"Here, play this" the teacher said, pointing to the waist-high drum she'd just carried into the room.
"What? Wait, how?"
It was my first day volunteering with KG2, Alexia's class, and they'd taken a break to do some dancing. They sang a couple of songs which I clumsily drummed along to. I didn't think it sounded half-bad though.
"Let me help you." She walked over with a permanent market which she used to tap the wooden side of the drum, hitting the top with her left hand. "You can dance with the students." I'd been demoted. Probably for the best. I preferred to dance anyway.
Then the free dancing started and kids were called up one or two at a time to show off their best moves. These kids are ridiculous, they're only four and they're more coordinated than I'll ever be. Most of them were doing this Shakira-esque dance which involved shaking their hips and wobbling their head with their hands stretched above them, their fingers forming a triangle. Then the teacher called up one of the boys, asking him to "breakdance". This should be good. He walked up, dropped to the floor, and started doing the "can opener". What? Ridiculous. (If you want to learn this "ooold schoool" dance move, here's a video.)
We went outside to meet up with the rest of the kindergarten so they could practice for their upcoming Christmas pageant. They sang some songs and then they asked me to teach them one. Why are they always asking me to teach songs? I don't know many childrens' songs.
"Teach them Jingle Bells" said one of the teachers. A few students heard her and started singing the chorus, soon the rest joined in.
"I think they already know it" I said laughing.
"Teach them. From the beginning."
"Uh alright. I'm not a very good singer."
"That doesn't matter." That's what you think... I'm a horrible singer. That's not me trying to be modest, I'm genuinely awful.
And then I started singing Jingle Bells, from the beginning. I got to the end of the chorus and realized I had no idea what came next. The teachers seemed disappointed. I looked up the lyrics later that day and didn't recognize any of them. (Did you know Jingle Bells was originally written for Thanksgiving?)
The singing concluded and the kids were given a couple of minutes to run around. One of the teachers tried to do a handstand and soon she had a group of students around her doing handstands and somersaults. They're a bunch of breakdancing acrobats!
"What? Wait, how?"
It was my first day volunteering with KG2, Alexia's class, and they'd taken a break to do some dancing. They sang a couple of songs which I clumsily drummed along to. I didn't think it sounded half-bad though.
"Let me help you." She walked over with a permanent market which she used to tap the wooden side of the drum, hitting the top with her left hand. "You can dance with the students." I'd been demoted. Probably for the best. I preferred to dance anyway.
Then the free dancing started and kids were called up one or two at a time to show off their best moves. These kids are ridiculous, they're only four and they're more coordinated than I'll ever be. Most of them were doing this Shakira-esque dance which involved shaking their hips and wobbling their head with their hands stretched above them, their fingers forming a triangle. Then the teacher called up one of the boys, asking him to "breakdance". This should be good. He walked up, dropped to the floor, and started doing the "can opener". What? Ridiculous. (If you want to learn this "ooold schoool" dance move, here's a video.)
We went outside to meet up with the rest of the kindergarten so they could practice for their upcoming Christmas pageant. They sang some songs and then they asked me to teach them one. Why are they always asking me to teach songs? I don't know many childrens' songs.
"Teach them Jingle Bells" said one of the teachers. A few students heard her and started singing the chorus, soon the rest joined in.
"I think they already know it" I said laughing.
"Teach them. From the beginning."
"Uh alright. I'm not a very good singer."
"That doesn't matter." That's what you think... I'm a horrible singer. That's not me trying to be modest, I'm genuinely awful.
And then I started singing Jingle Bells, from the beginning. I got to the end of the chorus and realized I had no idea what came next. The teachers seemed disappointed. I looked up the lyrics later that day and didn't recognize any of them. (Did you know Jingle Bells was originally written for Thanksgiving?)
The singing concluded and the kids were given a couple of minutes to run around. One of the teachers tried to do a handstand and soon she had a group of students around her doing handstands and somersaults. They're a bunch of breakdancing acrobats!