Going big with a production in China

Episode 198: Going Big with a production in China Kimberly Mack is an English Teacher in China at an International School. This past year she wanted to go “big” with her first year middle school speech class. And big they went! Listen in to her about her students experience putting on their musical, doing the set, sewing costumes, and singing in their non native language. Show Notes * FAQ Link Episode Transcript Welcome to the Drama Teacher Podcast brought to you by Theatrefolk – the Drama Teacher Resource Company. I’m Lindsay Price. Hello! I hope you're well. Thanks for listening! This is Episode 198 and you can find any links to this episode in the show notes which are at Theatrefolk.com/episode198. Have you ever heard a teacher say, “My students could never do that”? It always shocks me a little. Now, granted, I am not a full-time teacher. I’m not a teacher. I’m not in the classroom. Perhaps, when a teacher says, “My students could never do that,” there is a good reason. But I have a very vivid memory from about ten years ago when I was at a school and they were working on one of my plays. I was talking to the students and I said, “You guys always seem really confident. You seem so confident onstage. That’s amazing.” One of the students said to me, “Well, our teacher believed in us. She never thought that we couldn’t do it. And so, we thought the same.” I just love that. When someone believes in you, that’s a very powerful feeling, isn’t it? Today, we’re talking to a teacher who had that same feeling and she wanted to go big with her group. Big meant putting on a musical with her middle school students at the international school where she worked. Let’s hear her story, shall we? See you on the other side. LINDSAY: Hello everyone! I am talking to Kimberly Mack today. Hello, Kimberly! KIMBERLY: Hi! LINDSAY: Now, I know, over the summer, that you are stateside, right? KIMBERLY: Yes, I am. LINDSAY: But tell everybody where you usually are during the year? KIMBERLY: I normally teach over in Lijiang which is in Yunnan province over in China. It’s down southwest. LINDSAY: That was an awesome pronunciation. KIMBERLY: I’ve been working on that. LINDSAY: Well, I’m sure you must have to say it quite a bit. Are you teaching in an international school? Or do you teach Chinese students? KIMBERLY: Yes, it’s an international school, but we have Chinese, Indian, Korean, and American students there. LINDSAY: What is it like? Let’s start with that. What is it like to have such a multicultural student base? KIMBERLY: It’s been really interesting. I went there right after college. It was my very first experience as a teacher. It was neat because, here we are getting to share the American culture with all of these students, teaching them English. Some of them would come into our school knowing absolutely nothing of English and we’ve got to start from the ground up and see them progress. It’s just been a really amazing opportunity. LINDSAY: All right. Now, that leads very naturally to my next question. How long have you been teaching? KIMBERLY: Two years. LINDSAY: What about teaching has been a surprise for you? KIMBERLY: I guess the biggest thing is how much these students are able to pick up so quickly, yet they’re reading these English words, but then they have no idea what the meanings are because they just d...