Preston — Hola. Bonjour. Konichiwa. Namesté.

Howdy!

On Wednesday afternoon the Preston Veterans Memorial Schools' gymnasium became a multilingual welcoming center as dozens of third- through fifth-graders shouted out greetings in languages including Spanish, French, Japanese, Sanskrit and, with a slight twang, Texan.

The group, including teachers and parents, giggled as they mimicked singer/songwriter Red Grammer during his first of two 45-minute performances at the school.

While it didn't come close to sounding like a modern-day rap song, the “Rapp Song,” from Grammer's breakthrough 1986 “Teaching Peace” CD, got everyone involved in learning several different ways to great each other and their peers around the globe.

In between sets — the preschool-through-third-grade students attended a subsequent performance — Grammer said the key to engaging children, regardless of their ages, is to respect their intelligence. He said so many artists geared to the younger set underestimate what children are capable of comprehending.

“Adults should do anything they can to help kids understand the wide world in a way that is fun and respects their intelligence. They're children. They're not stupid,” Grammer said.

Grammer, who was born Robert but earned the nickname Red because of his former flaming red hair — today he has less of it, and it's now threaded with gray — is an award-winning singer and writer of children's songs. Nearly all of his recordings, including “Teaching Peace” and 2005's “Bebop Your Best,” have won prestigious awards and been nominated for a Grammy.

This may be important to adults, but to the students who sat on the gym floor, many in red shirts, it didn't matter. All they knew is they liked what they heard and liked that they were included in the performance.

Many of his songs include references to different cultures through language, cuisine and location. Others focus on teaching manners and other qualities necessary to become good citizens.

“He is engaging and his topics are certainly appropriate,” said Maureen Felker, a fifth-grade teacher.

“He's infectious,” added Principal Kathryn Walsh, who met Grammer in the 1980s when she was a preschool teacher.

Walsh said Grammer's ability is to “bring the world to our kids; and his underlying messages of tolerance, respect and diversity are perfect as the students begin to learn that the world is larger than the nearly 32-square-mile town where they live.”

The school's Parent Teacher Organization paid the $1,250 fee to bring Grammer to Preston.

On Wednesday Grammer opened his first performance with “Places In The World,” in which he mentions, in rapid succession, states, cities and countries from Bombay to Cape May and Pike's Peak to Mozambique.

After the “Rapp Song,” he got the students involved in a crowd favorite — “Buono Apetito” — where he listed his favorite dishes from around the world. During the song he encouraged the audience to raise their hands if they'd ever sampled one of the meals.

While there were lots of hands for chocolate mousse, there were none for liver pâté.

m.bard@theday.com

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