Mr Wong was our English and PE teacher. His English rhymes, verses and songs were the most inspiring education to me during my primary school days. He's taught us many but I only remember a few, especially Hickory Dickory Dock:
Hickory Dickory Dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one
The mouse ran down
Hickory Dickory Dock
I recited this in a singing competition and on being creative, added "Tick Tock" at the end of the rhyme. Unfortunately the judges disagreed with my avant garde attempt at altering an old classic thus I was given a one point deduction and only took 2nd place. *sob*
Another of my favourite is Waltzing Matilda:
Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
"Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me?"
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
I only found out TODAY that this is Australia's most widely known country folk song. And I guess we were only taught the first two paragraphs of the complete composition due to its context and because thoughtful Mr Wong has spared us the agony of memorizing the impossible for a Chinese student.
Some of us are of Cantonese descend (I'm Hock Chew but very eloquent in Cantonese due to my early education in the language, thanks to mum, VHS and TVB) and boys being boys this lovely song was given a slight colloquial twist:
Waltzing MaTIUda, Waltzing MaTIUda
"You'll come a-Waltzing MaTIUda, with me"
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
"You'll come a-Waltzing MaTIUda, with me"
This version only survived one practice session as Mr Wong quickly noticed our heightened enthusiasm during chorus.
Illustration by W W Denslow
No comments:
Post a Comment