Tuesday, March 08, 2011

The Confidence of Youth

I recently presided over a year 2 Show-and-Tell.

Usually, these gatherings aren't nearly as funny as they ought to be; I've learned the hard way that children can be sinfully boring. I think the following is a fair sample of a year 2 Show-and-Tell:

Kid stands up and shows a plastic dog;
class asks, What is it?
Kid answers, It's a dog;
Class asks, Where did you get it?
Kid pauses then answers, It's a dog.

Wonderful! I feel like I've watched an documentary!

Anyway, the other day, things were pretty much abiding with the norm. Then Dinah stepped up. She asked me a question that I didn't quite understand, but I nodded in agreement to move her along.

With that, she launched into the theme from Dirty Dancing:

"I've had the time of my life,
and I've never felt this way before,
and I swear,
it's the truth,
and I owe it all to you"

My eyes were already welling-up with appreciation when she threw the second-half of the chorus out to her friend, who was sitting on the carpet in the audience. Her friend retreated, shaking her head frantically as if she'd been asked to sip horse milk. So Dinah sang Judas's part as well.

I don't think there has ever been a point in my life at which I would have been capable of such a thing.

3 comments:

Sweet Olive Press | Helen said...

Made my night. I so wish I'd been there.

Anonymous said...

Superb! The closest I came was singing gospel tunes to the class in an (allegedly) aboriginal dialect - and then translating. K

Sweet Olive Press | Helen said...

Oh, NO. I don't think I knew this.

Or I knew it, and my horrified mind kindly and gently erased it.