"Newsies" for Taiwan Solidarity

   
     “To cooperate to the fullest extent with the labor movement and to work for a progressive labor philosophy to awaken in all members a labor consciousness and sense of solidarity with labor.” United Federation of Teachers  (NYC-UFT) Mission Statement 
     So, how does an EFL teacher draw the attention of students in Taiwan where workers' unions are as foreign as English itself? How can we help students in Taiwan achieve their dreams in a harsh and changing workplace? 
     On April 19, 2018, I rode to Shengang Middle School where I conduct conversation enrichment. With the 8th graders, we've been discussing child abuse and oppressive child labor. The week before, an introduction to Kid Blink and the Newsies was  distributed and then we saw the first part of the Disney musical film, "Newsies." 
   The Disney Company is not famous for labor agitation; indeed, they have been at the heart of anti-labor clampdown since Walter himself testified in the McCarthy witch hunts against communists in Hollywood in the '50's; communist being a code word for unionism. But profit is profit and they couldn't let the market that made the anti-child abuse musicals "Oliver," "Annie," and "American Tail" slip through their hands. 
     The film is an entry-level introduction to activism for Taiwanese middle-school students with intermediate EFL skills. Children of families in Taiwan that suffer from underpay and overwork in a union-less work force with a declining standard of living, so much that the birth rate has dropped significantly, need to know this. Foreign teachers must take the lead in helping Taiwanese students  establish a culture of unionism. 

     On March 15, 2018, 107 years after the tragic workplace fire, the 8th grade class wrote and presented summaries about oppressive child labor from an excerpt of Fire at the Triangle Factory. We then read “Joseph Miliauskas: Breaker Boy” from We Were There, Too; Young People in U.S. History. Earlier, they had done a multiple choice on oppressive child labor discussing scenarios through reported speech question and answers. I told the children we would see a movie about such exploited children. They were thrilled to hear that; children love movies. I had tweaked their interest. 

      I handed my assistant the DVD so I could show the trailer and get the kinks out but  I was not going to show the film until every child showed their homework; a short introduction about Fire at the Triangle Factory or “Kid Blink and the Newsies: Bringing Down Goliaths”. After sharing aloud, we begin to watch the Disney musical, Part 1. The children were asked to note actions of the main character, English or Chinese was okay. 

The class then caucused in groups of 4-5 to  write two actions each (present tense) about the film segment. They begin  sentences with a list of time phrases I put on the board (First, Next, Finally) and in cooperative learning,  order the actions, choosing five to write on their team space on the board. I took photos of each board and combined the groups findings (see brainstorm list below) then handed out the list the following week for them to put in order removing redundant and  irrelevant sentences. Once that was done, I continued showing the film and the group work process. 

    I played Part 2 for them yesterday after they began to organize the 37 details they had amassed from part one. Each group brainstormed two more details for the continuing lesson to conclude two weeks from now. At the end of class, the students made compound sentences with "after" and "before" as I showed them how to eliminate the excess pronoun after initial proper noun. They wrote two examples on the board. The silence came when I showed how, with commas, they could go on forever adding to time order details without repeating the subject pronoun. It must have been a revelation to them. I never heard them so quietly listening. 

Newsies: Part One Brainstorm

Order and delete redundant and irrelevant details

___An old man calls all the boys to get up.

___They sing, dress, and go to the sidewalk.

___The Newsies feel the extra profit their bosses take is not good for them.

___The Newsies decide to strike.

___The boys buy newspapers and sell them.

___Newsies have to buy newspapers.

___Newsies sell newspapers to people.

___Jack has stolen food.

___The police chase Jack.

___Jack, Dave, and Les run into a theater.

___They watch a singer in the theater.

___The newspaper bosses want to make more money from the Newsies.

___They wake up early.

___They live in the same place.

___They take some newspapers and sell them.

___The police chase them.

___They sit on the steps.

___Newsies discuss how their newspaper sale profit is getting lower.

___They decide to stop working.

___Newsies buy newspapers to sell.

___The police chase them.

___They run into a theater to see a friend of Jack’s father.

___They go to Jack’s house to meet his family.

___The Newsies go on strike.

___Cowboy teaches Les how to sell newspapers well.

___The police chase Cowboy.

___Cowboy steals food.

___The company increases the price of newspapers.

___Newsies want to get all the Newsies in New York City together.

___There are many boys that sell newspapers in New York City.

___Jack meets two boys, David and his brother, Les, on the street.

___Jack sees a detective so he runs into a theater.

___David and his family celebrate his dad’s birthday.

___The Newsies go on strike.

___The Newsies sell newspapers to make a living.

___Suddenly, the newspaper’s price gets higher.

___Cowboy wants a family.

     For labor solidarity, "Newsies" is the most important film Disney ever released. The film is a pathway into the notion of what a union is; great to show to middle and high school students in Taiwan, most useful because it sneaks up on them and has them on the side of the newspaper boy strikers before they realize they have aligned themselves correctly with class interests designed to raise their social “workers” consciousness while welcoming them to the world of the  English.
      Even at a low-intermediate level of proficiency, this can be done with the use of kinetic activities (contests, cooperative learning, arts and crafts, etc.) and through the media of song and film: a musical named "Newsies." 
www.readingsandridings.jimdo.com
 Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.

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.