A Short Letter Home: I'm going to sing you a song

Sunday, October 16, 2005

I'm going to sing you a song

Well, not really. I did sing, though, the other night when Yau Neih had her first English corner. I mean, sure, we've both helped out at English corners before, but this was Yau Neih's first turn at running the show.

During our training, we learned about the whole concept of English corner and were encouraged to start one when we started teaching. Well, when we got here, we discovered that there were two English corners already established--one at the college and one in the community. Like I mentioned, we've helped out at both. Anyway, I don't know where the idea originated but this past Friday we started a new English corner, focusing on English songs and dances. (either Yau Neih was determined to have her own corner or Michael suggested that she stick to her original plan to start a new corner)

The new corner's debut was fraught with stress. We had our usual Friday responsibilities, of course, and then we had to enact a last minute plan to write up the song lyrics on paper rather than a chalkboard. (A good idea since the chalkboards are always covered with messages we can't read. You never quite know what you're erasing.) This required us to run out and get some large paper and a marker. Then, to further complicate matters, Yau Neih ran out with our neighbors in an attempt to get some more bread made. (more on that in another post) This didn't happen until late afternoon and come 5:30--an hour before showtime--she had still not returned home. Fortunately she had planned an extremely easy supper and I was able to start making dinner. A bit before 6:00 pm she showed up and we were able to gobble up our spaghetti and make it to the corner on time.

When we got to the corner, only a few students seemed to be waiting. We had no clue about how many would actually show up. She had scheduled the corner for Friday night, in part because we didn't want to draw students away from the more academic and perhaps less entertaining English corners. For those we've been getting as many as 75 participants. So upon arriving at corner, it seemed that the turnout would be on the low end of our expectations. Oh, well. I went and fetched a big stack of stools anyway and started setting them up. We started with around ten students, Michael, Siu Wan and myself. Yau Neih started with a couple of kiddie songs: "Hello There" and "The More We Get Together". As we sang, more folks joined in. Whether they were latecomers or just passers by, I don't know. We were up to around 25-30 when Yau Neih started in on the first verse of "Scarborough Fair". I know, it's not the simplest English song to teach, but we have heard the tune wafting from a few places around here. The students picked up on the tune right away and we could pretty much just jump right into singing the song. After "Scarborough Fair", she then taught the first verse of "River of Jordan". That one ran a bit awkward, having a less regular rhythm. It was one we had performed at the Mid-Autumn festival party, and the kids seemed to like it when we sang it. Or maybe they were just being polite.

After "Jordan", we then got up for the dancing portion of the program. I have yet to discover what sort of reputation American culture has in these parts, but I can assure you, we did our best to degrade that reputation. Yau Neih started with "The Hokey Pokey", which amused the participants and confused the onlookers. (By the way, our numbers had grown to about 40.) After that she led the group in "London Bridge" and "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes". (I don't know how much English the former teaches, but the latter does cover a number of anatomical terms.) Finally, she taught some circle dance that involved a lot of direction.

After the dancing we settled down and she told that classic tale, "The Gingerbread Man". Actually, the students' love of stories was something she had discovered in class. (What possessed her to attempt this in class, I don't know.) Likewise here, everyone seemed to enjoy the tale. I did resist the temptation to point out that the way I had heard it, it was a little old lady and little old man who brought this creature into existence. We can always save literary criticism for a later corner. Anyway, after the G-man met his fate, we gave "Scarborough Fair" and "River a Jordan" another go through, and then ended the evening with "Good Night, Ladies."

So ended our first musical English corner. Actually the music twist seems like one of those divine coincidences. Yau Neih had taken up teaching Musikgarten to pay for her Master's Degree, and had no idea that the skills picked up there would have any use outside of a Musikgarten class. But then again, I suppose that just goes to show that any sort of education can prove useful. (Though I still have my reservations about teaching "The Hokey Pokey.")