As the culmination of our unit on music in my young learners elementary class (the theme of the whole course was “Let Me Entertain You”–movies and music), I had a Lao band come to class for the students to interview. In the classes before, they had the chance to write and practice questions in English for their surprise guest, who turned out to be three members of the Lao hip-hop group “Pull-T Club,” an up-and-coming group with a current hit single here. (This music video is pretty funny, because it features lots of daily sights like Joma, my favorite coffee shop, and Patuxai. It makes my life here feel a lot more glamorous since it’s worthy of the backdrop of a Lao rap video.)
Three members of Pull-T Club posing. Note the ring that says “LAO” in diamonds.
The students were bundles of excitement when class started, trying to peek out into the hallway to see when the guests were coming. When they finally arrived, the kids (who are about age 9-14) alternated between being really shy and giggling uncontrollably as they raised their hands to ask questions like we had practiced. The singers didn’t speak English fluently enough to respond in English, so their answers were in Lao, and I tried to pick up as much as I could, which was still very little. Questions ranged from the relevant (Do you write your own songs?), to completely random (What is your favorite color?), to barely understandable because of the amount of girly giggling (Do you think our teacher is pretty?), but the guys were good sports (The answers were yes, red and green, and Yes, of course). Another highlight was a brief rap demonstration and singalong session.
YLPRE5 and Pull-T Club.
Almost every student in the class had an iPhone, Blackberry, or some other fancy camera phone and at the end everyone wanted both individual and group photos with Pull-T Club, who were dressed up in their rap gear (one guy had a ring that said “Lao” in diamonds). Next, everyone wanted autographs, of course. It was already fifteen minutes past the end of class when the TAs and I finally had to chase everyone out and tell them to go home.