Math Teacher Makes Video For Students

Math teacher Carmen Tong sings a parody of the popular Taylor Swift song
Math teacher Carmen Tong sings a parody of the popular Taylor Swift song “Blank Space” as a gift to her classes. Tong has been making music since she was young, taking up singing when she was in college.

Math teacher Carmen Tong does more than just grade papers in her free time.

Tong took Valentine’s Day to a new level for her classes on Friday, Feb. 13. No, she did not pass out chocolates or roses; she brought her guitar and sang her parody version of Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space.”

Her version of the song, titled “Be My Valentine,” was also uploaded to Youtube, his was Tong’s first time creating a video for her students, she has been recording and making covers of songs since 2012. She has played guitar since the age of 15 and sang in an all-female acapella group while in college.

Tong usually tries to do something special for her classes every year. “I was inspired by two things: mainly, one, how awesome my kids are, and two, how catchy “Blank Space” was when I first heard it on the radio a�� so catchy!” Tong said. ” I knew making a music video would take a lot of time and commitment, but I was up for the challenge, and I knew the end result would be epic and so worth it.”

The hard work did not go unnoticed. Senior Nicole Marinucci said, “It was the sweetest thing a teacher has ever done. Like, she wrote a song a�� I can’t even imagine the time commitment that probably took.”

The process of creating the song required Tong to look at the original lyrics, count the number of syllables in each line, then attempt to replace them with her own while trying to make things “rhyme and flow,” she said. Tong gets the ideas for lyrics while she is listening to the original song. “Usually, those creative juices come to me while I’m driving.”

Tong has performed for her classes for other occasions as well. “It’s like, ‘how cool, I’ve got a singing teacher.’ It made class fun and exciting knowing that [Tong] would sing to us,” said senior Jordyn Garcia, a former student of Tong’s.

As for out-of-school performances, Tong has played anywhere from talent shows to coffee houses and even once at a wedding.

Tong isn’t sure what musical project she will take on next but said, “We’ll see what fun pop songs our favorite artists come up with this summer or fall.”