Guanshan 2010 Christmas Performance

It all started a couple of monthes ago. Guanshan's principal wants me to do 2 big events each year. We decieded on a Performance in the FALL/Winter and a Competition in the SPRING/SUMMER. As I started to plan what each class would be doing, I tried to keep in mind that the students English ability is limited and I wanted them to feel confident in what they were doing. We had 3 weeks to prepare (3- 40 minute class periods) plus the time we put in before school during the breaks, lunch time and after school. It has been a busy month to say the least. From the minute I woke up in the morning (5:30am) it was go time. The only time I sat down during the day was on the train and driving to and from the train station. The rest of the time was spent teaching, tutoring, making costumes, powerpoint slides, decorating for the gym, in meetings, the list goes on and on...
... and it all ended yesterday! 15 of the 20 classes that I teach preformed (K-1st just came to watch.) Overall the students did good. We had a few minor problems (one student decieded to tear down the Christmas chain an hour before the show began, the chairs were set up...ummm... not like we talked about so a mad rush to change them, powerpoint decided to not work mid-way through a performance, etc.) However, the feed back today has been positive the students are really loving and ... FUN. There smiles make all the work of the last 4-5 weeks worth it.
Here are some pictures from the performance.


One of the 4th grade classes doing Santa Claus is Coming to town! They were so cute! I told them if they didn't sing loud enough that I would slowly turn the music down and so we could hear them. They were the loudest group of the bunch!


One of the 5th grade classes doing an Acrostic Poem (A poem were each letter stands for something related to the word. ex. M is for Magi, E is for Eggnog, R is for Rudolph, etc.) They did a great job at memorizing their lines. They were so cute because every time one of them finished they looked at me as though they were asking, "Was that ok?" I gave them all a thumbs up, of course!


One of my favorites! A forth grade class doing THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY! They were really good but the drums kindof drowned out their voices but I know that they could do it.



The Chinese English Teacher "Teacher Humi" and I doing the MC... if you know me... you would know how much I really hate this. However, for the first time I wasn't in the least bit nervous. I see all these kids and teachers everyday... so no big deal even if there were 600 people there.



Another 4th grade class singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I had to lecture this class a few times for being... naughty but in the end they did really good. I love this picture because of the student's whose hat is sticking straight up and the boys wearing the reindeer hats (which they were all really excited to do (I thought I would have to beg.))