Classic Class Notes : Education: Peter, Paul & Mary take their folk songs to immigrant students at Belmont High.
The voices of Peter, Paul & Mary have echoed through Belmont High School for weeks--but on Thursday, the trio arrived in the flesh.
“You gotta check this out,” said Paul Stookey, glancing at a poster on a wall of the school warning of clothing transgressions. “No hats.”
“I don’t have a hat,” said Mary Travers, patting her signature straight blond hair.
“No beepers, no baggy pants,” said Stookey, pinching the fabric of his khaki suit, satisfied he was within the rules. “When I was in high school, they wouldn’t let us wear Levi’s.”
Not that the teachers or the gaggle of students who pressed them with cellophane-wrapped bouquets of flowers and escorted them to a classroom would have cared what the guitar-carrying trio wore.
For their audience of 50 immigrant students--newly arrived in America and just beginning their journey through the English language--the folk singers are something of a touchstone. As Peter, Paul & Mary arrived at the classroom, the students, who can barely answer simple questions in English, were lustily singing every verse of “Blowin’ in the Wind.”
“Oh, bravo!” exclaimed Travers, immediately embracing a young girl in the front row. “Fabulous!”
“This is a great compliment to us,” said Peter Yarrow. “We’ve come to sing some songs and ask you some questions. . . . What’s been your experience in America?” He paused for a moment. “Do you understand me?”
A sea of scrubbed young teen-age faces looked back at him eagerly but blankly.
“I . . . will . . . speak . . . much . . . slower,” Yarrow said.
Actually the trio is used to international audiences filled with non-English speakers. Once, Peter, Paul & Mary were invited to a Philippines national celebration. At a Helsinki concert, the Finnish audience sang along. And their biggest fan club, according to their manager, is in Japan.
But what was different here was that the internationally known icons of American popular culture are part of the curriculum at the Newcomer Center at Belmont High. The program, sponsored by the Los Angeles Unified School District, is devoted to giving a year’s worth of academic and language orientation to immigrant youths ages 13 to 18. There is a similar program at another school for younger children.
Two teachers use the songs to help the students learn English. It was the lucky 50 students in their classes who knew the songs and were invited to hear the group in person. The idea, according to teacher Deanna Brantley, is to teach English as you might naturally learn it. Folk songs with their repetitions are perfect.
“You sing very clearly on tape--that’s important for the students to hear--and you have wonderful stories,” Brantley told the singers.
“Not only have we learned much from your songs, but they have encouraged us greatly,” said Grace Chang, 16, from the Philippines, who read from an essay she had written.
Travers wiped away tears. “I cry today because you are my child,” she said. “You are our future.”
The class sang again--”Lemon Tree”--tentatively making their way through the lyrics but swelling more confidently with each refrain.
Lemon tree very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet, but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat. . . .
While the students followed along on lyric sheets, Briyith Gonzalez sang along as if she knew the words by heart. “Not all the words,” said the teen-ager from Colombia. “My favorite is ‘Blowin’ in the Wind.’ When I listen to the words, I cry.”
Finally, Peter, Paul, & Mary got to sing. They’re in their mid-50s now, Yarrow and Stookey are graying and balding; Travers’ face crinkles around the eyes.
But their voices were as strong and sonorous as ever as they roamed the rows of desks like wandering teachers instead of minstrels. They leaned over desks to encourage a soft voice to sing stronger, they clasped a hand here, squeezed a shoulder there.
Travers and Yarrow live in Manhattan; Stookey in Maine. In town for meetings on their new album, they had arranged to come to the school after an associate of their manager’s told them about the program.
The specter of Proposition 187, which targets illegal immigrants, loomed over the room. “This is a statement against Proposition 187,” said Gabriel Murillo, a counselor for the program.
And Yarrow didn’t miss an opportunity to take a shot at the ballot initiative. “It’s a travesty,” he said and looked around the room. “These are flesh and blood, wonderful bright spirits.”
