Then I mixed up a thick tomato-based sauce of my own creation. Finally, it was time to roast the kolokassi in the oven for well over an hour until the rock-hard root had become tender to the touch (and the tongue!). Having absorbed the sauce's flavors, the kolokassi was rich and flavorful, almost like meat. The process took time and patience, but the results were worth the wait!
"Penguins, attention! Penguins, begin!"
And with that command from the trio of singing penguins on the screen before us, our music lesson began. 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!
