Today, the Andeok students had the opportunity to showcase their talents. Much like the talent shows that I used to have when I was young, the students spent every bit of their free time planning and practicing their performances for today’s talent show (they called it their ‘School Festival’). For one month, each grade prepared a comedy, dance, or was extra creative and thought out-of-the-box for the show. The students also had the chance to put their individual talents on display.
As I entered the bustling gymnasium, I saw display after display of student artwork, informational posters, and classroom projects. The room was alive with raw talent, exceptional skill, and vibrant, rich colours.
The afternoon began with a video containing a slideshow of photos, video clips, and teacher interviews. The teacher interviews dealt with the votes that the students had made, labeling the teachers as ‘the teacher who was the most sensitive’, ‘the teacher who had the most polite etiquette’, ‘the teacher who was spoiled the most when she was young’, ‘the teacher whom the male students wanted to date the most’, and so on.
Then the performances began.
Middle School Grade 2
Wow. One of most original performances I’ve seen yet. The students were dressed in all black, except for the pristine white gloves on their hands. Each holding a poster painted with neon paint, letters, words, and pictures were depicted on the stage. With the use of a black light, the students moved their hands and posters along to the words of an English song, followed by a Korean one. With their hands, they presented scenes of birds flying up and away, a face, tearing up, people walking in a park… It must’ve been resourceful to have the art teacher as their supervisor. Towards the end of the song, they held up sentences, pleading for the teachers’ panel (which I was on) to choose them for 1st place. How charming :).
***
High School Grade 1
The second act was a comedy. The students, fully dressed in traditional Korean wear of the opposite sex, performed a well-known Korean play about an elderly husband and wife, of whom, the husband leaves with a younger woman. It was hilarious…
***
Middle School Grade 3
Using a common improvisation technique, four students wore red, blue, yellow, and white, full bodysuits and oriented themselves to become pieces of furniture and everyday household items. The act showed a husband teaching his wife (a male student dressed in a apron) about how to clean properly. Some of the scenes were so intense, that they had the audience of parents laughing for minutes on end, especially one where the wife opened up a window, split the legs of the blue body-suited student open, and ran her hand an inch within the student’s groin (she was cleaning dust off of a window sill). It was very imaginative. I even got to dance up on the stage as part of the end of the act (Shark-Dragon, one of my students, pulled me up onstage).
***
Middle School Grade 1
By far, the cutest performance I’ve seen. First, the girls came out in baby pink short shorts and spandex t-shirts, dancing to a song by Girls Generation. Minutes later, some boys stepped in, dressed in green suits and top hats, punching the air with their arms, and shaking their little booties. The audience’s gasps only came about when the boys turned around, showing skin-coloured, rubber buttocks that had been sewn onto their pants. Another shriek came from the audience when the remaining boys sauntered onto the stage, wearing the same pink outfits the girls were wearing. They were absolutely adorable.
***
High School Grade 2
A very intricate and superior play, the students portrayed a story about two detectives, following clues to catch a sly, ink-selling conman. It was a nice way to end the class performances.
***
Individual Performances
With dancing skills like no other, and singing voices like professionals, the students outdid themselves, showing off their talents alone, onstage. I didn’t know that they had that in them.
I am so proud to teach such skilled and talented students.
Bravo! I want an encore!
- Jess
No comments:
Post a Comment