Within moments, I was doing what I would never have dreamed possible: leading a class full of six-year-olds in "The Penguin Dance," together flapping our right "flippers," then our left "flippers," tapping our right feet, then our left, nodding our heads, and turning around and around, laughing and laughing.
If you had told me before I'd left America that I'd be doing this in Cyprus, I would have laughed in your face at the nightmarish idea of singing and dancing in front of others. Now, however, I've come to love these weekly lessons almost as much as my students, who can't get enough of English-language songs and dances like "Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?," "Baby Shark," "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?," and "The Reindeer Hokey Pokey." With each song, I teach them new vocabulary words, give them practice listening and singing along to English lyrics, and, most importantly, get them excited about learning English. Want to join our weekly dance "party"? I bet you could teach my students some new moves and new words, too!
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
Have you heard these famous words before? Do you know who spoke them?
If you said Martin Luther King, Jr., American civil rights activist, then you're correct! Here in Cyprus, however, students are naturally less familiar with American history. What's famous to us is sometimes new to them! That is why I took the opportunity leading up to Martin Luther King Jr.
