- The Road to Lhasa

Storyteller: This is such a good story, somebody here has already seen it and was asking about this story. It’s a short story, but it’s a story that is so appropriate for you. (Display the title of the story) I don’t need to translate this for you, do I? (To a native-speaking English teacher) Maybe just for you. The Road to Lhasa. This morning because it was a primary workshop I gave them the whole thing about where’s Lhasa, but you know that it’s the capital of Tibet, as we call it, but the Chinese call it Xizang. (Display the presentation slides of the tangram) It’s a very holy city, a city of pilgrimage. It’s on my bucket list, meaning I would like to get there before I kick the bucket. I’m going to tell the story using the tangram, which is a puzzle you are all familiar with.

There was an old woman who sat beside the road that led all the way to the holy city of Lhasa. One morning, a man rode up on a horse magnificently dressed, said, “YOU! WOMAN! How far is it to Lhasa?” She said, “Oh, it’s far. VERY far! You won’t get there before nightfall.” “DON’T BE RIDICULOUS!” said the man. “Look at my magnificent horse. Of course I will.” And he dug in his heels and then rode away.

And the woman sat beside the road. A little while later, a girl came along, leading her yak. The girl, so small and slim; the yak, so big and hairy. When she saw the old woman, the girl said, “Excuse me, how far is it to Lhasa?” “Oh, it’s far,” said the old woman. “Very far.

But don’t worry, you will get there before nightfall,” “Will I?” said the girl. “Yes,” she said. “And you know what you have to do.” And the girl gave her yak a gentle tug and started walking.

She walked up, up and up the steep slope that led up and up into the mountains. As she climbed, she was afraid that she might slip

and fall down into the rushing waters of the river below. But then she found a bridge and passed over. She came to the forest, the great forest on the slopes of the mountains. As they walked on, the wind blew so strong, she struggled to go forward. The wind was so strong. It knocked her down. But she picked herself up, and kept on walking. One step at a time, one foot in front of the other. Up beyond the tree line and into the land of snow. Now there was no path to follow, just the stones that other travellers, other pilgrims had placed to guide the way. The girl was afraid that she would get lost and she would not reach Lhasa before nightfall. But she kept on walking, one step at a time, one foot in front of the other. And always the yak following behind her.

In the afternoon, she passed the man magnificently dressed, stretched out on the ground beside his horse. They were both fast asleep. They had ridden so hard. They could ride no more. How she wished she too could lie down and rest, but she knew what she had to do. She gave her yak a gentle tug and kept on walking.

One step at a time, one foot in front of the other.

And very late in the afternoon, as she approached yet another ridge (music fades in), as the sun began to sink down in the sky, suddenly, she heard the sound of drums and bells and temple gongs. And when she looked over the ridge into the valley beyond, there were the temples of Lhasa with all its monks. She had made it, all the way to the holy city of Lhasa! Walking one step at a time, one foot in front of the other.

As I say, Lhasa is a real place, one day I hope I will get there. But it also stands for any challenge facing you to become a storyteller, facing your students to become better and more confident in English. And the way to succeed to achieve that goal, like the girl in the story – one step at a time, one foot in front of the other. Or

in terms of becoming a storyteller, one story at a time, one word after the other.

Additional Text - Moso Bamboo

Let’s keep with true things but now we get to certain land of science and because here I am in Hong Kong, let’s talk about Chinese martial arts movies. Are you a fan of martial arts movies?

Bruce Lee? Er…ok, it’s not cool to admit that, is it?

(Showing the picture of Zhang Zhiyi in the film of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) I’m a big fan of her. I see that coming up with a prequel to Couching Tiger. This has been in the news. But I don’t want to talk about beautiful young women, sorry, that would be another session. I want to talk about the bamboo. This bamboo is called Moso Bamboo. Did you know that? No? So you are going to learn something today.

Moso bamboo is rather special. If I was to give you a seed of moso bamboo as souvenirs of this workshop, and you went home. You planted it, you watered it, and after a week, (pause) NOTHING.

After a month, (pause) NOTHING. And you will think I’m going to complain to the EDB, you bring in this guy and he gives me a seed and there’s NOTHING. Six months. NOTHING. By now, you’ve probably forgotten where you planted the seed. A year goes by, two years go by, three years, four years, FIVE years go by.

And yet one day when you come back from school, HUH! Right there, outside your front door where you planted the moso seed five years ago, there is a moso bamboo and it is UP to your knee.

Yesterday, it wasn’t there. Today, 24 hours later, it’s up to your knee.

The next day you go off to school, and when you come back, HUH?

It’s now up to your chest. Two days, from NOTHING to your chest.

Next day, you go off to school, and when you come back, WOW!

Storyteller:

Here it is, up here. (put hand to the head level). Every day, sixty centimetres; sixty centimetres every day. And for the next five to six weeks, every single day another sixty centimetres until it is at that great height thirty-five to forty metres tall. (raise finger, mime growing up quickly.) It goes up.

How does it do that? In the space of just five to six weeks. But of course it is not five to six weeks, is it? It’s five years.

What has it been doing for these five years? It’s been developing a root system, roots that go really, really deep, in order that it can get that energy for when it does go up. The roots go very wide because as you can see it, as a plant it’s very tall and thin. And when you’ve got a beautiful Chinese woman kind of doing this (mime standing and balancing on a bamboo), you got to have really broad roots, right? Not that I have experienced a beautiful woman doing this but I can imagine.

Who said they were working with Year Six, Secondary Six? So you say to your Secondary Ones, you tell them the story. Five years from now, what are you going to be? If I came back, here they are, Secondary Ones, they come in like this. (mime their short height) By the time they leave in Secondary Six, are they going to be like this? (show an image of a tall, rangy guy on screen). Of course I’m not talking about this. I’m talking about what’s going on in here and what’s going on in here. (point at the head and heart).

Moso bamboo. It’s the idea about putting down roots, deep and wide. Ask the kids to think about that. What does that mean? What do they have to do to make that kind of growth? Or are they just going to be the same five years from now, no difference from when they walked into your school from Primary One to Secondary One?

True story, Moso bamboo. Right here on your doorstep in China.