As part of my
year in the Dominican
Republic
So, how do I even
start teaching children who don’t speak English about a man who wrote in
Scots!?
Jings, what have I let myself in for?
I thought long and hard and in the end I decided to focus on one poem in particular: Tam O’Shanter. This is my favorite Burns poem and I remember learning it in primary school and really loving it. Despite the language barrier the raw ideas and message behind the poem are highly relevant to people’s lives, not just in theUK
Jings, what have I let myself in for?
I thought long and hard and in the end I decided to focus on one poem in particular: Tam O’Shanter. This is my favorite Burns poem and I remember learning it in primary school and really loving it. Despite the language barrier the raw ideas and message behind the poem are highly relevant to people’s lives, not just in the
For those of you
who don’t know the poem I’ll break it down much like I did for the kids in La
Hoya:
-There is a man called Tam and one night he leaves his wife, Kate, and goes out drinking.
-After a few drinks he gets on his horse, Meg, and rides off through the moors.
- On his way he sees lots of spooky places where people from the local town have died, been killed or committed suicide.
- He sees a church and is drawn towards the strange light in the window. When he looks in he sees skeletons, ghouls and ghosts dancing, playing the pipes and in the center he sees the devil himself.
- In the center of the floor he sees a woman, Cutty-Sark, and he is bewitched by her.
-Suddenly, she sees him and everything goes black. The music stops and all ghouls and ghosts begin to chase Tam who jumps on Meg and rides as fast as he can.
-The Ghosts cannot cross running water and so Tam heads for the bridge close to the church.
- He rides over it and thinks that he has escaped unscathed but when he looks back he sees that Cutty-Sark had pulled off his horse’s tail just before he reached the bridge.
-There is a man called Tam and one night he leaves his wife, Kate, and goes out drinking.
-After a few drinks he gets on his horse, Meg, and rides off through the moors.
- On his way he sees lots of spooky places where people from the local town have died, been killed or committed suicide.
- He sees a church and is drawn towards the strange light in the window. When he looks in he sees skeletons, ghouls and ghosts dancing, playing the pipes and in the center he sees the devil himself.
- In the center of the floor he sees a woman, Cutty-Sark, and he is bewitched by her.
-Suddenly, she sees him and everything goes black. The music stops and all ghouls and ghosts begin to chase Tam who jumps on Meg and rides as fast as he can.
-The Ghosts cannot cross running water and so Tam heads for the bridge close to the church.
- He rides over it and thinks that he has escaped unscathed but when he looks back he sees that Cutty-Sark had pulled off his horse’s tail just before he reached the bridge.
Well, I have
chosen my poem but how do I make of it something creative and fun!?
I first began by doing a school mural board to introduce the idea of
Burns Night and give a bit of information about Rabbie himself. As well as
doing various activities during the week I also invited students to come to
Artistica on Friday to do some extra arty activities.
The great thing
about this poem is the imagery and atmosphere that it carries. First I talked
each class through the story of Tam O’Shanter using illustrations on the board.
I chose two scenes in particular to focus on: the one where he looks into the
church and sees the ghosts dancing in the candle light, and the final scene
where Cutty-Sark is chasing Tam and Meg across the moors towards the bridge. I
also had competitions where each table had to create a story board showing each
step of the story.
Whilst this seems
like a farfetched tale I chose it because the themes are highly relevant to
life here in La Hoya. This is highlighted in the final stanza:
No, wha this tale o' truth shall read,
Ilk man and mother's son take heed;
Whene'er to drink you are inclin'd,
Or cutty-sarks run in your mind,
Think! ye may buy joys o'er dear -
Remember Tam o' Shanter's mare
No, wha this tale o' truth shall read,
Ilk man and mother's son take heed;
Whene'er to drink you are inclin'd,
Or cutty-sarks run in your mind,
Think! ye may buy joys o'er dear -
Remember Tam o' Shanter's mare
In short, Tam was
a bit of a hedonist- he drank and was a
womaniser. Whilst he thought this brought him happiness the consequences of his
actions hurt those who he loved-in this case Meg- his horse- and Kate- his
wife.
And so this poem
acts as a warning; whilst substances such as alcohol may make you temporarily
happy, they ultimately hurt both you and the ones you love if taken to excess.
In La Hoya there are huge problems regarding alcoholism, drugs and adultery. It is fairly normal for men to have more than one wife. A teacher in school for instance has two and the local bar owner has six. Often when I ask children about their fathers they say ‘he lives with his other wife’ or ‘oh yeah he is my dad but he doesn't live with us he lives with his family’ (some of which are often in the same class at school). Although things are changing slowly it is still a fairly normal and accepted part of society.
Lots of social factors stem from economics. One way that people find money is to look for packages of drugs which have floated ashore ( The Dominican Republic is a stopping off point for drugs being smuggled north from South America) and sell them on. This creates obvious problems both legally and socially for those buying and for those selling the drugs. Drug taking is fairly common and it is a problem especially among young men. Alcoholism and drug addiction create economic and social difficulties just as they do all over the world. Families struggle economically when drink or drugs take a priority and alcohol related violence and accidents are issues that affect not just the immediate victims but all those around them. It is a harsh reality that these are the problems that many of the children I teach have to face every day whether it’s directly or indirectly. When I asked a boy the other week how his weekend was he shrugged and just said ‘lots of drunks’.
And so regardless of the language, geography and time, Burn’s ‘Tom O’Shanter’ is a poem that raises issues that are highly relevant to people’s lives not just here, not just in the UK, but all over the world.
In La Hoya there are huge problems regarding alcoholism, drugs and adultery. It is fairly normal for men to have more than one wife. A teacher in school for instance has two and the local bar owner has six. Often when I ask children about their fathers they say ‘he lives with his other wife’ or ‘oh yeah he is my dad but he doesn't live with us he lives with his family’ (some of which are often in the same class at school). Although things are changing slowly it is still a fairly normal and accepted part of society.
Lots of social factors stem from economics. One way that people find money is to look for packages of drugs which have floated ashore ( The Dominican Republic is a stopping off point for drugs being smuggled north from South America) and sell them on. This creates obvious problems both legally and socially for those buying and for those selling the drugs. Drug taking is fairly common and it is a problem especially among young men. Alcoholism and drug addiction create economic and social difficulties just as they do all over the world. Families struggle economically when drink or drugs take a priority and alcohol related violence and accidents are issues that affect not just the immediate victims but all those around them. It is a harsh reality that these are the problems that many of the children I teach have to face every day whether it’s directly or indirectly. When I asked a boy the other week how his weekend was he shrugged and just said ‘lots of drunks’.
And so regardless of the language, geography and time, Burn’s ‘Tom O’Shanter’ is a poem that raises issues that are highly relevant to people’s lives not just here, not just in the UK, but all over the world.
On a lighter
note, Rabbie was a bit of a party animal…sooo….
Although, unlike
in Scotland, there is no Haggis running wild in the hills of the Dominican Republic
I felt like I had to do my people proud and show my English colleges what a
Burns night is.
After a pretty
decent Haggis substitute of shepherd’s pie we all went outside into the school
assembly area and cleared the tables out of the way to make a dance floor for
our ceilidh. There was no power (as usual) so we lit our makeshift dance floor
with the head lights from the COPA truck and played music through the speakers.
Towards the end we were also joined in a couple of our dances by the night guard's
children who had come round to investigate the strange noises coming from the
other side of the school.
It was a very surreal and amazing experience, dancing the dances that I have known all my life under the stars, in a country half way across the world, surrounded by swaying fields of green banana trees. I felt very proud to be able to share this amazing tradition with those around me and although it may not have been the most traditional Burns night in the world, I think that Rabbie would have been proud!
It was a very surreal and amazing experience, dancing the dances that I have known all my life under the stars, in a country half way across the world, surrounded by swaying fields of green banana trees. I felt very proud to be able to share this amazing tradition with those around me and although it may not have been the most traditional Burns night in the world, I think that Rabbie would have been proud!
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