Lights, Camera, Bieber!

If there's one thing that Thailand truly excels at, it is performance art. Stage theater, skits, karaoke, choreographed dance numbers... You name it, Thais bring it - often with a feather boa and some sequins. This past week was no exception at Bandon Sriserm, with the first biannual "6/1 Idol" competition of the year in my advanced sixth grade class, and a Mother's Day assembly today, in honor of the Queen of Thailand's birthday. 

 

The Theat-or: Some can't handle it.

Now, when I took my first stab at coordinating "6/1 Idol" way back last July, I timidly brought in a number of English song selections and lyrics for the kids to listen and practice to... The Beatles, N'Sync, Miley - how the heck should I know what kids are listening to these days? 90 percent of my selections were quickly shot down, in favor of Jason Mraz, Australian pop, and soundtracks to the Disney movie Anastasia and a 2007 Drew Barrymore-Hugh Grant flick I vaguely remember seeing at the Princeton Garden Theater. So this year, I knew: never try to reign in the creativity or randomness that is Thai pre-teen taste in English music

Groups this year had to come up with a band name, design their own album (complete with a photo from a Teacher Caitlin-coordinated photo shoot), and dance to go along with their singing performances. Band names ranged from "Popular Girl" to "Last Vegas," and costumes ranged from cowboy hats to clip-on ties. Needless to say, the judges and I were thoroughly impressed. Here's a video of my personal fave, "The Arena." 12-year-old boys who can memorize AND choreograph to The Biebz??? A+.

This morning, the student shows continued with an all-school Mother's Day assembly. After rising to sing the Queen's song and honoring a lifesize photo of her with a bouquet of jasmine (the national flower of Mother's Day),  every grade from Kindergarten 1 (4-5 year olds) to Grade 6 put on a song, dance, or skit for the hoards of parents and ice-cream licking siblings present. Some mothers were specially honored on stage, and came to school dressed in beautiful traditional Thai skirts and full hair and makeup. Other mothers showed up in a more everyday outfit of flip-flops and board shorts, and crowded at the bottom of the stage to photograph when their child came out to perform.

Because nothing says, "I love you Mom!" like sequined chickens.

Again, there was no real rhyme or reason to each performance. Some featured traditional Thai dancing, while another appeared to be a skit about how bad boys who get in trouble with the law will dishonor and disappoint their mothers. The Chinese language class sang "Que Sera, Sera," and the 3rd grade girls came out and danced in sequined body suits and chicken headpieces. The 4th graders dressed in Hmong village tribe outfits and danced with moroccos, drums, and fake crossbows, while the Kindergartners mostly just swayed from side to side and tried to comfort the occasional crying classmate on stage (the pressure to be a star at such a young age can be too great sometimes).

After the assembly, I gave the 6th graders an easy class period of finishing Mother's Day cards. While they didn't feature quite the same charms as last year's cards, they were equally loving and creative.

MOM does.

So, Happy Thai Mother's Day, America. I'm off to Singapore for the holiday weekend... tales of the Lion City when I return!