human-wayang-kulit

17/05/2018 07:33

One thing about Teachers Day that I’ve always looking forward to during my schooling years was the pupils’ talent time. Pupils were given the opportunity to come out with their own talent shows, went for a screen test in front of a board of teachers in charge, and if they were selected, they’ll get to perform on Teachers Day.

When I started teaching, pupils still get to do the same. But mostly, their performances were with teacher’s guidance. No auditions or screen tests. It was I guess, as part of encouraging pupils to be confident or to nurture the sense of being creative in whatever they are engaged to do so during the performances. No matter if they don’t have enough practises or how less talented they were; they still get to perform on stage and getting applause from friends and teachers. The main key is to be merry and have fun. It’s also an opportunity for pupils with hidden talents to show what they have. My first school was a rural school.  I was there for merely one and a half year. I get to have my pupils who never seen choral speaking, to present a manglish choral speaking performance. Nasheed and teacher-pupil sketches were the common shows that you get to watch on Teachers Day.

How time flies and change things.

Probably of the current situation where schools were caught up with so many programs, teachers have no time for talent scouting? Or too busy to come out with creative ideas for their pupils to try out? When I was in charge of lining up talent shows for Teachers Day in previous schools, all I need to do was to inform the class teachers to let me know what will be the show that their respective classes will perform. Sometimes, they were so many of them, time was running out, the last school bell was going to ring and we still had a few more shows to go. Mind you, that was my experience in a semi-rural school.

Now, it looks like teacher appreciation day is about well, seriously….teachers. It’s about the grand entrance to the assembly ground, it’s about what clothes to wear, it’s about how much selfies they get to pitch in, and it’s about the food you get to be served to later. And to my surprise, some were not even interested to stay in the hall to watch shows by the pupils anymore. To which, brings down the number of shows.

Is it just me or is it a non-rural thing?

Mind you, I came from a non-rural school. I get to watch my schoolmates (whom I don’t even know) played violin, dance ballet (with complete tutu skirts, ballet slippers and all), did Richard Marx’s Right Here Waiting in sign language, dance Bhangra (complete with climbing-on-shoulders-and-dance-act), short drama of Mahsuri and dance routines of 80s and 90s top hits (oh, this was a must-have during those years).

And oh, a human-wayang-kulit act by Year 6 pupils in SK Iskandar during my practicum year. I laughed my heart out!

Photo credit :Twitter @iamkidpresident