Children's Day at a Malaysian School

Raven and me after her performance

Raven, one of my students,  sent me a text several nights ago...

"Teacher, can you come to my school? It's Children's Day and there will be a singing competition and I will be singing."

"I would love to!" I replied.

Several texts later Raven was able to provide an exact address so I could locate the school on Google Maps I arrived at the school at the appointed time and was grateful that Raven, the self-confident, insightful and friendly 8th grader had the foresight to tell me to call her when I arrived and so she could meet me outside. I definitely drew a lot of stares in this mostly Chinese/Malay school and it would have been very difficult for me to garner the courage to walk in alone.

The first hour or so of the assembly was awards. Most of the time I just watched the students and teachers, but I tried to pay attention to the English awards because the MC called students up with both their English classroom names and their Chinese names: Wong Fu Jack Foo, Sing Le Abigail Chin, Fang Ze Frank Fong, etc.

I really enjoyed being a "guest" as I watched the teachers trying to keep their students quiet, respectful, and paying attention all while sitting cross legged on a concrete floor for three hours. It was easy to pick out the "angels" who the teachers are eager to pass on to the next grade. Many of the teachers were wearing those final two weeks of school "tired eyes."

The students sat by grade on the hard concrete floor for the duration of the assembly.

Eventually, the singing competition began. There were about 20 contestants, a mixture of boy and girls, from ages 10 - 14.. It reminded me of any school talent show except the songs were in Chinese and the hand motions accompanying the songs were very pronounced and stylized like Chinese theater. Some of the students really could sing, some could sing but had no rhythm, and still others probably should have been pre-screened by faculty to save some embarrassment. Ah...that's just my "teacher-trying-to-keep-a fragile-child's esteem-in-tact" point of view. The reality was, the students were just as kind to the non-singers as they were to the good singers. There was no laughter at boys singing in their falsetto voices, no putting hands over ears during out of tune notes, no talking when students forgot the words. As a matter of fact, it was quite the opposite. If the singer was hesitant, the students joined in and sang along. If a student forgot the notes, the students helped out by singing. If the singer was not in time with the music, the audience gently clapped to bring the performer back on track. In other words, the students in the audience were respectful, kind, and supportive. In other words, it was a breath of fresh air.

Best of all,  mingled in among some of the rock star wanna-be's, there were several students who really could sing...Raven being one of them. She has a knack with a microphone, a stage presence that helps her connect with the audience and a voice that stopped all the quiet whispering in the room. It was beautiful and well worth the morning.

Singing competition contestants after their performances.

Although the winners of the competition will not be announced until graduation in several weeks, I'm sure that Raven will take first prize. And, I'm so glad she gave me the opportunity to be part of this school event.