Sunday 1 July 2007

Cheeky Choral Speaking Champions

A unique experience for every BBGSian is Choral Speaking, the art of reciting poetry as a group. Some of us love it (because we win competitions :-), but others think it's torture (my sister has removed all traces of this painful ritual from her memory).

I was introduced to the world of choral speaking by the wonderfully expressive Mrs Aziz, who made me the "star" of the 1983 competition with a cheeky little poem entitled...


The Pleasures of Being Fat

Most of us weary mortals know
What a nuisance, a trial, a torture
In fact, what an absolute bore it is to be fat

Oh, you may try to fool others
And others may succeed in fooling you
By saying you are
Buxom, cuddly, generously-proportioned.
But deep inside -
You know you can't fool yourself.
So, face it
And brace it
You're just plain FAT.

Be fat, it's fashionable,
Don't you know that dieting is the in-thing today?
Jogging, weight-watching, calorie-counting, sessions at Joanne Drew
Now how can you have the fun of moaning over the problems you have losing weight
Unless you are fat?

Fat people the world over have problems
For some, it is the embarrasment of having to buy XL undies
Or hearing an impudent urchin chant
"Fatty Fatty Bom Bom"

But whatever it is, take heart
You are not alone in this
So whenever a barb draws blood
Rise above your pain
Show them you are bigger than they

And when you have developed a DYNAMIC, attractive personality
You can smile to yourself when they say
"You are worth your weight in gold"

Because... YOU ARE!

P/S: As I never outgrew my "puppy fat", this little poem has been been my lucky charm and pushed me to work on developing a dynamic, attractive personality.


Anonymous Lisa said...

"I love chocolate cake.
And when I was a little girl, I loved it even more.
Sometimes we used to have it for tea, and mum used to say, "If there's any leftover, you can have it to take to school, to have at play time."
And the next day, I would take it to school! Wrapped up in tin foil."

....

The moment we said EYE as in "I" love chocolate cake - the judges looked down. I was in Form 2 and you conducted our English class with that poem.

I have been 'heavily' involved with choral speaking ever since! The last was helping out the girls during last year's (or was it the year before last) choral speaking session for Merdeka celebrations.

There are still choral speaking competitions nowadays.. but sad to say, there seems to be a whole lot of movement, as if one is dancing on stage..! Pronounce, Enounce, Facial expression.. etc etc.

Ah, the wonderful memories of choral speaking.

5 August 2007 00:47

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Blogger Joanna Yeoh said...

Thanks, Lisa. It is so encouraging to hear that my passion for choral speaking has been passed on to newer generations. That's the reason I kept going back to BB to conduct classes. Keep it up!

5 August 2007 16:46

Delete
Blogger jessie said...

I remembered I was in Miss Pek's English Class in Form 2. Sorry I couldn't remember which year but our title for Choral Speaking is The Pleasure Of Being Fat and coincidentally Joanna Yeoh is one of the judges!

11 January 2008 00:19

Delete
Anonymous wai yi said...

Hi, Ijust happen to know about your blog through Facebook recently. Reading your blog surely has triggered my memories in BBGS.This poem was my choral speaking poem when I was in Rorm 2 in year 2000 but my conductress changed a few lines to have something new. We did not want to be sued for plagiarism right?haha:P My class nearly won that year as many people were saying that we were good in the semis but sad to say at the finals, we were just not good enough. But nonetheless we have enjoyed ourselves and the pleasure of mesmerizing the crowd with the poem. After reading your posts about choral spaking, feel like indulging the feeling of 'torture' again! hehe:op

9 May 2008 12:32

Delete
Anonymous

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"I love chocolate cake.
And when I was a little girl, I loved it even more.
Sometimes we used to have it for tea, and mum used to say, "If there's any leftover, you can have it to take to school, to have at play time."
And the next day, I would take it to school! Wrapped up in tin foil."

....

The moment we said EYE as in "I" love chocolate cake - the judges looked down. I was in Form 2 and you conducted our English class with that poem.

I have been 'heavily' involved with choral speaking ever since! The last was helping out the girls during last year's (or was it the year before last) choral speaking session for Merdeka celebrations.

There are still choral speaking competitions nowadays.. but sad to say, there seems to be a whole lot of movement, as if one is dancing on stage..! Pronounce, Enounce, Facial expression.. etc etc.

Ah, the wonderful memories of choral speaking.

Joanna Yeoh said...

Thanks, Lisa. It is so encouraging to hear that my passion for choral speaking has been passed on to newer generations. That's the reason I kept going back to BB to conduct classes. Keep it up!

Unknown said...

I remembered I was in Miss Pek's English Class in Form 2. Sorry I couldn't remember which year but our title for Choral Speaking is The Pleasure Of Being Fat and coincidentally Joanna Yeoh is one of the judges!

Anonymous said...

hi,i just happen to know about your blog through facebook recently.reading your blog surely has triggered my memories in BBGS.This poem was my choral speaking poem when i were in form 2 in year 2000 but my conductress had changed a few lines a bit to have something new.we would not be sue for plagiarism right?haha:PMy class nearly won that year as many people were saying that we are good ae the semis but sad to say at the finals round,we are just not good enough.But nonetheless we have enjoyed ourselves and the pleasure of mesmerizing the crowd with the poem.After reading your posts about choral spaking,feels like indulging the feeling of 'torture' again!hehe:op