T&L Music and Language: I Perform, So I Should Be

Teachers are often likened to actors, they are said to ‘perform’ in front of students in their classes, which is a contentious statement when we examine their belief systems. (Another topic for another post.)

Arts and language teachers can ‘perform’ their content. Music is undoubtedly a performance art, with a public stage and an audience preset in its framework. Music teachers have opportunities to listen to and perform their content outside of the professional development sessions offered by their schools. Both TV and the AIR broadcast classical music programs. Music festivals are not uncommon in most cities; every temple in Chennai seems to celebrate every festival with Carnatic music. It is not an onerous exercise, either, for music teachers to gather with other like-minded professional and amateur musicians for an evening of music, one that doesn't require the elaborate preparation of a theatrical production.

And what about those who learn music but don’t take it up professionally? We are relegated to the category of singers, players or scholars of music, whether we perform in the bathroom or to select audiences composed of indulgent friends and family. (Shades of golu evenings? 😊)

Language teachers, by and large, don't engage with their content, the language or literature, once they leave their workplace. Of course, most may converse in English but much of their speaking is a mixture of the regional language and English with frequent  code switching, Tanglish, Hinglish or such like.

Listening to English? Yes, if we watch serials or movies in English. Many teachers’ homes may have a subscription to Netflix or Amazon Prime. But like the teachers said (see T&L Music and Language- I Teach, So I Am), most of them are too busy with household or family tasks in the evenings to consistently make time to listen to English-based programs. English theatre in most cities is non-existent or confined to an elite audience which does not include teachers of English for sure!

Reading? Most are not voracious readers, a few may claim to be readers of potboilers, newspapers or magazines. How many buy books regularly? How many of them have bookshelves at home that are in constant use? How many can name prize winning novelists or poets of the past ten years? Or have read their works?

As for writing, don’t even go there. Very few, if any at all, indulge in writing beyond official or personal communication. A very few, a handful, may be invited by private publishing companies or the states to author books or be part of a curriculum/book writing group.

Other writings that reach the public spaces? More likely to be authored by regional language teachers. However, schools rarely, if ever, acknowledge or showcase their writings at public or school-wide events. Perhaps the greatest extent of it when they author the plays presented at school annual days and write out scripts for the student emcees, though many of these are now written by students themselves. It is not surprising that most colleagues and students remain unaware of the ‘performance’ aspect of their language teachers.

I have been fortunate to have known three of them at P.S. Senior Secondary School, Chennai.  Vasanthakumari writes poetry in Tamil and often presents it on occasions such as an alumni meet of her school. Bhagavathy is more involved publicly with her writing. Her work is published and she is involved with the Tamil writers’ communities and events in Chennai.

P. Geeta, the Hindi teacher, wrote short stories, poems and essays. The first time I read any of it was a book her children published privately just before her death a few months ago. They assembled her writings from years ago and pieces she wrote while facing death from cancer with remarkable calmness and fortitude. 

So how can language teachers, who are not gifted writers, engage with their content outside school? With a little planning, and a lot of willingness.

• Play parlour games like charades or word building or board games like Scrabble in their homes or at dinner parties. This requires neither major preparation nor additional space. Yet this rarely happens. Perhaps because it smacks too much of organising activities in a classroom?
• Read books for free at Bookmark openlibrary.org and at Gutenberg.org.
• Know where the closest lending library is and patronize it.
• Carve out a tiny bit in the house budget for books, it is a legitimate professional expense re taxes. Bookmark Amazon.in or flipkart.com. And buy books, for your children’s birthdays and all festivals. Buy books for your friends’ children’s birthdays and all festivals. And read every one of them before gifting it.
• Set time aside every week to watch programmes in English. Watch Queen in English rather Tamil, perhaps. Follow (maybe not binge watch) English language serials at online sites.

Happy watching! Even happier reading!!

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By Mrs. Vasanthakumari Manoharan (December 2019)

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Excerpts from P. Geeta. (2019). The Little Book for Love & Gratitude

T&L Music&Language: I Teach, So I Am

A Subject teacher complained vociferously about Arts teachers at a meeting.

“They don't know history, philosophy or pedagogy of education, “ she said. “we can't talk to them about anything related to our classroom or students. All day long they sing or sit around listening to songs.  They don't do anything. ”

There was a profound, deadly, uncomfortable silence. The forty or so Subject teachers looked down at the floor with small, uneasy smiles. They obviously agreed with the statement but didn't want to be associated with voicing it.

The much fewer Arts teachers looked around timidly. Except one male teacher. He gazed off into the distance as though he was not in the room, not at all concerned with the proceedings.

The facilitator let the moment sit and made no attempt to move the discussion in any direction.

After almost three minutes, the male Music teacher stood up.

“What do you do when you go home after school?” he asked the room in general.

“We have so much work,” the initial complainant said indignantly. “We cook, look after the family, we clean, we visit family and friends. There is so much work at home,”

“When I go home, I do what I do in school, “ said the male Music teacher simply. 

And sat down quietly.

Another silence reigned, another profound, deadly, uncomfortable silence. 

But he had made his point. 

And everyone knew it.

True, true, I grant you freely. A Female Music teacher may not claim so blithely to spend her afterschool time on music. She would probably recognize the responsibilities and activities her colleague listed!

But considering the point the Male Music teacher made, how do teachers spend their non-classroom time on their own learning? Continuous Professional Development is a mandated and recognized activity for teachers in schools. However, there are severe limitations to these programs which focus on learning to teach, traditionally focusing on updating subject content of what to teach and increasingly on pedagogy of how to teach. This is aimed at the teacher practitioner who functions in a classroom where the focus is on teaching students.

What about the performance aspect to Arts and Language teachers, which is hardly addressed? In what ways are teachers performers? What are the forums and stages available to them? How well and how much do they access these spaces?

Bear with me;

… I must pause till it come back to me.

(Can you place this quote, and complete it – without googling it?)