English Fair

Several months ago, my bosses Sister Catharina and the junior high school dean asked me for a favor. Sheng Kung was to participate in the annual Tainan City English Fair. The theme they were assigned by the government was "Popular Culture" with a suggestion that we do something about hip-hop. Since I'm the youngest teacher by 5 years teaching at the school, they decided I would be the best person to do this project.
I tenatively said yes and immediately came to regret my decision. They told me very little at first and I had none of the official documents to go off of. They also told me I could use however many students I wanted, but didn't give me any other guidance. Fortunately, I found one of the sophomore English teachers and she helped me recruit some students.
From then, it was like every week there was some new requirement, or something I had to write, or voodoo ritual I had to perform just to keep the project going. I was thoroughly fed up with the administration by the time the day arrived. Fortunately, the girls involved were very high spirited and motivated.


The actual fair was quite large and lively. Each junior high school in the city had a booth (around 15 or 16) with various themes ranging from archery to knot-tying to rowing. At our booth, the girls taught the students how to do a short hip-hop dance while I tried to educate them about the history and culture of hip-hop.


Unfortunately, most of the students that visited our booth couldn't have cared less. You see, the city, in all it's infinite wisdom, issued each student a "passport" that they needed to get "stamped" at each booth in order to get a prize. So, the students would show up, demand stamps, and then leave. It was like pulling teeth for them to even stick around for a moment. I grew increasingly frustrated, but fortunately, my students kept smiling and dancing and trying their best to involve the truculent and recalcitrant junior high students. Through their efforts, at least some students had a good time and I certainly enjoyed myself.


Once the long day was over, I helped take down some of the decorations and then went home and took a long nap.
For all their hard work and dealing with manifold problems with the utmost of class, confidence, and charm, a big THANK YOU to:
Anny, Lynn Lo, Jessie, Talia, Lynn Yung, Navia, Vicky, Jill, Claire, Leanne, Elsa, and Elaine.