Mornings we would take the train a few stops over to the school we were teaching at and begin our day setting up the craziness that would soon unfurl once the students would arrive.
Most of my two weeks teaching English were spent working on Lo Spettacolo—the final performance intended for parent audience members to see and hear their children speaking English in some type of dance, art, acting hybrid. With an "Around the World" theme, my group and I came up with the concept of space aliens landing on planet Earth after a space ship malfunction. Each of the English classes would take a part of the world and space aliens would visit each site to gain machine parts for their journey home. In the process they would also learn about various cultural aspects of that particular place. Being a former New Yorker, I decided my class of Bgirls and Bboys would represent 5-borough hip-hop culture. Kids performed spoken word poems, graffiti, and break dancing.
It was something we worked very hard on and something I really loved doing. We practiced many hours each day to the point where the kids had their lines and dance moves down. I think with more time it could be a really tight performance.
The best thing about teaching comes in small moments of light that appear as inspiration in a student. One kid named Jacamo, a small nebbish little kid with braces and glasses, was sort of goofy and quiet most days. When asked to learn some break steps however he took hold of the project like a mission and learned some impressive Top Rocking, Freezing, Air Kicks, and Power moves. He seemed to really enjoy learning and participating in NYC Hip-Hop culture and I see a future Bboy in him yet.
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