(...)
The final day of the short Summer course started fairly early as I had three children who came to the Centre almost forty minutes before the starting time in order to complete the artistic pieces they had not yet finished.
I must say that apart from being extremely tired I was also apprehensive, once parents, grandparents and guests would arrive by 11H45 and I still intended to have the children do two rehearsals, particularly because of the limited "stage"space in the auditorium and the fact that I also wanted them to learn how to get the attendance certificates and by which order.
Because I felt some of them were equally nervous I had them do two "matching" exercises, which calmed them down before we headed down to eat something before the stage performance rehearsals.
I made a small introduction as to what the Theatrical piece was about, as I realised there might some people in the audience who might not be able to understand the English Language, particularly because there were references to several rather "uncommon" birds, amongst which the wagtail and the kingfisher.
Once they had said what they were supposed to they moved backwards in a rotating sort of system. They came to the front in pairs (one as narrator for a particular bird acted by the other), as Paula, the main character stayed in the forefront all the time as she quested them whether the feather she had in her hand was theirs (an adaptation of "The feather").
I was surprised because most of them did brilliantly, with one or two hesitations. "Our" little Paula forgot what she was to say right at the end as she put on the hat with the multi-coloured feathers of every bird she had been in contact with during her quest, which had the audience clap before the end. As the clapping was finished she pulled herself together and finally said what she was requested to say ..., so at least the "little" actors were clapped at twice (which they seemed to have enjoyed).
The handing out of the certificates was carried out without any "incidents" but I can't say the same about the moment I was supposed to show the parents and grandparents of the children some pictures I had taken during the week, as the computer "decided" to hibernate and despite the presence of some engineers and computer experts "it" (the computer) refused to cooperate, so I headed up with everyone to show them into the exhibition room.
I managed to speak to some parents and have their saying on what they were "witnessing" as far as Art is concerned. Some didn't actually believe their children had been able to have "memorised" their role and expressed it the way they had using a fairly good pronunciation, but what seems to have surprised them most of all were the skills they displayed in the artistic pieces, as many hadn't expected them to be so meticulous.
One of the boys was so enthusiastic with his scrapping skills development and the beauty of the "scrapped" canvas painting he did that his parents came over no only to introduce me to his sister who will be attending the following week's course but also to ask me where I had bought those as he had made up his mind to do quite a few of those to "sell" to his family members and get money to buy something he had always wanted.
I put a lot of effort in this course and was not always "successful" at getting their attention and the results I had initially envisaged but must recognise they made me "change" my mind in the last two days and make me feel proud for having made some sort of difference in their lives, despite being a small difference ...
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