Peter Pan With Chinese Characteristics

Today I had my first lesson with my gifted kids. This was sprung on me in a typically Chinese fashion, it was once mentioned in passing that I’d be team-teaching English club with Christina. When I got the details a few hours before the class would begin, I found out there were actually 2 sections of the same class, and then one of the TAs asked me what I’d be doing for my class play. Class play? Oh yes, I’m meant to be writing one about some “traditional American folktales.”

Um.

The whole thing went a lot better than my last school surprise, because if there’s one thing I love doing with little kids, it’s public humiliation skits! We played some games today, because I had nothing prepared, not being told that I was meant to writing a school play. It went very well, the kids are pretty good at English. Poor Christina isn’t accustomed to the last-minute-ness of Chinese schools, so the whole thing was kind of an ordeal for her. The kids are a dream, though, very creative and excited. My assignment for Monday is convincing the rest of the English department that Peter Pan is a traditional American folktale.

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0 Responses to Peter Pan With Chinese Characteristics

  1. Thanatos says:

    My girlfriend (from New Zealand) was transfixed by the folk-tales of Paul Bunyan. It’s tough to think of common American tales, since most of them seem inapplicably historic or xenophobic (such as the Catskill Dutch-American tales, or myths from Native Americans).

    I think we should write modern American tall tales. I’m going to make one about a programmer who was 15 feet tall, with sixteen arms and a built-in USB port. He’s MY hero!

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