{First published May 31, 2014] "We want you to sing with us in the singing contest," one of my Business English students told me.
"Well...., sure I will," I said, preening inwardly. No wonder they asked me, I think to myself. I've done a little impromptu singing in the classroom and they know I've got a good voice.
"We get more points if a teacher is on stage with us."
"Oh. Okay."
The students at my school appear to have lots of extra-curricular activities and interests, but in some cases they are not given a choice. The language major students were challenged to hold a singing contest and to perform a song in the language they were studying -- English, French or Korean.
Coerced or not, the students took the contest seriously and spent many hours rehearsing their song, "Cry on My Shoulder," an English pop song sung by Dutch singers, which is very popular in Asia...
"Well...., sure I will," I said, preening inwardly. No wonder they asked me, I think to myself. I've done a little impromptu singing in the classroom and they know I've got a good voice.
"We get more points if a teacher is on stage with us."
"Oh. Okay."
The students at my school appear to have lots of extra-curricular activities and interests, but in some cases they are not given a choice. The language major students were challenged to hold a singing contest and to perform a song in the language they were studying -- English, French or Korean.
Coerced or not, the students took the contest seriously and spent many hours rehearsing their song, "Cry on My Shoulder," an English pop song sung by Dutch singers, which is very popular in Asia...
Business English class won first prize but I doubt it was because I was standing on stage with them. As it turned out, my microphone didn't work so another quick-thinking soloist had to take over my part. I think the thing that really won it for them is that they brought in a ringer -- a beautiful dancer who performed a duet with another student as we sang. I'm pretty sure she's not a student from my class.
If that sounds shocking that I wouldn't know if she's a student of mine or not, I should explain that there are at least ten students on the class list who have never come to class. I'm told that some of them don't go to any classes. I met some students for the first time during rehearsal ("Nice to meet you, I'm your teacher!") and later saw four of them in the administration office, copying out page after page of Chinese characters as punishment for not attending classes -- another thing that I doubt Western students would submit to.
If that sounds shocking that I wouldn't know if she's a student of mine or not, I should explain that there are at least ten students on the class list who have never come to class. I'm told that some of them don't go to any classes. I met some students for the first time during rehearsal ("Nice to meet you, I'm your teacher!") and later saw four of them in the administration office, copying out page after page of Chinese characters as punishment for not attending classes -- another thing that I doubt Western students would submit to.
| That said, I know all my students' faces but am still struggling with some names. In addition to the song contest, the show opened with the beautiful dancers shown in the photo at the beginning of this post, and finished with some break-dancing. Here is just a small excerpt of their performance, which I thought was very clever and enthusiastic. They danced to both Western and Chinese music. | |
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