Thursday, November 14, 2019

Going Bananas at Da-Yung Elementary School



Day-O Banana Song

相關圖片

     The morning of November 15, 2019 at the elementary school couldn't have been better. The children were amazing, the staff and principal were cordial, Leona helped me set up, and Simone, Samantha, and Ted had a great time. Samantha was so cute sitting down on the auditorium floor in front of the classes brought in for the assembly program I conducted about "Bananas".  Ted took some fabulous photos of his daughter schmoozing with the students. Samantha was happy and the children loved seeing the
 

yang-wa-wa with me. The program went over without a hitch. The children sang their three-part "Day-O" pretty well and had a ball. The first group of perhaps five hundred first to third graders randomly had seventeen go onto the stage with white boards to answer questions about bananas; a correct single word answer earned them a candy. The second group of three hundred forth to sixth graders sang "Day-O", too and participated in a panel of experts’ two seventeen-student groups but had to write complete sentence answers to my questions. The second group also heard my "Jack and the Banana Stalk" story ad libbed with a twist in the plot that surprised me, too; the giant banana that grew from the plant Jack traded for with his cow harvested slices of banana that were gold coins. At the close of the assembly, the principal awarded me with a certificate and a gift bag. We took group photos and everyone was happy. Simone and Ted got an excellent example of what I do for the publisher on outreach assignments. 

Lyrics: 

Day o! Day o!
Daylight come and me wanna go home
Day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day o
Daylight come and me wanna go home

Work all night on a drink a rum
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)
Stack banana till the morning come
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)

Come mister tally man tally me banana
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)
Come mister tally man tally me banana
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)

Lift six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)
Six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)

Day, me say day o
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)
Day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)

A beautiful bunch of ripe banana
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)
Hide the deadly black tarantula
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)


Lift six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)
Six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)

Day, me say day o
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)
Day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)

Come mister tally man tally me banana
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)
Come mister tally man tally me banana
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)

Day! Day o!
(Daylight come and me wanna go home)
Day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day, me say day o

(Daylight come and me wanna go home)

Sing Along

Group 1
Day-O, Day-O

Group 2

Daylight comes and we want to go home

Group 3

six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch


1. Bananas are harvested by hand. When the fruit is ripe the stems are cut down and wet sponges are placed in between the bananas to protect them.
2. The bananas are then covered in blue bags to keep insects away. 
3. Then they are carried by cable across the fields to be washed and packed.
4. The banana is a perennial plant that replaces itself. Bananas do not grow from a seed but from a bulb or rhizome.
5. It takes 9 to 12 months from sowing a banana bulb to harvesting the fruit. ... The plants need rich, dark and fertile soils with steady moisture in the air and ground and good drainage.
6. Home growers will harvest the fruit 7-14 days prior to ripening on the plant. Once they know that it is time for banana tree harvesting, they use a sharp knife and cut the “hands” off.
7. Exposure to light after harvest makes banana skin brown. Therefore, the fruit should be protected from light.
8. Harvesting bananas at night would be the best way to limit their exposure to light.

Jack and the Banana Stalk

There was a boy named Jack. Jack's mother had no money. She gave Jack a cow and told him to sell it at the market. He sold the cow for a banana stalk. He brought it home and put it in the ground. The next day, the banana stalk grew up to the sky. Jack climbed the stalk and found an eight-foot bunch of bananas at the top. He took one home and cut it into slices. Each slice was a gold coin. 
Copyright © 2019 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

The School that Laid An Egg

o

     I got one more essay to add to my book of  Winning Essays yesterday as I edited a recitation for a young man named Oscar from a middle school in Hu-Wei, Taiwan. Someone adapted the Crocodile and Hen folktale, relatives because they both lay eggs, and how the hen saves her life by reminding her predator to this fact of nature; they are brother and sister. The story was solid but it didn't flow or rhyme until I started editing it. There are only a few weeks left before the contest but if Oscar listens to the story as i read and recorded and mimics me, it is only his diction and body language that would get in the way of his winning. 
「The Crocodile and the Hen」的圖片搜尋結果     Why, in the name of English gnomes, don't teachers realize that, no matter how well they did in Taiwan universities, it is imperative to have a native speaker review a work before committing it to a student to memorize? Here I am, at their service, free of charge whether or not they buy textbooks from the publishing agent that contacts me, but they wait until it is too late to do anything about it. They sabotage their students' chances of doing well, perhaps even winning a contest? 
     So, here it is, for anyone who wishes to share it with their charge, my edited version of "The Alligator and the Hen":


            Good morning dear judges and fellow students. The story I will share with you is “Why a crocodile does not eat a Hen.” A long time ago, a hen went down to the bank of a river to look for food. A nearby crocodile noticed her. The crocodile decided to hunt the hen. Off he went in the river singing a song to himself. It went something like this:
“Chu-chun-chun-chun-chun
Chu chun-chun-chun-chun
I’m going on a hen hunt
I’m gonna catch a big one
What a beautiful day
I’m not afraid to say.”
            He stuck his big head out of the water and opened his mouth wide to eat the hen, but the hen saw him and cried out, “Brother, please don’t eat me!”
            The crocodile was so surprised that – SNAP! – he closed his big jaws shut. He was confused. He wondered to himself, “Why did the hen call me ‘brother’? She is not in my family. I am a crocodile and she is a hen.” As the hen waddled away, he promised himself, “Tomorrow I will be back to eat her.”
            The next day the crocodile set off singing the song to himself:
“Chu-chun-chun-chun-chun
Chu chun-chun-chun-chun
I’m going on a hen hunt
I’m gonna catch a big one
On this beautiful day
I won’t be fooled this way.”
            He stuck his big head out of the water looking for the hen. He saw her and said, “Hey hen, today I’m going to swallow you down in one gulp!” He opened his mouth wide but the hen spoke up again.
            “Brother, please don’t eat me,” and waddled away. Once again – SNAP – the crocodile closed his big mouth. He was mad at himself. “Why did I let the hen go? She cannot be a member of my family! I’m going to find her right now and eat her up once and for all!”
            The crocodile got out of the river looking for the hen. On the way, he met his friend, the lizard, who asked, “Crocodile, is something bothering you?”
            “Listen, lizard. I have a problem. Every day a fat little hen comes down the riverbank for food. She looks sooooo delicious that my mouth starts to water but just when I open my mouth to gobble her up, she says, ‘Brother, don’t eat me!’ Why do you think she keeps calling me ‘brother’?”
            “Oh, that’s easy,” said the lizard. “Ducks lay eggs. Turtles lay eggs. I lay eggs. You lay eggs. Hens lay eggs.” So in this way, we are all brothers and sisters.
            “Hmmm, I didn’t realize that. Aw shucks!” He started to go back home but with a different song that went like this:
“Chu-chun-chun-chun-chun
Chu chun-chun-chun-chun
I’m not going on a hen hunt
I’m not gonna catch one
What a day!
I’m not glad today.”
            To this day, even though the hen looks very delicious, when she comes down to the riverbank, the crocodile does not eat her.


            Thanks you for listening. I hope you liked the story. Have a good day.
Copyright © 2019 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.


Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Workplaces & Occupations



Green Sings:
 Zum zum zum zum
zum zum zum

Red Sings: 
Working working working working

Orange Sings:
Zum gali-gali-gali, zum gali-gali 
Zum gali-gali-gali, zum gali-gali 

Blue Sings:
We are working working along
We are singing, singing a song




Question: Where does a pharmacist work?
Answer: She works in a drug store.

Question: Who works in a drug store?
Answer: A pharmacist works in a drug store.

Question: Where is a drug store?
Answer: A drug store is next to a gas station
(next to **, between*+* , across from =)