On May 12, 2017, an agent representing Sheng Kang publisher asked me to give presentations at two middle schools in Yunlin County, Taiwan on Wednesday, June 7; one forty-five minute class in the morning and three in the afternoon. He vaguely said the school wanted me to talk about music, but I had a better idea; a power-point presentation I called "My American Musical Experience." It was to be based on a combination of songs I use in the Bread & Roses and Community Curricula. So long as there was internet access, I could use YouTube videos that accompanied the songs and have lyric sheets, too. In between songs, I would chat about the content with reported speech questions and answers. At the end of class, I would hold board contests to review the program. The plan was over-ambitious and I changed course immediately.
Yunlin (雲林縣) is the poorest county in Taiwan. Most of the residents are farmers and, aside from a High Speed Rail station, there are few big city lights. Instead, there are communities such as Bei-Gang (北港 Pei-Kang) and Tu-Ku (土庫) and Hu-Wei (虎尾) spread far between acres of pomelo, papaya, muskmelon, and rice paddies on the Chianan Plain.
The area was important to the seventeenth century Dutch colonists that had a castle in Ponkan (modern day Bei-Gang) but today the county is depressed in many ways: it is well-known for 75% of Taiwan's land subsidence which, in part, caused the HSR line through Yunlin to sink causing reduced-speed over the roller-coaster effect, and many industries, such as sugar cane processing plants, closed down; the total debt of the economy is NT $64.8 billion. Furthermore, due to Formosa Plastics' plant at Mai-Liao and the islands third largest coal-fired power plant, it has Taiwan's worst air pollution. The public schools are old and the children are at risk.
Link to power point "My Musical American Experience"
When I planned the presentation, I intended to make it entertaining and relevant as well as give the children a glimpse into my upbringing in one of the greatest cities of the world, New York:
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| One of Taiwan's oldest Matsu Temples in Bei-Gang |
1. Introduction: My Childhood -A: “On The Good Ship
Lollipop” – Shirley Temple, B: "Take Me Out to the Ballgame")
2. School and Child Abuse -YouTube video-song lyrics C: “Luka”
– Suzanne Vega, D: "Allentown" -Billy Joel
3. New York City – E: “New York” Alicia Keys. Then play YouTube
video “Coney Island” slide; (Background and lyric songs F: “Under the Board Walk” –The Drifters, and G : “Summer in the City” Lovin’ Spoonful)
4.
Social Awareness: H: “Monster” - Steppenwolf
5.
Love & Family – I: “Our House”
Crosby Stills & Nash, J: “Sunrise,
Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof.
Each
section of power-point music was to be seven minutes long with ten minutes left for the discussion and review contest. I would stop and ask the children questions about what they have seen and heard. I would at the end prompt the students to
go to the board and write responses. It took twelve hours over two weeks to create the power point presentation, a musical autobiography; four 45 minute presentations. I was going to feel like a broken record
when I was done. The new power point would be augmented by sections of two older presentations on my life and New York City, even background music through a smart phone, amplified by X-Mini if
a CD playing system was not available. I sent the publishing agent, Jerry, the booklet of ten song lyric sheets to copy and distribute to the students and was raring to go. I had the songs cued up on my smart
phone and my wife would push the buttons.
The lesson plan I made for Bei-Gang and Tu-Ku
Middle Schools in Yunlin wasn’t used except in the last of the five classes.
It was a long day, being picked-up by Jerry at eight o’clock for the ninety minute drive south, shuttled between two schools in Yunlin, one non-air-conditioned, in 95 degree heat, getting home after five o’clock.
The program started with a class in a
baking non-air conditioned room at Bei-Gang middle school, a school probably
built in the ‘70’s and never updated; they still had the old wood desks. Marina
met us at the gate and was very gracious in talking with us about what she
thought, yet too apologetic for the students who, in this poor out-of-the way
community, weren’t as good in EFL as big city kids, she said. Lyric booklets were
distributed to the thirty students, the internet was set up in the classroom,
and I went on-line for the power point, getting two songs into it when Jerry sent my wife the wish that I interacted more with the students.
I
was a bit upset that I had been mislead into making a musical program, against my better judgment in preparing entertainment instead of education. I shut the computer program after “Luka” and instead wrote a matrix for group competition on the chalkboard; I used the ‘childhood’ theme as a base for
a quick intro into reported speech yes/no question and answers and the students had useful practice the remaining thirty minutes.
After the class, I was escorted to another
room to meet other students for an abbreviated fifteen minute group competition with reported speech. The lyric booklets that Jerry created weren't handed out. After saying goodbye to the children and Marina, we left the school to have lunch.
At lunch I chatted with Jerry about different
matrix useful in Cooperative Learning (CL) practice of textbook material, and told him I would demonstrate at the next school. Parents and educators in Taiwan have an issue with creative contests and activities in the classroom and prefer grammar based rote memorization, repetition, and tests, so the sound idea of exposure, practice, and revision hasn't been useful in correcting Taiwan's long-standing dereliction of English as a foreign language.
Jerry
drove us to Tu-Ku Middle School on the other side of Yunlin in the shadow of the
HSR and Highway #3. This school had a new wing to the original ‘70’s
building with air-conditioned rooms. I was given three groups. I modified my methodology based on equipment and material available. For example, the first class of students had no EFL textbooks having discarded them the last day of regular classes, so I did a group competition of reported speech.
The second class of students had six textbooks between them. I forged ahead
with a "Racetrack" matrix. However, the thirty students were
reluctant to participate; I muscled them into it despite cramped quarters on the chalkboard platform isolated from the class by two desks and a podium.
The third class - the last of five for
the day - was a class of music program students. Given the choice of reported speech competition, “NYC in 7
Days” or “Musical Experience.” they opted for the third, naturally. I can’t
say I wasn’t pleased to finally use the power point and songs I had prepared, but
there was one problem: the computer in their room was broken.
The students hurriedly exchanged rooms
with a class next door that had internet and I commenced the program, the only
problem being one tiny trebled speaker for the musical selections. I began with the PP introduction, “My Life,” from “Read the World,” then, the lyric booklets were
distributed. As the students watched the YouTube videos, I did
a bilingual commentary and translation. They got the gist of the relevancy
of the tunes for the topics and enjoyed the
music.
The inclusion of “Allentown” was important in sight of the shuttered
factory we had seen in their community earlier in the day but “Monster,” American history in five minutes, was irrelevant to them so I edited it to have time for the “New York City in 7 Days” power point starting with Alicia Keys“New
York,” an MTV song they really enjoyed. We went through the other slides quickly stopping only to show YouTube videos of the Staten Island Ferry, and Coney Island's Cyclone, Wonder Wheel, and Parachute Jump.
These rural schools rarely have visits from foreign teachers. The children were eager and motivated to learn English but my visit was a drop in the rusty bucket if The Department of Education doesn't modify their pedagogy and course requirements. In this way, the privileged students in big city schools suffer English just as much from poor planning.
At the end of the day, my wife was showing symptoms of heat stroke. I had drunk five bottles of water to keep hydrated and tolerated the stress of moving from room
to room and school to school, adjusting the programs, and adapting to the
classroom environments, not to mention the personalities of over a hundred hot
and tired students, three classes seniors who had graduated
and thrown out their textbooks. It was fun for me and the students enjoyed
themselves, too, and learned something. My goodbye message to them was to practice speaking and
reporting speech in English with friends over the summer and not rely on teachers
or textbooks to do it for them.
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