Bitearsweet

Miss D came to teach the kids choir again this week. Apparently she's holding a year end concert for the kids at the end of June. I was asked by Auntie Jenny if I could make it, but from what I was told today, I have no choice. I understand that they're trying to turn this choir around and make it a good one, but it's a little extreme in my opinion. How can you be so strict towards 5 year olds? It's not an army for pete's sake! I could see the fear in Emily's eyes when she walked into the room and saw Miss D. When I asked her if she wanted to go sit down, she just stood by the door shaking her head. Then when she was finally led to her seat, Miss D yelled at her because she was slouching in her seat. She was so terrified she didn't even know what to do! She nearly burst out crying!! Not only that, Emily can't read yet and so she doesn't have a music score. Miss D's response? "If she can't read she will learn now! Everyone else here can read!" Uh, big whoop! You can't force a child to do something, especially if they're not your child! And then poor Meibo... he was a little late in coming in and she just went crazy on him! Maybe she was trying to be funny yelling and screaming like that, cos all the kids were laughing, but that made the situation worse cos Meibo felt so bad and completely embarassed when the kids were laughing at him. Miss D tried to provide an example of how she wanted the notes to be sung like pizzacato on a violin and compared it to being slapped. Then she told Meibo to to slap the side of her face, gently, but nonetheless to slap her face! What the hell is that??? What example is she providing??? I don't care how good of a teacher she is, her teaching techniques are just so wrong! *sigh* Why do I even continue to bother with this??? Maybe I'm staying cos I want the kids to have someone to turn to when the other instructors are freaking out at them. They always ask me why the kids like me so much. There's no secret, you just have to be patient with them. Not everything can be solved with yelling or punishement. I don't know, but it pains me every week to go...