Eve Reading My New Coat by Bai Ju-yi

太陽花的詩朗誦 －《新制布裘》白居易 

Sky High Ocean Wide Series No. 1

天高海闊 － 系列 － 第一集

Two weeks ago, it was a regular day checking students' homework. Students Level 3 and up had practiced four winter poems. Teachers left it open as to how many poems students needed to memorize, but asked students to read all fluently, sounding as authentic as possible. A sample reading was provided.

Some students read all but memorized none. Some memorized one or two. A few did not practice. 

Among students who stood out in excellence, Eve was one.

Eve memorized three modern poems  The Taste of Snowflakes《雪花的味道》, Snowman《雪人》and It's Fun to Ice Skate《滑冰真快乐》. She recited them one after another, almost in one breadth.

Then it came to the 4th poem. It's an ancient poem. Eve did not memorize it. She read it. She read it so well that I was shocked to hear it. She nailed down the prosody and pronunciation. I had to ask her on the spot to video tape her reading and give us the permission to share. She happily agreed.

Here is the link to Eve's reading  -

https://youtu.be/CuFTz4si0q0

Or click on the line below -

Eve reading My New Coat by Bai Ju-yi 太阳花朗诵 白居易《新制布裘》

I asked Eve's mom Claudia how Eve practiced. Claudia replied -

"We listened to it while driving in the car. That was helpful. Then when she was at home, she would read it without the video and practice reading it aloud. And then she would refer back to the video."

No wonder! Eve used a set of strategies, all following one principle - be patient with listening to the audio model, and then working toward it.

Eve is not a student who blindly reads after teachers. She is very strong with creative and flexible oral speech. I believe she is mindful with practicing speaking also.

For this poem reading task, she took it as a challenge, tackled it effectively, and improved her sense of the musicality of Mandarin language (and other Chinese dialects also).

We thank Eve and Claudia for letting us share Eve's reading and her practice methods!