On September 26, 2018, I began Readers Theater previews for the impending contest. I met a first-time troupe at Feng-Nan Middle School in Feng-yuan, then three more previews up to the contest at the end of October. Only one troupe, Guang-Zhen M.S., had me hear them before the summer break and updated in July. I went back to see them again for a final rehearsal, and for more than the one hour each of the other three schools gave me.
Feng-Nan Middle School (Sept. 25)
Feng-Nan's "Little Red Hen" script and troupe and two others come to me new; only one of three schools sent me a script to preview, and only a few weeks ago, too late to make any major corrections. Feng-Nan's troupe still hadn't memorized their lines as I modified some. The children's intonation and some pronunciation was off. They had no inflection in their voices or body language; they didn't get the gist of the twist in the plot that the Red Hen was angry her animal friends wanted bread after neglecting to help. Generously, she gave in after scolding them.
Chung-Lun Middle School (Oct. 2)
Another Readers
Theater was previewed on October 2. We were ready to leave at twelve o'clock relaxing a moment before the publishing agent in a van picked us up to bring us there.
Han-Kou Middle School (Oct. 5)
Li-Ming Middle School (Oct. 9)
They save the best for last, and on October 11, I returned to Sunny's school, Guang-Zhen in Dali for the third and final time before the contest in which they won second place.
Copyright © 2019 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.
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