Chinese Song

Last weekend was the 10th anniversary of the language school I teach for, Sino-Canadian International College. Students had been practicing for over a month to perform on the night of the celebration.

Some of the foreign teachers had been asked by the Student Union to perform Auld Lang Syne (the new year song) in Chinese. All of us, few of whom speak Chinese, had about 2 weeks to try and learn two Chinese verses and a chorus. We tried our best, and nearly pulled it off, if I do say so myself. Luckily we had prerecorded our song and we just had to sing along Milli-Vanilli style. The students had choreographed the routine for us, and here is where I could clearly see a difference between American University students and Chinese. The student choreographer had the teachers standing in a horseshoe and waving while about 20 students sat in a line in front of us, swaying to the music. It was quite cute, but definitely something you would never see a 19 year old college boy do in the US!