Christmas time in Shanghai is equally festive

To the editor:
The concept of Christmas here is a processed one. It is easy to find lots of stores with Christmas decorations. Lots of fancy trees with balls and lights, garlands and stars on them and in most of the stores the proverbial Currier and Ives Santa Clauses or the later Coca-Cola character of chubby cheeks, round belly, and twinkling eyes. Yes, even here in China the Christmas season is welcome.     This weekend, doing some final shopping for the small things that Christmas needs, the candies, nutmeats, and odds and ends of stocking traditions, it was a shock to hear some of the familiar sounds of the season coat the air with a decidedly unique scent.
Take the song “Jingle Bells”. One new mega-grocery store was playing it on their PA system. In Chinese fashion, I do not know if this is typical but I see it happen too frequently, the song repeated itself over and over. While rapidly searching for an exit strategy — nearest doorway and out — I listened to the words. Where we would sing, “a one-horse open sleigh!” the Chinese singers were pronouncing the word as “sea.” Where is the Kool-aid Guy to come bursting through the walls with a jug of High-C? Or have I mixed up my commercial characters too much? Suffice it to say, with all the Santa and elf hats running around, commercial hutzpah can not be far behind. Yes, we do have Christmas here.
Last week I received a letter that took me back a long time. Now I can truthfully say that phrase and not be too shocked by it. In the fourth grade my teacher, Mrs. Hay, had her hands full trying to teach all the subjects that we demand fourth-grade teachers to teach. Math, manners, and mayhem in that order.
Some of us in her class that year were adept at reading and she quickly turned our interests to a useful purpose by having us read and review the books in her library. She had lots of books — tales of pirates, ships, ghosts, ghouls, and goblins — perfect for the ever inquisitive minds. Each book that we read had to have a card made up similar to the one’s in the Library. So when we finished the book each of us dutifully filled out the card and turned it in for a grade. The finished card was them put in the box, a simple recipe box at that. I believe there were five or six of us who managed to stuff the box by the end of the year. So much so that she added another. As the other students in the class mastered the reading skills, they too did the same.
Toward the end of the year, another project occupied us. We were introduced to the idea of a puppet show. We were still fascinated with Mr. Rogers and of course, “Sesame Street”, and I think the early editions of the “Electric Company.” Of course, part of the coolness of puppets is making your socks talk! If mine were to speak today … well, I wont go there. It’s bad enough to listen to my shirts complain about the steam iron. It definitely puts some starch into the collars.
As part of our work we were to create our puppets and write a puppet show. The Grand Prize was a chance to go to the teachers’ lounge and get a bottle of Coke. Today, with so many Coke and Pepsi machines around this does not seem to be that big a deal. I and my group of renegades were committed to getting this prize. This was the temptation for us: we would get to see what the teacher’s lounge looked like. COOOOOL!
As I reflect on those moments I am not certain if we had a rehearsal or not. We did have a play. It came the day for presentations. Most of the plays were good, lively, and of course fun to see our socks and characters on the “real stage.” In doing the show though, nothing seemed to stand out. In true fourth-grade fashion we followed the old silent film adage, “When in doubt write in a chase through a bakery scene!” All it took was one of us yelling “fight!” and we were off. Off with their socks! The ensuing melee say that stage bandied about, some of us standing up, some sitting down, and a few flying through the classroom, Puppets that is! It was the Grand Puppet Massacre! And as those of you who have survived the fourth-grade years with your kids know, Fourth-graders are powerful!
Finally, exhausted a truce was called and the winner announced. Flying puppets, yells, screeches, tears, and laughs were mended, a vote was taken and we had won!
Wilmot Kierstead was principal at that time at Zippel. His office was the first as you entered the school. Then came the leachers’ lounge. The winning group was escorted down and he and Mrs. Hay bought each one of us a Coke. These were in the classic glass bottles that you had to really pull hard to get out of the machine. What fun!
Today, I am working with new students, college kids. English is their second language. What Mrs. Hay did not tell us was that all of her efforts were getting us to use our noggins to learn new words, and more importantly to work together. We now know, though I suspect that it was known then, is that learning any language requires involvement on many different levels. By making us read books, assemble our characters and act out a story we are actually learning new words, new vocabulary, and how to work with others. Vital skills if we are to succeed.
My own students are now coming to the end of their first semester. I have them working with Shakespeare, he writes for large casts. While English is the second language for these students, they are getting to know some of the history and color of the language that we still use today. What I do not try to tell them is that by having fun with a language, they are learning far more than just some words on a page.