Learning about the Chinese culture from my students ....... 🦅

People who know me know that I enjoy singing and I often sing a song or two in my classes a few times a semester. I also like playing music between classes to wind down.

One day a few of my female students walked into my office after class, I was playing a YouTube video on my computer - the greatest hits of the 1960s.

“Hey Tom, don’t you know any songs from this century?” one student asked.

“I only like the very, very, very, old songs” came my reply.

“Why !!!!!!??” another student asked in an exacerbated voice.  

“Because I am very, very, very, old” I proclaimed.

“No no no no,” she said, “no one is that old.”

“You sing very well,” she said, “but your songs are soooooooo old.”

“Yes,” I said, “but those are the songs I know.”

“We,” and she put great emphases on the word “we,” she said, while another student interrupted her, “we can teach you great Chinese songs from this decade.”   

“Well,” I said, “if I practice really, really, hard I can probably learn how to sing some of them.”

“We can teach you some of them,” she said excitedly.

 Another student walked into my office and asked, “Do you know Jay Chou?”

“No, what grade is he in?” I asked.

“He’s not a student here,” she said, “He is a very famous singer.”

“What about,” pausing for a second, “Team Wang?”  she asked.  

“Is that a basketball team?” I asked.

“No,” she said in a shocked voice, “they are a very, very, famous singing group.”   

“I’m sure I can find those people on YouTube,” I said.

Low and behold I found a whole load of Chinese heartthrobs for my teen students to listen to on YouTube and boy they were extremely happy.

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The video below is three of my students singing  最炫民族风 (The most dazzling national style)

Performed by the very famous Chinese singing group 凤凰传奇 (Phoenix Legend)

Always with love from Suzhou, China

Thomas F O’Neill

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