plan B.
@ericbaber Only watched #Eurovision when Wogan commentated. Not really interested without his dry observations…
I can’t believe France has 25 points. #eurovision
@esolcourses @fionamau im lost. What’s this eurovision stuff ? Something else 2 look forward 2 ? 😉
Is Greece actually fourth? Unglaublich! With that song?!? #eurovision
@harrisonmike Never really watched at all! Still haven’t, come to think of it. Why am I watching the vote?! PLN pressure?! #Eurovision
It was great watching with all of you! Good night everyone! #eurovision
“@bethcagnol: OMG. UK voted for Moldova. You guys must have a thing for cones. #eurovision” We have a lot of motorway cones.
@ericbaber Personally, thanks to Twitter – no need to watch #eurovision or England football matches!
Jak mogłes mi to zrobić? Poland didn’t vote for France. 😉 #eurovision
#eurovision thats it. Lost the will to live. The best rubbish isnt winning
@bethcagnol We have a sense of the ridiculous. It’s what we do. #eurovision
Dude, that guy from Sweden has a fabulous American accent. #eurovision
@theteacherjames Oh Lord. When is taste ever a factor in voting for #eurovision contestants?
@bethcagnol Tell that to the rest of Europe! #eurovision
Predictable and boring. Goodnight all
@harrisonmike Was the UK entry Blue? I thought it was Jedward, judging by the comments on Twitter…
@chiasuan Jedward were for Ireland.
Boooo! Booooo! Boooo! Stop voting for your neighbours! #justjealousbecausenobodylikesus #Eurovision #ELTeurovision
@harrisonmike Oh I see. Who’s winning now? Is Blue or Jedward any way near the top? Is Blue doing better than Jedward?
@chiasuan No idea, sorry! #amblogging =)
Hey, one of them is called Eric! He gets my vote. Don’t know what country he’s from though #eurovision
Someone once told me that the Italians are the French in a good mood. #eurovision
Only one country not speaking English I notice, quelle suprise… #ELTeurovision #Eurovision @bethcagnol
@theteacherjames Yeah! What’s up with that!?!? #HeyFranceStopMakingMeLookBadonTwitter!
Hey wait a sec…she looks a heck of a lot like the Duchess of Cambridge. #eurovision
Two “pity points” from Portugal to France. #eurovision
“@bethcagnol:… looks a heck of a lot like the Duchess of Cambridge. #eurovision” Still can’t help thinking Duchess of Cambridge is a pub.
# Be still my beating heart. Oh no, it’s OK, it’s Dusseldorf.
#eurovision why cant the uk win. I want to go.
Something heartwarming about this show of solidarity between neighbours, given usual mutual antipathy #eurovision
@SimonGreenall What did Azerbaijan sing? I saw it but don’t remember it. Was it the one about Ever Nasty Love?
#eurovision Time for Ireland to leave the Euro
6 points Ireland? Thanks for nothing. #ELTeurovision #Eurovision
@fionamau @SimonGreenall who cares now?
@Amandalanguage i love eurovision
@lauraesol me too … Loving all the kitsch n weird votes
Ooooh Switzerland last…ouch #eurovision
Didn’t realise Azerbaijan was in Europe.
Azerbaijan, the most Eastern part of Eastern Europe, coloured grey on the Western shore of the Caspian Sea
“@fionamau: So…… What’s the capital of Azerbaijan? …….” easy. Erm.
@fionamau Baku. Googled it. 😉
Well done Azerbaijan!
If #Eurovision proves anything, it’s that the UK has no friendly neighbours. Even the Irish don’t like us that much.
Erm… They can’t sing #eurovision
@SimonGreenall Reading the tweets…. will definitely plan to watch it next time…too funny! #eurovision
Just saw a summary of Eurovision on the news!
@Jonny_1988 @vickyloras @TheEngTeacher @bethcagnol @thornburyscott @ericbaber @ShellTerrell Respect to the remaining ELT #eurovision viewers
#eurovision That’s it, all over for this year. Thank you to my PLN for your company. I really must get a life.
@vickyloras Yes, it was more enjoyable than most of the songs!
@theteacherjames Hi James!That was fun again this year…missed a couple of people but it was good : )
RT @fudgecrumpet: Wikipedia crashes as everyone tries to work out where the hell Azerbaijan is.
Right. I’m off. So night night. Can you imagine how shit Eurovision would be if it was good?
Terry Wogan and Political Voting
terry wogan and political voting
Finally, Graham Norton was the host of Eurovision last night in Britain, I was watching the Hungarian coverage so I didn’t get to see him but Terry Wogan used to do it in Britain and then gave it up because of what he saw as “political voting”.
In 2008 on his retirement from eurovision he said this.
“The elephant in the room was our singer Andy Abraham’s colour. East of the Danube, they won’t be voting for any black singer any day soon. Those who care about the contest will have had it up to here with the blatant political voting from the former satellites of the USSR that awarded this year’s event to Russia, and the even more scandalous lack of votes for the UK entry.”
Eastern European diplomats in London denied that racism had played any part. Irena Dimitrova, Bulgaria’s cultural attaché, accepted that there were very few black people in Bulgaria but insisted that race was not a factor. She said: “We are a very serious country when it comes to our music. We are very well educated musically and we like black music.” Eerik Marmei, the deputy head of the Estonian embassy in London, said: “I would say the accusation of racism is totally rubbish.”
I despair at much of the coverage of “Eastern Europe” in the British media, and have been teaching courses on “Eastern Europeanness in the Media” in my university in Budapest for a while now and one student wrote her MA thesis on it. Comments like this from Wogan, a senior and popular media figure, only serve to deepen prejudice. Wogen is actually Irish and should know better about stereotypical depictions, particularly in the light of the experience of his own country.
The Real Politics of Eurovision
In 1968 Franco bought votes to win the competition to bring it back to Spain, in 1970 after Dana’s victory in Amsterdam she was flown from Dublin to Derry in an Irish plane into “UK” airspace on the island of Ireland for the first time and Nicole won for Germany in Harrogate in 1982 with a song called “ein bischen Frieden” a little peace at a time of heightened tension in Europe with Cruise Missiles and the Falklands War. The whole thing was started in 1956 to unite broadcasters in Western Europe but also to strengthen Western Europe against Eastern Europe. In 1961, the year the Berlin wall went up Eastern Europe started its own song contest in Sopot Poland on the Baltic coast.
In 1998 in the town of my birth Birmingham, the Israeli transvestite Dana International won and the Birmingham promoter of the event gave the first rows to the Lesbian and Gay community, since then Eurovision has been a very important event in the LGBT calendar transcending both national and nationalisitc boundaries.
Check out this programme for more on all of this, an excellent history of Eurovision.
One of my friends wrote to me yesterday on facebook saying: “I’m a bit mystified regarding your current Eurovision obsession!”
Well, it is a big European cultural phenonemon and apart from being a lot of fun, it also reveals values, beliefs and prejudices which make it worth having a look at. I did a bit on it in class last week looking at who votes for who and why and this is a great tool to work with. Roll on next year, really enjoyed the craic last night and if the UK want to win with a boy band they’d better ask Take That.
- Understanding eurovision voting patterns
Well… if anyone had told me that I would regret not watching the Eurovision Song contest one day, I wouldn’t have believed them:-)
next year Elizabeth! Very enjoyable to tweet non-ELT stuff, let’s find another occasion. If you have any suggestions….
Good piece of evidence that all is not sharing links and tech talk but there is a light and very sweet social fun side to how we talk to each other and forge friendships through both serious talk and light banter.
Thanks for the Eurovision history lesson, Mark. The results of this contest make sense when you look at your interactive graph.
Great idea of a lesson you had in there!
Marisa
yeah the sweet, social fun side that you describe is so important in any teaching community. It’s often neglected in people’s workplaces. When I was working in Czechoslovakia we used to celebrate everybody’s birthday with cakes and drinks and we also went skiing with the students. Am sure this had a huge impact on how we worked as a team as teachers and how we got on with the students.
The history of Eurovision is fascinating and the programme I mentioned is well worth watching.
And working with the voting patterns with students is something I’ve been doing for the last four years and it never fails to engage and motivate, especially as we do it both before and after eurovision.
Good to hear from you
Mark