Yesterday I attended the graduation ceremony at the local elementary school.
Back when I was a young boy in America, there was no such thing as a graduation ceremony for elementary school students. Nor for middle school/junior high. And if there was, it probably would not have been meaningful for me as we moved around quite frequently.
Yesterday near the end of the 2 hour ceremony, tears were flowing from many of the young boys and girls whom we knew and taught last year in the school’s English Club. I thought about taking
pictures of some of them, but settled for “happy pics” with some of our young friends.
One aspect of the ceremony that struck me was that the students both performed and gave speeches in Taiwanese – the mother tongue we are encouraging our workers to learn – and NOT the Mandarin language. A coworker in the next township said the principals gave their speeches in Taiwanese in several of the ceremonies he and his wife attended.
2 comments:
hey Mark! love this post! graduations here today are almost expected, and I've been a part of many over the years. From Kindergarten (and even preschool) and fifth grade...I love the "any reason to party" mentality!!!
I had heard they were a big deal in the States now as well. Do they get all teary-eyed and weepy like the kids here?
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