As a ‘resting’ actor I have been
doing quite a lot of teaching recently. I am one of the many who like to share their
pearls of thespian wisdom with the young and eager. Or in my case - the young and well-off little
darlings of Surrey.
Ooooooo they are a funny bunch.
Some are, of course, lovely but the
rest are a blend of prep-doing, lacrosse-playing, ‘Miss... er-what’s your name
again, Diana??-saying so and so’s!
One little missy ran up at the
beginning of class this week and informed me that “Mummy didn’t send me to
school today because I had diarrhea.” I managed to contain the inner screams of
“Why on earth are you here then? Get
away from me you vile little person, I need my anti-bac hand gel’” and instead
smiled and said “Oh poor you, take it easy today,” as I edged away from her.
In the middle of a singing warm up,
another little lady shot her hand up “Do you know who Allah is?” Well, how do
you reply to that mid ‘Lalalalala?’ “Ummm, yes, I do, now keep singing.” A few exercises on, the hand pops up again, “Do
you know who played Annie in the film of Annie?” I was beginning to feel like I
was on Mastermind and either the metaphorical
spotlight or this child was giving me a migraine. “It was Aileen Quinn,”
she answered herself proudly. I can only
presume she had been reading an encyclopaedia this week and had got up to A. I
look forward to Boadicea, bunions and Barack Obama next week.
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| It's gonna be a long term...... |
In another school I had asked
everyone to bring in a special picture to talk about in class. Instead of pictures I was naturally met with
a barrage of excuses, my favourite was - “I have had such a busy week and my
mummy has been sooooooo busy, I didn’t get home until, like, 6 every day. I’ve
just been too busy to do anything.” Thinking of my working-mum sister, friends
and Dad who still doesn’t finish work until 9pm despite being over 60, I
replied, “You’re 6, Tabitha, how busy can you be?”
I presume lusting after 1D is a
full-time job these days (I kid you not, this girl and her classmates regularly
perform a 1D song to me word perfect and discuss the merits of Harry’s love
life. Let me remind you.... they are 6.) On a less cynical note, how sad is it
that 6 year olds are feeling stress? I think my main concern at 6 was whether I’d
have Findus crispy pancakes for tea or how my den was getting on in the
garden. If they already have that awful “there’s not enough hours in the day”
feeling, what hope is there? There is a
lifetime of rushing about and feeling like you are letting people down to look
forward, please stay watching Peppa Pig and playing for as long as possible.
One pupil who did remember her
picture described a crayon drawing that a friend had drawn her. She said it was special because she was
moving schools and she was going to miss her friends. I asked “Why are you
friends with her? and this reply melted my cynical old heart, “Well, when I
first met her, she smiled so brightly at me and she is always smiling and nice
to me.” Is that not the best and most simple explanation of what being a friend
is? A big smile can do the most wonderful things; put people at ease, get you a
job, make a friend, make someone’s day or make someone fall in love with you.
So the best lesson that this teacher
was taught this week was........(despite the obvious highlight of learning
about Allah).......smile brightly people! It is the simplest and best way to
make you and other people happy.
