writtensoul [dot] net

Every May, elementary schools from across Yilan County gather to compete in various English activities.  Every school that has a Fulbright ETA placed there is required to participate in at least two of the activities.  These range from Vocabulary King to Reader’s Theatre (reading/acting in English) to Sing/Dance to Improv.  Our school decided to participate in Vocabulary King and Sing/Dance…since my secondary job title is Dance Choreographer at my school.

We decided to dance to “Y.M.C.A.” and the ever-popular “We’re All in this Together” from High School Musical.  It meant a month of practicing at every free moment, literally every free moment (even passing time between classes) to finish the dance and teach the students how to appear like they were singing the song.  Of course, they have no idea what they are singing about because the English is too difficult…but that’s not the point.

The funniest part to me was their outfits!  My LET wanted to make sure that they stuck out on stage—and boy did they!  From matching sparkling vests, pants, and bracelets to crazy colored clown wigs.  It was really quite a sight to see the extents to which Taiwanese schools show their enthusiasm for the study of English.

Unfortunately, I don’t remember ever learning English dressed up as a clown in my boring American childhood.