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Published: August 19th 2006
It might seem a
little overdone, but here in Taiwan there seems to be a celebration for everything - especially in terms of school. The first graduation ceremony a child will ever attend is that from kindergarten. This is what I had been preparing for, for MY class, since April.
Basically, a coworker and I had to write, produce and direct a play for my kids to perform for their parents on the big day.
What we had decided on was a rendition of “Pinocchio” - hoping that the story would be familiar enough to those parents who can’t speak English. A lot of my kids are the first generation of English speakers in their families, so it was important to take that into account.
This was the beginning of a slight nightmare….
Well, I shouldn’t say slight. It was a full-on nightmare. I had no idea how important this graduation was. I mean, I NEVER graduated from anything that young (oh…except from Brownies - but even then, a few streamers and half-filled balloons were taped to the school gym and voila!) Here, on the other hand, the very reputation of the school is at stake - so
The Cast
You're right. There is no shark in 'Pinocchio...but the Narrator's suit got mixed up in the order. He was happier this way. It took 3 people to get him to take it off...- these productions have to be perfect in every sense of the word - in order for parents to feel satisfied with the money they’ve invested in their children’s education.
Needless to say - this was no “bring your own costume from home” affair.
No.
We had a catalogue of expensive costumes to choose from, makeup artists, a sound system, and a really angry Taiwanese woman who seemed to be employed to yell a lot and make innocent children wish they were home-schooled.
Once the play was good-to-go, we choreographed two dances at the end of the show - but we struggled to find children’s songs that went along with the “shouldn’t lie” theme found in Pinocchio. So - we took a risk, and had them do a dance to the Black Eyed Peas song, “Don’t Lie”, (that's a rap group, mom) and hoped it would fly. It turned out to be really great - the kids LOVED the song, and wanted me to play it in class over and over and over… I thought, with all the pressure that anything associated with that play would have them conditioned to cry - but this wasn’t so. Thankfully.
As
the weeks passed, we practiced a lot. Probably too much - but this is what was expected of them. I felt really uncomfortable with the level of pressure and stress put on these 6 and 7 year olds…I often didn’t want to be associated with the methods of memorization these kids had to endure. I kept trying to be the “nice” teacher who would give them more breaks and not be so hard on them if they forgot their lines…I can tell you from experience, it’s not easy explaining to your boss why YOU are wearing Pinocchio’s nose and why there are children spread out in the classroom dancing freely to your own personal mixed CD. Awkward just isn’t a strong enough word….
Sometimes, I would also find myself laughing and / or clapping only to look over my shoulder and discover the other teachers unimpressed (how could they NOT laugh when Gepetto yelled “I have to go to the bathroom” right in the middle of Scene 3?!). Anyway, if anything I think I helped take the edge off.
In the end, I was really proud of how well my kids performed, and surprised at how quickly they learned
Howard & Emily
Gepetto & Cricket and adapted to their situation. They are amazing. I would never be able to sustain that kind of stress even now, let alone when I was six.
Now that these kids have graduated, I have a new kindergarten class. These kids are a level younger (there are 4 tiers of kindergarten at my school) and so, pose new challenges for me- such as teaching them to read, hold a pencil, write, not to eat their school supplies, etc….but I am excited to have them. They are adorable and very susceptible to learning. It should be a great class.
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christie
non-member comment
you are hilarious...
hi reebs - the journal is too funny..i especially liked this one - the pics of you and the kids are so cute. i am sure that you are a natural teacher, and i can tell that you are really great with them. p.s. i MISS everything asian...too bad someone doesn't slip me a ticket to taiwan...KIDDING :):):) i would have loved to come visit. talk soon* cj.