Teaching Drama in Hong Kong

Tin Shui WaiI'm in Hong Kong.  I've been here since Sunday afternoon.  It's now Thursday.  It's the height of the summer so it's pretty hot but this is hardly news.  Every morning I get up at about 8, eat breakfast, walk out of the hotel and catch the bus on the Jordan road.  Quite quickly I've realised that the Hong Kong grannies and grandpas are right.  If you put up an umbrella to ward off the sun, it makes things a whole lot more enjoyable.  Even waiting for the bus.  Fortunately, after living in Ireland the concept of putting something up to ward off whatever is beating down from the heavens is a concept I'm familiar with.  I stand, wearing what feels like far too little clothing for a city - usually just a t-shirt and cropped trousers - with my brolly and little bag, waiting for the - ahhhhhhhh air-conditioned - bus to take me to Tin Shui Wai, about 45 minutes away.

In Tin Shui Wai, I meet my two colleagues from Chung Ying Theatre and we try to pour our three combined wisdoms into 25 or so drama students in preparation for a showcase for theatre-in-education supporters.  The students range from the irrepressible Samson, aged about 6, who barely reaches my waist, to a group of lovely 15 and 16 year old girls called Ruby, Delta and Chloe, who help out with everything.  There's also the wonderful Harry, who only needs to be shown anything once, and just happens to have a perfect boy's soprano but can get down into tenor if he needs to, at 9, he's already star material.  I'm supposedly the visiting director, but I have to work pretty hard to make myself heard - the Cantonese are a voluble lot, and the kids are happy to talk at the top of their lungs every minute.  Unless, of course, I sit them all down and ask them a direct question.  Then they all clam up.  Speak up in a class?  No way!  So I sneak the questions in.  Would you prefer A or B?  I can't choose between this, this or this, what do you want? My colleagues tell me that all class sizes a pretty much 40+, so teachers and kids get used to discipline and control as a means of survival.  Self-discipline is a different matter, that takes longer to learn everywhere in the world.  There are the children who are inventive, attentive, talented and funny and then, on the other hand, there are the ones with - well we talked for a while and eventually worked out that we meant "attention deficit syndrome", it's just called something different in Chinese.  But truly, it's pretty much the same as teaching anywhere else in the world, a little slower because of the need for translation, but surprisingly similar.   They still sneak up to you at quiet times when their friends aren't listening and say: "miss, miss, can you help?  I'm not sure what to do with my hands in this bit."  

So were there any differences? What leapt out at me?  Well, when we called a break, they all rushed to their bags, as all children do, and pulled out their snacks.  Every single child was drinking water.  Not a sugared drink to be seen.  It was impressive, and you could feel the difference in their behaviour.  They were MORE attentive after their drink, not less. I'd say it is worth while banning pop from children's rehearsal anywhere in the world, in the future.