After teaching at a Chinese university for 10 months, I got to hang out with a younger group of students yesterday. A teaching colleague took me to her daughter’s elementary school for Children’s Day, when the kids put on a show for their parents.
Each class staged its own performance. The third-graders I watched sang, danced, recited poetry and did magic tricks as their proud parents applauded and took a million pictures and videos on their cell phones. Actually, I should say mothers instead of parents because there was only one father in the room.
All the children wore red bandannas around their necks and red T-shirts decorated with either Snoopy or a popular Japanese cartoon character. Cathy, my teaching friend, told me the students also wear the red shirts every Monday for a ceremonial raising of the Chinese flag.
The children were very well behaved. They promptly and precisely followed the directions of their teacher and their class monitor, the student leader who coordinated the program. There was no screaming, squirming or running around the room. It was like a professional show put on by pint-size performers.
One of my favorites was a kung fu exhibition by a Mighty Mite in a fluorescent yellow uniform. He showcased some serious moves that drew oohs and aahs from the audience. Another crowd-pleaser was a Latin-flavored dance by four colorfully costumed girls.
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Like most Americans in China, I sometimes draw stares from people unaccustomed to seeing Westerners. But I’ve never gotten more puzzled looks than I did on Children’s Day. Not only was I the only Westerner in the school, but I was one of the only men and definitely not one of the parents. After a while, though, most of the kids smiled at me and a few even said hello, which may have been the only English word they knew.
After the show, we walked downstairs to the lobby and checked out the student artwork displayed on the walls. The “dream’’ theme inspired pictures of animals, boats and flowers, along with paper cutouts of butterflies. It took a while, but Cathy finally found her daughter’s drawing, which featured flowers, a tree, a bird, the sun, clouds, a decorative knot and two children saluting the Chinese flag.
I’m glad they didn’t ask me to draw one of my dreams. It would have scared the children away.
