The Macarena

On May 4th, I woke up before school and realized that the next day was Cinco De Mayo. It popped into my head that on that day I should make simple pinatas with the kids, teach them some basic words in Spanish, and treat them to chips and salsa.

All were fine activities and went over great with the kiddos, but none went as smashingly as teaching the Macarena.

Now, it was my intention to only teach the dance to my little classroom of cherubs, but by some unforseen circumstances, I ended up teaching it to my whole ropu, all of the Kiwi kids aged 5-11.

It became an international sensation overnight. And by international sensation, I mean that the Kiwi kids were teaching it to the French, Maori, and Samoan kids the next Monday.

Now, the dance is done as many times as the kids can possibly scream for it, which is between 2 and 5 times a week. It's played every time the kids gather, which sends arms and bottoms shaking and flying in all directions.

It's an ABSOLUTE riot.

Even he parents join in when they come on Friday afternoons to pick up the kids.

The best part, though, is a mistake I made when teaching it...

If you know the dance, you know that it is a 16-beat dance that repeats over and over again. During the last four beats, the dancer has his/her hands on his/her bottom and shakes his/her bottom back and forth three times before jumping to the side and repeating the dance over and over again.

The mistake? I couldn't get the kids to shake their bottoms hard enough when they were supposed to, so while teaching, (and because I'm not shy), I would yell, 'SHAKE IT! SHAKE IT! SHAKE IT! JUMP!.' during those last four counts of the dance.

Now, whenever the kids do the dance, they all yell, 'SHAKE IT! SHAKE IT! SHAKE IT! OUUU!' during those four counts.

It's an ABSOLUTE riot. I have it on video and can't WAIT to show you all!

I reckon that someday, when I'm long gone, the children will say, 'Miss Wendy? Hmmmm. Oh yeah! She's the one who taught us the Macarena.'

(Secretly, I won't tell them that the song translates roughly into a story about a girl who is fairly promiscuous. That'll be between me and the teachers...)