Lyrics

When I was a foreign teacher in Taiwan
It was such a strange situation
We got paid well in spite of our partying
And our lack of qualifications
Because most anyone who could afford it
Would send their little boys and girls
To English kindergartens
To get a head start in the world

My last job was in Taipei City
With a good boss I still thank
I had a funny little student with coke-bottle glasses
And his English name was Frank
He was younger than the other kids
And he just looked confused most of the time
And I know a teacher really shouldn't have a favourite
But Frankie was mine

Frankie used to squint up at the whiteboard
As I was writing out the letters
They put a patch over his good eye
So the other would learn to see better
And all the other boys liked Power Rangers
Transformers and King Kong
Frankie's favourite things were kitties
And flowers and his mom

And every now and then we'd show the kids movies
With a projector and a screen
And Frankie got scared whenever any kind of
Bad guy entered the scene
Like even the highjacker penguins in Madagascar
A cartoon shark or a bear
He'd bawl like a baby
'Til we took him out of there

And at nap time I'd sing "go to sleep you little babies"
And swap in one of their names on each pass
And Frankie would ask me to sing a verse for his mommy
And his sister going to sleep in the younger kids' class
Go to sleep, you little sister

After their nap a Taiwanese colleague
Would come fix up the girls' hair
And Frankie would ask her to do his
And she'd put a braid or a bow in there
Sometimes he'd show up with his nails done
'Cause his mom thought it was cute
And we knew it couldn't last
But we all thought so too

I knew next year they'd be in real school
Where the bell clangs down the hall
Where they list the test scores from best to worst
And post them on the wall
Where boys and girls use different bathrooms
And play in different games
And Frank would learn like we all did
Not to be strange

See, I started grade school in Saskatchewan
And then Kamloops, British Columbia
And I remember my dad showing me how to fight
In case I ever had to
And one time I fought James Hannah
And then I cried til I almost puked
I had won the fight
But I didn't feel like Bo or Luke Duke

And I didn't know anything about it then
But there was another school close by
Where they took kids from the reservation
And where hundreds of them died
Pulling 'em from their families
Was the surest way to change 'em
They took away their words
And cut off their braids to tame them

I remember Frankie dancing around the classroom
All the kids clapped and cheered as he spun by
It was Chinese opera, Mando pop and breakdance moves
And I tried not to laugh too hard to make him shy
Go on, dance, little Frankie

And I guess I was hard on Frank sometimes
Hoping to protect him somehow
I thought the big world would be merciless
And I wished he'd toughen up now
And one day I raised my voice at him
When he was daydreaming again
And of course he cried
And I felt like a monster then

Kids have got their blind spots
And their teachers try to solve 'em
And it can be hard to tell if you're helping 'em
Or just being part of the problem
And the whole world gets blurry
When you're learning to see with a different eye
It's a good thing four year-olds
Keep asking us "why?"

And if I knew Frank's Chinese name I'd put it in this song
And hope it finds its way to him somehow
To say thanks for all you taught me, and I'm sorry if I did you wrong
Guess you're all grown up, I just hope you're dancing now
Hope you're all grown up and I hope you're dancing now