‘Twas the morning of the last day of school, when all through Bogaerts North Campus, not a creature was stirring, not even an angus! The audience sat silently with care, waiting to see the P1’s acting flair! The children were beaming and excitement was filling their heads, while dressed celebratory in their greens and reds!
It is with a huge smile on my face that I write this post about the P1’s Christmas performance which took place on Thursday 21st December 2023. They performed the ever so poignant story of Ebenezer Scrooge -A Christmas Carol.
I write this post as an ode to the P1’s students, not just for how they handled themselves during rehearsals, re-watching the movie over and over to get their parts right, going off during free time to help each other practice lines, taking every rehearsal so seriously, being so engaged that they were contributing with their own ideas, and finally performing like the little stars that they are, but really this is an ode to them for the joy and pleasure they have given me in witnessing how they have developed and matured. For half my class, I am lucky enough to have witnessed and been a part of their journey since they started at BIS North Campus in September in 2022.
This is a dedication to my students who, when they started in EY3 with me in 2022, I remember, were not so familiar with encoding sounds to read a word, who stood up and read their lines so fluently, even applying tone to deliver the message.
This is a dedication to the students who, when they started, would get nervous presenting in front of two people and would hide behind me or go back and sit sadly and with shame, perform in front of the entire primary student body without a HINT of nervousness on their face or voice.
This is a dedication to the students who started at BIS North Campus, not speaking a word of English, being able to read and speak in full sentences and perform comfortably in English.
This is dedication for the students who don’t always enjoy to share the attention or other things, display such grace in supporting and lifting up one another, and without being asked, stepping in when needed to make sure our collective vision was executed smoothly.
As I reflect on the heartening evolution of each one of my students, I am reminded by Theodore Roosevelt’s “Citizenship in a Republic”, in particular I reflect on “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly”
Thank you P1’s for joining me in the arena and getting our faces marred in dust and sweat, for the effort you put in, for striving to do the deeds, for being honest, hardworking, collaborative and knowing right from wrong, and for facing your triumphs and failures while daring greatly. May you never stop doing that! And may you never stop supporting each other in doing that.
If all of that wasn’t already enough to melt all my internal organs, a few days prior to the performance, a couple of my students came to me to tell me that they too are proud of me! Just when I thought they couldn’t pull at my heart strings anymore, they go and say something like that and make me melt even more. Thank you P1 for being who you are and the amount of joy and love I experience with you every day in the classroom. Seeing how you guys always come together and pull each other up, makes me feel so proud!
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to really get to take in how much progress each of you have made. You guys make me feel zero humbug!
January 8, 2024
Phoebe Demetry
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