The Big Bad Readers Theater

    I was asked by Sunny (Chen Chu-Kuei) to visit Guang-Zhen Junior High School in Dali on September 22 to review their presentation for the 2017 October Readers' Theater contest. Sunny had chosen a scrip herself and most of the children from the 2016 troupe that did "Child Labour" participated.  The theme of the production, “The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig” was not to stereotype and or build a wall around yourself when you've been hurt before. 

      When I returned on September 29, I saw that they had taken my suggestions  and added some musical interludes to their Readers Theater production. Despite having chosen the script, the deep theme  was unrealized by the staff and troupe; it merely seemed cute. I explained what I thought it meant and added comical tones to the production. 
     I was surprised on my first visit by the ten teachers that had come to see the rehearsal; I made my suggestions in public and it felt awkward; the confidentiality was lost. Instead of focusing on the children, I had to consider the teachers' opinions and see their facial expressions. It was a distraction and unnecessary  at that stage of the production. The children had higher expectations put on them since they had done so well in the competition the year before. 
     The Sam the Sham song The Hair on My Chinny Chin Chin holds it together with a modified chorus repeated twice and a coda with a moral modified verse: “If you want to let a new love start don’t build a brick house around your heart or we’re gonna keep coming around till we huff and puff and blow your little house down.” They bow out at the end. 
     There are still unnecessary roles (like a flamingo that sells bricks) that will be noticed and may be confusing to the judges. My suggestion of throwing confetti to represent flower petals and bouquet air freshener spray for a lasting impression might be a winner. I tried to bring out the nuance and body language of the construction material truck driver screeching to a halt hearing the wolves calling for supplies and other latent hooks. 

     I'm not sure if the props or song excerpt was used in their

presentation; we were gone to the States and not available for further consultation. I learned later on that the troupe didn't place in the finals but I am sure that they must have tried hard and practiced; Sunny is an inspiration. I only wonder if the convoluted story may have been its drawback. In any case, the experience of preparing for an English Readers Theater  for Taiwanese students cannot be beat for motivation. Like the Sam the Sham follow-up to the "Little Red Riding Hood" hit, it was too fat for its own good. 

A Winner Lost in Taiwan

     I met Cindy a few years ago when I was asked by teacher Sunny (Chen Chu-Kuei) to visit Guang-Zhen Junior High School, to assist her students interested in performing in Taiwan's Readers Theater contest. I remember Cindy well; she was the troupe member that needed the most persuasion that the skit chosen would win. I worked mostly with them on intonation and body language. She was narrator one. 

      On 2-2-18, Sunny wrote she  was so happy that they could see me again  at Guang Zhen Junior High School on February 7 to help a student participate in a speech contest. She attached three scripts to the letter and asked if I could help them correct or rewrite the scripts "to make them more persuasive or touching." She reminded me that each speech could not be longer than 3.5 minutes.

     I thanked her for inviting me to assist her students in the recitation contest. I agreed that a winning entry begins with a good essay. I told her the three she had sent me were all problematic in the same way: none of them had an introduction, body, or conclusion in the standard English format. The topics of all three were good per se but all needed revision.  I thought the essay dealing with the flower expo had the most content to start with. 

        By February 5th, I had finished editing the three typical Taiwan essays for the recitation contest her school was joining. I would go to her school that Wednesday to coach some children.  
     Cindy, who was an actor in the last two Readers’ Theater at Sunny’s school, was there at the meeting. In a quiet room, Sunny, Cindy and I sat and went over the essay.  Cindy had to memorize three essays not knowing which one the committee would assign her at the contest in March. 

  Together, there was further revision to do. The final okay would be Cindy's since she would be reading it. Sunny tried to rewrite some paragraphs because she thought when people didn't like something, like a flower expo, we could still use it as a promotion;  the contrast would be fun. Cindy listened in and said nothing as Sunny discussed the content of the three revised essays with me. 
     Sunny questioned a few sentences in each revision because she thought it was contrary to the ideas. For example, she thought when I wrote “cheer elders brought to the flower expo" it meant old people would be chanting a cheer!  Also, she thought it weird that school children would be motivated by elders, elders they probably would find annoying. But the biggest concern was the length of the essays; all had to be read in less than three and a half minutes. I read them aloud and it was taped for her to review; all were within time limits, but Cindy might want to read more slowly. I reminded Sunny and Cindy that, like Lego blocks, examples could be removed or even a ‘big idea’ paragraph to shorten the piece. It was up to them. 

    On March 16th, Sunny texted me with good news: Cindy won third place in the competition! I was thrilled but Sunny was upset that she didn’t win first place; she blamed it on the backwardness of the Taiwanese judges; they didn’t like the student’s body language. I had warned them about prejudice against Western essay technique and recitation delivery but this was ridiculous. Initially I wanted to follow up on this, but the decision was final. Taichung City English Speech Contest Group B had 22 groupings participating. Cindy did very well considering. 

Ways to Promote Taichung World Flora Exposition

Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman. My topic is “Ways to promote Taichung's World Flora Exposition.” With the World Flora Exposition opening later this year, I've been thinking about how to make Taiwanese and people from all over the world recognize the beauty coming to Taichung. How can we catch people's eyes and keep them coming on weekdays and focused when the day is done? Here are my opinions:                                                      

First, let’s think about how to catch people’s eyes on the Expo. Yes! “Curiosity.” If we can persuade the USA to turn the torch in the hand of Statue of Liberty into a bunch of flowers, that would turn some heads our way. Turn the Eiffel Tower into a vase with flowers sprouting atop until France and the whole world turns its attention to Flora Expo. Let's spread advertisements far and wide and the spotlight is sure to follow. That will catch people's eyes.

We must spread the news through the internet. Foreigners will easily get messages through Facebook, Instagram, WeChat, Twitter and other social media. So, it is a good idea to invite the world to the Expo through it. I suggest we start a trend; invite people to write invitations on their hands; draw some cute pictures on them and write down "Welcome to Taichung's World Flora Expo.” Imagine flowers blooming virally all over the internet with thousands of people waving "welcome" back at you! I’m sure it will draw a huge crowd of foreigners to Taichung's Flora Expo.

But what happens when that weekend crowd at the Exposition Parks becomes intolerable? How about week day tours? But on weekdays, who has free time? Without doubt, pensioners and school groups have free time and money. As we know, elders love to spread good morning cheer and teachers love taking their students on trips outside school. So why not design some good morning stickers on Flora Expo for free download? Let the young and old wake up the whole city and everyone can bloom a new weekday in blossoms. What a way to enjoy good morning and promote the Flora Expo!

As we know, flowers bloom and fade. People come and people go. But the Flora Expo goes on! When the day comes to an end, keep the memories in a blog of good stories and photos. With Taichung's Flora Expo, we can have strawberry fields forever!
www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com
Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.

Teacher Training for Readers Theater

     It felt like the Twilight Zone at Chen-Gong Middle School in Da-Li, Taichung on April 10, 2018. I was asked to do a Readers Theater outreach there.  The appointment had been made over a month ago but I had forgotten until the publishing agent called reminding me the day before. If I had remembered, perhaps I would have done a PPT to save paper. Turns out that the projection on the wall was so small, no one could have seen it. It was good I prepared twelve-page kits for the sixteen teachers instead. I was going to promote and ready the teachers to enter their school in the regional English Readers Theater competition in October 2018. It turned out that the EFL teachers with host, Phillip, were not on the same page, or planet, with me or each other. 
    I had an inkling of what I was to be up against when we drove to the school and were turned back at a temporary  entrance for lack of parking; the school was suing a construction company and it had been in a time warp since we visited four years ago. Furthermore, the agent wasn't told exactly what the school wanted me to do with the teachers that afternoon. Walking in, the agent remarked that most teachers there were temps; many may already be beamed up to the mothership for reassignment in June.

     The agent directed us through a maze of walkways to a subterranean lounge that looked like it was in an intergalactic spaceship; a long bar, circular modules hangings from the ceiling, and back-lit cloud outcroppings along the walls.

    We waited for Phillip, a gaunt school-space traveler. He initiated the conversation in  English and described himself as a teacher who'd been at that school for 30 years. 

     When the crew started straggling in, they navigated to seats around the back of the long table, as far from this alien as possible. The first fifteen minutes of my time were taken over by Phillip who had something important to talk over with the teachers. I waited patiently being paid well for my free time.

Child Labour Readers Theater Video

     The DVD I brought to show the "Child Labour" skit I had co-directed two years before couldn't work in the laptop that was provided. It was good I had prepared handouts but didn't know at what stage of preparation they were at or if they had even started. Phillip said the school had done in-house Readers Theater before but couldn't tell me the last time. 
    When I began the workshop, a tall teacher, soon to retire with twenty-five years experience said each class picked the best student and that she had found scripts for them on-line. I asked which script she had chosen but she couldn't say. I could see a disconnect; none of the other teachers corroborated what she said so I filed it and went on.

     At least the teachers  knew what a Readers Theater was; I mentioned it had its origin in the radio dramas of the '30's. I went on to say how it should be conducted as a school event by getting everyone involved with the preparation and   suggested a prospective timeline for the October 2018 show: 1. spend a month with three or four scripts the teachers have and let the students choose in a vote making a big deal out of it. 2. By the middle of May they should start preliminary rehearsals; I offered my services to edit the script down to six minutes. I suggested they get a simple script because that is what the judges preferred. My experience was that scripts with timely topics were unappreciated; content would go over the judges’ heads; better to give the judges what they want.

 I went through the handouts discussing how to motivate the students by asking for their input and  stressed how the journey to the contest,  using  English, was to be  was part of a learning experience, not only a show-winner. Some teachers knew how to get the children on their side; no scolding or telling what to do, but most teachers sat there poker-faced. 

     We were able to get an RT winner on YouTube on the tiny projector screen and started an activity using the judging sheet and scoring rubric but the teachers weren't focused on doing a workshop activity. We went to the copy of the scrip for "Child Labour" and found the video with the chorus of the song we incorporated for the skit; Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It." 
"We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister

 I read the first two scenes and explained suggested delivery in lieu of the unwatchable video.  I stressed school cooperation from all departments; music, P.E., and art. 
Phillip was thankful I came. As the teachers left, two stayed to talk with me.

     The  teachers wanted my e-mail address to keep in touch. I would leave the link to the Readers Theater video with the agent. One teacher had something to say about the changes in RT in the hands of Taiwan Education Department; more theatrical than originally intended. I told her to write to them with her suggestions. Another teacher showed me a Readers Theater script that she is using with her class for a school presentation in May; that was the first I had heard about that. I had no idea why she didn't mention it during the meeting. I told her since she already had a script and troupe,  she should submit it as the school’s entry. 

     I left glad that the school asked me for help and were more interested in RT school effort. I hope there is cooperation. Philip was "old school" to the younger teachers. He had invited me aboard but can this school navigate to the Readers Theater? The sign post up ahead says "Twilight Zone."