The Sun is Shining!

18 Mar 09


Song for this post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrzjv121t4c

I know we are making an impact and that is very encouraging. When I was teaching my class of 4-6 graders alone today of which there are about 40 of them, we worked on an English/drama/musical lesson. We sang the song "do you hear the people sing" from the musical Les Miserable. It seems as though they understood the message behind the song and learned how to put emotion behind what they were singing. It was lovely to see. After class about 15 students stayed to look thru my book on Illinois that I brought. The were more than fascinated with each page like a teenager with their first shiny new car. It was great to see the interest in the the outside world for I think their travel limitations keep them confined to this community and they seem to know little about worldly things. They do know Rhianna, Usher, Celine Dion and Josh Groban. Music truly is a universal language. I walk home and sing "sun is shining" to some of the kids which is new for them. We walk down the paved rocky road like a large group from the wizard of oz. In the amazing South African sunshine we sing and sing so they can remember it. The weather and the company is really sweet. It is a very simple life here and different from mine but I know one thing - that all humans are the same fundamentally. We all love to be smiled at and catch the contagiousness of grinning from ear to ear. We all love to sing and dance. We all express emotion. We all want to be be heard and we all have the capacity to listen.