Life@Kaplan: Cambridge Students Learn to Rap
Mimouna is our expert on blogs and social media for France, Switzerland, Belgium and all Francophone countries. She is from Burgundy, France, and calls herself a “geek in my spare time” with a passion for music.
As hip-hop culture is given more and more attention at universities across the world for the rap lyrics and its social impact, Kaplan International was happy to welcome a local rapper, Xidus Pain, to host a workshop at our English school in Cambridge, England. He specializes in working with schools and creating his own music, and came to Cambridge to do a lyrics workshop with about 10 students.
The students loved it! They were given the theme "Life in the UK", and brainstormed to come up with some ideas to rap about. The students had to work their poetry skills to write and rap rhymes related to the topic. This workshop helped students build their writing skills, their rhyming and their confidence expressing thoughts in English. It also helped the students to feel more comfortable with their accent.
Xidus Pain told us, in rhythm,
I really enjoyed the workshop with Kaplan's International students.
I liked hearing the different perspectives from the students about visiting the UK & I thought
the different accents sounded unique over the Hip Hop beats it was really cool how
the students could make words rhyme that I couldn't because of their accents.
The topic on Life in the UK allowed students to speak about their own experiences and share what they liked or disliked. At the end of the workshop, each student shared their lyrics with the rest of the group, some of them even rapping over hip hop beats! Take a look at our Swiss and German students’ rap. They've got some skills!
This is the story of Tania and Nicole,
They're here in England to achieve their goals.
They travelled without family for their first time in their lives,
Thanks to technology, they have freedom, they're learning to survive.
How to live alone, they battle every day to succeed without money, life's no honey!
But sour like a Champagne shower and sweet,
Like the friendly people they greet;
The food's okay, but they don't like the meat.
In the pub they get drunk,
But they never take drugs.
Pool and beer, friends and cocktails, is no reason to fail...
This is about their life in England from day to day – Cambridge, is the place they stay.
They've discovered new things, got a life lesson,
They’ll come back home and will feel progression.
If you're interested in learning to rap, or one of our many additional programs and events, write to us for more information about studying with Kaplan!